The Sunflower County Film Academy is: "Helping young storytellers 'Find Their Voice' through film."

Through a generous grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a young filmmaker's workshop, the Sunflower County Film Academy, was launched in the Mississippi Delta in June 2018. The workshop is part of the K-12 curriculum for our film, Fannie Lou Hamer's America.

Taught by professional filmmakers, high school students from the underprivileged Mississippi Delta learn the art of telling their own stories through film while examining the racial barriers that still exist, not only in the South, but worldwide, and documenting such artistically.

Several of our students worked on a film that premiered at Sundance and other film festivals, while still others are pursuing careers in filmmaking.

Our goal is to host the workshop annually where students of color can work together to find their own voices through digital storytelling, as they plan, direct, produce, and edit their own independant film projects and pursue careers in the entertainment industry.

Our 2023 workshop instructors were filmmakers: Glenn Payne of Dead Leaf Productions and Ben Powell of Broken Arm Studio.