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Courtney Symone Staton

Visual Storyteller. Poet. Educator.

Courtney Symone Staton, from Greenville, North Carolina, is a Black, Southern-raised poet, educator, photographer, filmmaker, and impact producer dedicated to creating space for collective healing and liberation. Her debut documentary, participatory short Silence Sam, about the systemic silencing during the student-led movement to remove the Confederate monument “Silent Sam” from campus, came from the need to preserve her own story and the experiences of her peers.

Since teaming up with over thirty student journalists, artists, and organizers, Silence Sam has screened in film festivals across the Southern United States, including at BlackStar Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Indie Grits, and Cucalorus Film Festival, and has had impact-driven screenings with young activists and organizers across the South.

A 2018 NeXt Doc Fellow, Courtney speaks diligently about the movement to move toward more liberatory documentary practices and away from colonial norms. She works passionately with other young filmmakers of color to put those words into action. She currently leads The History Reclamation Project, a program connecting high school students to local histories of Black resilience in Albany, New York through participatory documentary filmmaking.

Impact producer of The Neutral Ground and executive producer of In the Eyes of God, Courtney uses her work to drive viewers past the point of empathy to the point of healing and action.

Connect with me at symonesees@gmail.com or on Twitter/Instagram at @symonesees

Media and Publications

UNC-Chapel Hill's Campus Y Reclaims Its Community Following Break-in, Indy Week (Photo feature)

Waking Up to Racism: New Documentary Tells Truth About Confederacy, Tracks Lost Cause myth Southern Poverty Law Center (Feature, Impact Strategy)

Documentary at the End of the World BlackStar Film Festival (Panelist)

We Need Documentarians of Color to Tell Their Own Stories Hyperallergic (Mention)

Age of Consent Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival & Symposium (Panelist)

Filmmakers reconsider ethics after 'The Commons' protest Vox Magazine (Feature)

Nothing About Us, Without Us, is For Us Bad Feminists Making Films Podcast (Guest Appearance)

Op-Ed: Reconsidering our Place in Extractive Journalism Durham VOICE (Writer)

Let's Connect!

Email: symonesees@gmail.com
Twitter: @symonesees
Instagram: @symonesees

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