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Testimony: 52nd St. and the Invisible Violence of UPenn

On May 31, 2020, residents of 52nd Street, in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Cobbs Creek, were attacked by the Philadelphia Police Department in response to unrest over the murder of George Floyd. Private university police forces from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Drexel University and other organizations also participated in the crackdown. “Testimony: 52nd St. and the Invisible Violence of UPenn” is a short stop-motion animation film based on the experience of 52nd St. resident and UPenn employee, Amelia Carter.

Through her testimony, Amelia explores what led to UPenn’s participation in the attack and attempts to disrupt the normalization of everyday acts of institutional violence perpetrated by the university. Through her own self-reflection, Amelia invites the audience to question the societal conditioning that leads to complicity in the face of this violence and imagines a world where community care is prioritized over policing.

  • Amelia Carter
    Director
    Until and Unless: Decriminalizing Queer India
  • Amelia Carter
    Writer
  • Penn Community for Justice and Drexel Community for Justice
    Producer
  • Amelia Carter
    Key Cast
    "Amelia Carter "
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Documentary
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 27 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 26, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • BlackStar Film Festival
    Philadelphia
    United States
    August 5, 2021
    World Premiere
  • Black Star Film Festival Shine Award
    Philadelphia
    United States
  • Flicker Rhode Island Film Festival
  • The Women's Film Festival
  • Venice Shorts Film Festival
    Venice
    United States
  • Venice Film Festical Best Animation Honorable Mention
  • JAYU's Human Rights Film Festival
Director Biography - Amelia Carter

Director:
Amelia Carter is a Black queer woman from Philadelphia (USA) and works in global education at the University of Pennsylvania’s South Asia Center. She is a self-taught filmmaker who previously directed and produced the film, “Until and Unless: Decriminalizing Queer India”. The short documentary explores the impact of India’s Anti-Sodomy Law, Penal Code 377, on the lives of four transgender activists from West Bengal's red-light districts. Amelia facilitated a community-led approach to storytelling enabling the activists featured in the film to co-direct the project.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I was inspired to create this film after experiencing police violence on 52nd St. on May 31 St. 2020. Although I was able to work with the NAACP, the ACLU, the Controller’s Office of Philadelphia and the United Nations in an attempt to hold the Philadelphia Police accountable, I soon realized there were few ways to confront the private police forces present that day. This is why I founded Penn Community for Justice (PCJ), a grassroots organization that advocates for Penn to divest in their private police forces and invest in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTS).

The film was based on the first speech I gave outside of Penn President Amy Gutman’s house at the first protest I ever helped to organize on July 24, 2020. I would later give an extended version of the speech as testimony at the University of Pennsylvania Public Safety Review and Outreach Initiative on August 18, 2020. The film encapsulates my first steps in pushing past the fear and discomfort that comes from disrupting complacency. These words were the beginning of my process in finding and wielding my unique voice in the movement to #fundcommunitiessnotcops.

Through this film, I hope to spark the curiosity of the viewer to interrogate institutional policies and culture that perpetuate white-supremacy and exploitation. I hope to inspire people to learn more about how university driven gentrification is linked to the over policing and underfunding of Black communities. In being vulnerable with the story of how I found and developed my voice, I hope to inspire more people to find theirs.