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The path to the 2005 Sundance Film Festival for documentary filmmaker and
Wright State University graduate Selena A. Burks goes back as far as she can
remember because Saving Jackie, the film that brings her to the
festival in Park City, Utah, is her own life story.
"The film is about my sister Lorita, my mother Jackie and I," Burks says, speaking recently from her Dayton home. "It's about the process of learning how to forgive someone who has made major mistakes for many years because of a disease." The sisters were destined for a normal middle-class upbringing in a Cleveland suburb until both parents succumbed to crack addiction. Foster care intervened for Burks and her sister. In her new life, Burks developed a love for photography and filmmaking, which she pursued further at Dayton's Wright State University. At age 19, she reconnected with her mother, after being apart for six years. Immediately, Burks knew she wanted to make a film about her family. She admits with laughter she never imagined becoming a Sundance filmmaker. "My father was the first person to mention Sundance to me," Burks says. "He told me it was a festival that gave new voices a chance to be heard -- you know, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." A fund-raising screening and support from Dayton foundations have made it possible for Burks to get this far. She's headed to Sundance without her mother, Jackie, who died on Jan. 3, 2004, after contracting Multiple Sclerosis. Jackie never saw the film named for her, but Burks is certain of one thing: "I know my mother is proud of me." -- Steve Ramos
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May 30, 2006 Wright State graduate Selena Burks receives prestigious national award Thanks to a prestigious Media Arts Fellowship from National Video Resources (NVR), Wright State alumna Selena Burks can focus her considerable creative energies on her next film production. One of 20 film, video and new media artists in the U.S. to receive the NVR fellowship, film maker Burks will receive a $35,000 grant to produce Fuse, the story of her foster sister’s erratic teenage years as a runaway. Burks’ first film, Saving Jackie, a documentary portrait of her mother’s dependence on crack cocaine, premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.“Selena Burks’ award from National Video Resources demonstrates what a difference one person can make when they have the skills and training and when they dedicate themselves to making movies that can change people’s lives,” said Stuart McDowell, Ph.D., professor and chair of Wright State University’s Department of Theatre Arts. “Selena’s exceptional documentary, Saving Jackie, has had a huge impact on people, which you could already see when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year. It led to greater understanding about the horrors of drug addiction. “Wright State’s Motion Pictures program attracts and nurtures filmmakers with a conscience,” he said. “Selena Burks is a filmmaker who is making a difference.” “I want to use this opportunity to create an interesting piece of work that will reach out to young girls,” said Burks, who received a bachelor of fine arts degree in motion pictures from Wright State in 2003. “It doesn’t matter if you grow up in an abusive home or a sheltering nurturing environment. Everyone feels unloved at one time or another and this film is about that search for love.” In Fuse, Burks will tell the story of Stephanie, her foster sister who was abandoned when she was five months old and left in an apartment building without food for days by her prostitute mother. The eldest of six siblings she hadn’t met, Stephanie was eventually placed into the care of the same foster mother who cared for Burks. Despite having six foster sisters and one foster brother in a family where every weekend was a reunion, “not knowing her biological family really bothered Stephanie and she grew bitter,” said Burks. “As a teenager, she reacted by following the same pattern that her biological mother did. She was a juvenile delinquent, cutting school, stealing from our foster family and stores, staying on the street, sleeping with different guys and pregnant at age 15. She just made life really hard on herself and it hurt everyone who loved her. “Although she had her first child when she was 16, Steph was able to break the cycle of what her mother did to her and step up to the responsibility,” said Burks. “She found redemption in her daughter. “Today Stephanie is 24 and wants to get this off her chest. She is in pain and wants to share her story,” said Burks. “She saw my film Saving Jackie in which I told the story of growing up with my own biological drug-addicted mother. She could relate to that story because I did a lot of the same things Steph did before I was in foster care.” Burks had to deal with her biological mother’s drug abuse since she was three years old. In Saving Jackie, she takes an intimate look at how drug addiction destroyed her own relationship with her mother. “Stephanie and I have a very interesting bond. She respects me, and I am very honest with her. Stephanie is in denial and she knows it, and she needs some one to help her. Producing Fuse is my way of having a mirror held up to her face so she can have a long look at who she is. “Photography and spirituality have shown me that there is more to life than pain and suffering. This is my way of reaching out to her. I want her to overcome her past and realize that we have to be grateful for the moment. “The teen-age years are confusing and uncertain. Drugs are everywhere now, and so many teens are in unstable and abusive families. I want to reach them and let them know they are not alone,” she said. Burks will produce Fuse, which will be part documentary, part narrative, in Cleveland The NVR grant will help Burks invest in a producer for the film and cover the costs of production. “I am very honored to be in the company of the others who have received the grant in years past,” said Burks. “And I am hoping that this is just the beginning for me.”
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Nominations were selected from the community and selected by a panel of judges: Elizabeth Mills, Jeannine Darks Wright, Janell Hubbard, and Rochelle Morton. This year's outstanding honorees are Dorothy J. Adams, Juanita Marie Adams, Terresa L. Adams, Rosa E. Blackwell, Brenda Brown, Teia Jalise Letcher, Gina Ruffin Moore, Dr. Hattye Garrette Parnell, Debbie Phillips, Denise Porter, Kimberly Southerland, Louise H. Stallworth, Vernecia Washington, Antoinette “Toni” Ward, and Juline Jewel Yancy. WCPO-TV 9's dynamic Mona Morrow will be master of ceremonies, and Vice Mayor Alicia Reece will honor the women. The keynote speaker this year is Selena Burks, a Wright State graduate and filmmaker. She was invited to present her movie, “Saving Jackie,” at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival this year. Artist/advocate Annie Ruth, a 2003 Cincinnati Herald Nefertiti winner, former Taft Museum Duncanson Artist-in-Residence, and 2005 YWCA Career Woman of Achievement will perform at this year's Nefertiti celebration. Musical entertainment also will be provided by Minister Mark Williams. A reception preceding the luncheon celebration will begin at 11 a.m. Two Cincinnati Firefighters, Kim S. White and Michael Walton, known as “FAOx2,” will provide musical entertainment. Fidelity Mortgage will host a brief, 20-minute “Mini Mortgage School,” beginning at 11:30, which not only will provide information on attaining the “American Dream” of home ownership, but also will offer information about career opportunities for women in the mortgage industry. There will be other special guests as well vendors. As in the past, most of the honorees and guests dress in their beautiful African attire.
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