The Center receives its second Suncoast Regional Emmy in Diversity/Equity/Inclusion category
The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood took home the prize at the 2024 Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards for documentary short Queer Allies, marking the second consecutive win for the Center’s Open Dialogues film series.
Queer Allieswas honored in the Diversity/Equity/Inclusion – Long Form Content category at the 48th Annual Suncoast Emmy Awards on December 7th. The Center received an Emmy in this same category forBlack Voices | Black Storiesin 2023.
“It is beyond words to garner back-to-back Emmy wins for the Center’s Open Dialogues series.” Executive Director Jennifer Homan shared. “The films are exceptional storytelling about the human experience. I am so thrilled for Jeff Rusnak, Freddy Rodriguez, and Joy Satterlee and all those who shared their stories about the power to love and accept everyone unconditionally.”
Awards were presented to the Queer Allies production team of Joy Satterlee, past Executive Director of the Center and Executive Producer, Producer and Center Director of Development Jeff Rusnak, and Director and Editor Freddy Rodriguez of Miami-based 66 Films. The same team led the Black Voices | Black Stories production as well. Homan, Rusnak, and Rodriguez attended the ceremony and waited patiently for their category to come up.
Rodriquez recognized all those committed to keeping kids safe in his acceptance speech. “This is for every teacher, student, school administrator, and counselor that’s fighting the fight to keep queer kids safe in our public schools.”
The Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is comprised of television markets in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Puerto Rico. Queer Allies was funded by an Art of Community grant from the Community Foundation of Broward and was broadcasted by South Florida PBS as part of its Film Maker Project.
Queer Allies offers the stories and lived experiences of people who identify as LGBTQ+ and the people who love and support them. The on-camera interviews feature Deanna Muniz, Paulino Mejia, Jr., Caro Gutierrez, Terry Dyer, Tatiana Williams, and Lisa LaMonica Braun.
The black-and-white film runs for 25 minutes and includes a contemporary duet by Dance NOW! Miami artists David Harris and Anthony Velasquez performing “Safe Words” and a reading by Terry Dyer from his book, Letters to a Gay Black Boy.
Queer Allies can be viewed in the Center’s Gallery at 1650 Harrison Street in Hollywood, and the South Florida PBS film-maker project webpage www.southfloridapbs.org/film-maker. Queer Allies is the third film in the Open Dialogues series, along with Stories From the LGBTQ Community (2020), Black Voices | Black Stories (2022), and Gen QueerZ (2023). Each film is directed and edited by Freddy Rodriguez.
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