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Looking Inward - Black History & the Arts

“Looking Inward” is a film documenting the artist fellowship process through the Kent Cultural Alliance. 6 artists dug through thousands of historical documents and images from the Chesapeake Heartland Archive to find what spoke to them, and then created their own artwork from the inspirations they found. This Documentary is a journey through Black History and the Arts and how we all can benefit from 'Looking Inward.'

Writer/Director
Justinian Matthew Dispenza Director Justinian Dispenza got too lucky too early. Only a few months after graduating from Indiana University with a degree in Film Design and Production (a school obviously not known for its film program) he got a film internship in Beijing working for the Environmental Education Media Project. This organization acted as a jumping off point for filming in over 25 countries on a variety of topics as unique as the countries he was filming in. He uses his camera to document and highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly about where we as a species were, are, and are going. He loves spending time in nature and playing music and hopes to continue his film work in order to 'reduce, or reverse the negative impacts human beings have on the planet, each other, and this beautiful marble we all still call home"

Justinian Matthew Dispenza

Director Justinian Dispenza got too lucky too early. Only a few months after graduating from Indiana University with a degree in Film Design and Production (a school obviously not known for its film program) he got a film internship in Beijing working for the Environmental Education Media Project. This organization acted as a jumping off point for filming in over 25 countries on a variety of topics as unique as the countries he was filming in. He uses his camera to document and highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly about where we as a species were, are, and are going. He loves spending time in nature and playing music and hopes to continue his film work in order to 'reduce, or reverse the negative impacts human beings have on the planet, each other, and this beautiful marble we all still call home"

Director Statement

During the quiet days of summer/fall of 2021 while we were all trying to figure out what would be next as Covid started to become “manageable”, the Artists selected for the Kent Cultural Alliance/Chesapeake Heartland Artist Fellowship were hard at work using their talents to bring to life a few of the thousands of stories being collected and archived within Washington College’s Chesapeake Heartland: An African American Humanities Project. As part of a three year partnership, the Kent Cultural Alliance (KCA) was tasked with connecting residents and visitors to the Archive through the arts. While the pandemic slowed the process, the artists completed their projects and an open exhibition was held in March 2022 in the parish hall at Emmanuel Church, Chestertown. As a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is 24/30 pictures a second, Andover Media was asked to document the work of each artist as they wrestled with the past, present, and future of Black Art and History in Kent County. This is that story.

Looking Inward - Black History & the Arts
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