BEST DOCUMENTARY - The Pan African Film Festival
Presidential Elections • Unpacking the Electoral College • Vote Erasure • DemocracyDate of Completion: 2024 | Run Time: 78 minutes | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Maximina Juson | Producers: Maximina Juson & Daresha Kyi | Co-Producer: Christie Herring | Executive Producers: Dale & Don Franzen | Lead Historian: Dr. Paul Finkelman
An absolute must-see for anyone who can vote for president in the United States, this eye-opening exposé of the origins and contentious history of the Electoral College gives context to current events recalling the often forgotten role of slavery in its creation. Throughout American history, the Electoral College has dramatically impacted American politics and society, particularly with respect to vote erasure of the minority party vote.
AWARDS
Best Documentary | The Pan African Film Festival
Maximina Juson is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of HUMovies, a film and video production company in Los Angeles. Her debut feature film, ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE? is a National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipient that world premiered at The 2024 Pan African Film Festival, taking home the Programmer's Award for Best Documentary Feature. Maximina Juson was Consulting Producer (and Additional Camera) for Mama Bears, a documentary exploring the transformative experience of conservative, Christian mothers who decide to accept their LGBTQ children, which premiered at SXSW in 2022 —a short version of the film was commissioned by the ACLU and won an Emmy for 2019 Outstanding Documentary Short and two Webby Awards. In 2018, she produced Harlem Rising for The Harlem Children’s Zone. The documentary, drawing upon 30 years of archival footage, is a history of the organization’s efforts to “break the cycle of generational poverty” for Harlem families. Juson also shot, produced and directed a video web series for The Washtenaw ID Project, an organization that helps disenfranchised communities and individuals obtain a valid government-issued ID in Washtenaw County, Michigan.