Contact:

Rona Kobell

rona@ejji.org

BALTIMORE – The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative Presents Eroding History, a film that tells the story of two Black communities on Deal Island that are in danger of losing their history and culture due to rising seas, and how they are fighting to hold on to what remains. 

The 27-minute documentary film is premiering at 7 p.m. on April 18 as part of the Baltimore Environmental Film Series, which Loyola University of Maryland is sponsoring. Award-winning journalist and photographer Andre Chung directed the film; longtime Chesapeake Bay reporter Rona Kobell produced it; and renowned West Baltimore radio host, columnist, and filmmaker Sean Yoes co-produced and co-wrote it. The team began working last summer.

The April 18th screening will also feature Disruption: The Highway to Nowhere, a short film that EJJI executive produced with director Sean Yoes about the wound in West Baltimore’s neighborhoods. The third short film, Smithville, is also about environmental displacement. EJJI co-founder Rona Kobell produced and wrote Smithville when she worked at Maryland Sea Grant. Maryland Sea Grant produced the film, with then-Morgan State University students Wyman Jones and Jalysa Mayo directing it.

All three films focus on Black displacement, whether on Maryland’s Eastern Shore or Baltimore City. Eroding History, which is premiering at the festival, explores the intersection of historical racism and climate change on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Register for tickets: https://bridge.loyola.edu/BEFS/rsvp_boot?id=2076269

Dr. Karsonya Wise Whitehead, founder and executive director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace, and Social Justice, will moderate a filmmaker  discussion after the screening.

The Center for the Humanities at Loyola, Messina at Loyola, Department of Communication, Department of Management & Organizations, and Global Sustainable Business Club are sponsoring the event. The screening is free and open to the public. For more information about Eroding History and EJJI, please visit https://www.ejji.org/media or follow us on Twitter @EnvJustJourn, Instagram @ejji_journ, and Facebook at @EnvJustJourn.