About the Film Maker
Valda G. Lewis
Valda Lewis is a filmmaker, videographer, and web designer. Founder of the LGBT Legacy Project, she originated and now manages the massive Valda Lewis Collection of videos documenting the Gay Rights movement in the United States. A native of England, she has lived in the United States since 1983. She has a B.A. in Media Studies and a BA in Women’s Studies from Wichita State University. She earned a MA in Communication, with an emphasis on new media and the internet, from The New School for Social Research. She has sojourned in several American cities and now lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she continues to make films and work social justice.
Hard Times in the Big Easy
Interview with the filmmaker (1991)
Born and raised in England, Valda Lewis emigrated to New Orleans in 1983. Motivated by the homophobic culture of the times she began producing a local public access television show, Just for the Record, in 1986. The aim was to produce programs for, by, and about the LGBT community.
Lewis felt a need to showcase the community in a new way that would focus on everyday life as well as the political and social issues of the times. She hoped the programs would help normalize being gay for both the gay and straight communities, and that seeing others like themselves would help people who were afraid of their own sexual orientation understand and accept themselves. The show featured local events as well as interviews with national LGBT leaders and national conferences and events. A monthly newsletter was mailed in a sealed plain envelope (like all LGBT publications at that time) that informed potential viewers of the program topics.
At that time the HIV/AIDS epidemic was a major concern in New Orleans and throughout the country. Thousands of gay men were infected, and all felt the impact of the crisis. Ignored by political, religious, and academic leaders and shunned by mainstream culture, the gay community quickly realized it would have to take care of its own. Much of Just for the Record’s programming not only focused on the politics of the AIDS crisis, but also featured ways of giving or receiving spiritual, emotional, and physical support.
In New Orleans Lewis also produced and aired programming for the REACH channel designated for local religious programming. Videotaped sermons from the Vieux Carré Metropolitan Community Church, a member of the United Federation of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC)*, helped counter the messages of fear and loathing being aired by radical and mainstream religious sources every day against the LGBT community and particularly those with HIV/AIDS.
Deep in the Heart of Dallas
In 1993, Lewis moved to Dallas, Texas, where she established a TV show for the Cathedral of Hope MCC. Previously known as Dallas MCC, the church built a very large congregation (some 1,600 attending each Sunday). They had to construct their own building because the local churches refused to sell to the LGBT community. (Some said they would burn there building down rather than sell it to them.) Lewis’s work enabled the new cathedral to claim time on the Dallas religious cable access channel. Lewis created a multi-camera studio and produced regular programming. The 30-minute programs were also distributed to other regions and by 1995, aired weekly in 37 areas around the country.
Filmmaking in the Sunflower State
Lewis moved to Wichita Kansas in late 1995. There she produced three award- winning documentaries including: Centennial Highlights, a historical overview of Wichita State University (WSU) commissioned by the university. In addition, over a three-year period, she captured and produced an hour-long documentary For Generations: Making a Plaza of Heroines at WSU. The documentary follows the process by which 24 women collectively raise $750,000 for a major project of the Women’s Studies Department at WSU. The creation of the Plaza is documented – complete with trials and tribulations -- from concept through groundbreaking and construction to dedication. The film won first place for documentary from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB).
Lewis later produced a historical documentary about (the late) Dr. George Tiller’s abortion clinic in Wichita and the fight for access to reproductive rights in that city. The 30-minute video won first place at the Kansas Film Festival. Lewis also spent time producing informational videos and Public Service Announcements for several local non-profit agencies. These included the Kansas Foodbank Warehouse, AIDS Care Coordination Team, and a child adoption agency.
On the national level, Lewis was producer for two ITVS-funded documentaries, Pride Divide (1995) and Out Here (1993). In 1990, she was the executive producer and editor of Forbidden Fruit Fight Back, which focused on the LGBT movement and homophobic attitudes across the country. The episode was nationally aired through New York based “Deep Dish TV” in a series on censorship.
New Work, Great Lake
In 2000 Lewis moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she developed websites and publications for several non-profits, including the Cleveland Heights Parent Center, the local Cerebral Palsy agency, and the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland. She also served part-time as Media Director of the National Women’s Studies Association. During this period, she traveled often to southern Ohio, where she was making a documentary.
In 2008, Lewis produced The Devil’s Oven, a documentary that traces the coal mining industry of southern Ohio from its beginnings to the present day. The documentary exposes the social, economic, and environmental damage resulting from unfettered mining and highlights a mine fire set in 1896 that is still burning today. The video, partially funded by the Gund Foundation and the Ohio Humanities Council, aired in several film festivals and won awards from the Fourth International EcoSummit (2012) and the Katherine Knight award from the Earth Vision Environmental Film Festival (2008).
Lewis continues to work freelance in the non-profit arena creating websites, publications, and the occasional video for Cleveland agencies, including the Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center (ASC3). She also teaches digital technology skills to low-income seniors and is engaged in the battle to make Internet access available and affordable to all.
Lewis lives in Cleveland with her partner of 21 years and their two dogs.
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*Founded in 1968, Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) has been at the vanguard of civil and human rights movements by addressing issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, economics, climate change, aging, and global human rights. MCC was the first to perform same-gender marriages and had been on the forefront of the struggle towards marriage equality in the USA and other countries worldwide.
Awards
National Association of Broadcasters
National Finalist, Forbidden Fruit Fight Back
USA Hometown Video Festival
Winner, Just for the Record, TV Series, 1993
First Runner-Up, Just for the Record, TV Series, 1992
New Orleans
Certificate of Appreciation from Mayor for contribution to City of New Orleans, 1993
Cox Cable Local Community Programming awards, 1992, 1993
Louisiana Council for Equal Rights “We’re Here” Award, 1991
LGBT Community awards for programming and community involvement, 1987-1993
Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) awards:
For Generations: Making a Plaza of Heroines at WSU Documentary video, 2001
WSU Plaza of Heroines Promotional video, 1998
WSU Centennial Celebration video documentary, 1998
Wichita AIDS Care Coordination Team, various PSAs, 2000
Kansas Film Festival:
First Place Documentary, Who Owns a Woman? 2003
WSU Elliott School of Communication Awards:
For Generations: Making a Plaza of Heroines at WSU, Documentary video, 1999
Plaza of Heroines, Promotional video, 1998
WSU Centennial Celebration, Video documentary, 1997
“Snowy Owl” Award for Most Outstanding Student, 2000
Devil’s Oven
Earth Vision Environmental Film Festival, Katherine Knight award, 2008
Fourth International EcoSummit, First place award 2012