Breaking The News

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers connects US-based documentary filmmakers with communities throughout the South for screenings and conversations around important stories and the art of filmmaking. This special screening of BREAKING THE NEWS will be followed by a post-film discussion with co-director Chelsea Hernandez and O Cinema’s Head of Programming, Matt Walter.

THE FILM

As Donald Trump was getting sworn in as President and the Women’s March set an angry, outspoken tone for the country’s discourse, journalist Emily Ramshaw decided to meet the moment by launching The 19th. Named after the Nineteenth Amendment, The 19th became the first nonprofit, nonpartisan news agency in the United States. Its mission is to focus on the impact of national politics and policy on women. However, by the time Emily and co-founder Amanda Zamora had secured funding and officially launched The 19th’s news site, the pandemic hit — and the very fabric of society went into a tailspin.BREAKING THE NEWS immerses its audience in the lives and steadfast pursuits of the members of The 19th — women and LGBTQ+ journalists — as they struggle to launch the agency and work to gain traction for their newsroom amidst shuttered news outlets and an upended America. With spirited storytelling, the directorial trio of Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston, and Chelsea Hernandez provide an inquisitive and dynamic view into the inner workings of this news agency as its journalists disrupt entrenched biases and push for accountability.

SPECIAL GUEST

Chelsea is an Emmy-nominated Mexican-American filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. Named as DOC NYC's 2021 40 Under 40 Class, Chelsea has worked for ten years in the documentary television and film industry on such projects like PBS national broadcast special, 'Fixing the Future', hosted by David Brancaccio of NPR's Marketplace and directed by Ellen Spiro (Body of War), 'United Tacos of America' an 8 episode series for El Rey Network and most recently on 'That Animal Rescue Show' a 10 episode series for CBS All Access executive produced by Richard Linklater. Beyond television work, Chelsea has directed and produced various documentary films including the 2018 SXSW Texas Short Jury Winner 'An Uncertain Future', a commissioned project with Field of Vision and Firelight Media. She made her feature directorial debut in 2019 with the award-winning documentary 'Building the American Dream' which premiered at SXSW 2019 and broadcast nationally on PBS in September 2020. She is a Warner150 Artist, a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Documentary Producers Alliance, and a fellow of Firelight Media Doc Lab, Tribeca Edit Storylab, Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) National Mediamaker Program and NALIP Latino Media Market. She is also a grant recipient of JustFilms and Tribeca All Access. 'Building the American Dream' was the Seed & Spark and Project Greenlight #UntoldStory Contest winner.