ECHOES FROM ELAINE
THE LONG SHADOW OF A MASSACRE
A film about facing history and healing old wounds
WATCH THE TRAILER
A 1919 massacre of hundreds of Black sharecroppers in Elaine, Arkansas, still overshadows the community today. How do you heal such deep trauma?
THE DOCUMENTARY
ECHOES FROM ELAINE tells the story of how a long enshrouded race massacre in Elaine, Arkansas continues to haunt a century later.
When German immigrant Franziska Blome fell in love and married Black public school teacher Marcus Walker, neither of them had any idea that his ancestors had been at the center of one of the most horrific race-pogroms in American History. After Franziska’s mother-in-law, the late family matriarch Sheila Walker, meets Chester, the grandson of a Ku Klux Klansman who’d participated in the killings, she sets out to Elaine to discover more of this buried history. It becomes evident that the past still overshadows not just descendants on both sides of the massacre, but also the whole community around Elaine.
Filming white residents denying or minimizing the massacre pushes Franziska for the first time to question her own family’s untold, conflicted history of opposition and collaboration in Nazi Germany. The result is a provocative, personal inquiry into the meaning of history, the bitter consequences of denial, and the challenging work of reconciliation.
Chester as a boy with his beloved grandpa
From Franziska's family tree
Sheila, her son Marcus and Chester in the "killing fields" near Elaine, Arkansas
"If you don't unmask the demons, you're not freeing the next generation of those demons."
- Chester Johnson, descendant of a perpetrator
WHY THIS FILM
The Elaine Massacre was just one of numerous instances of White on Black violence during the early 20th century, and who knows how many may still be shrouded. ECHOES FROM ELAINE is a reflection of our nation's struggle to reckon with its past. Following Sheila to the Arkansas Delta, viewers realize how history still reverberates today in complex ways.
In current-day Elaine, Arkansas, the White washed narrative of a Black uprising is still alive. A plan for a memorial is met not only with expected resistance from some Whites but also with opposition from some Blacks, who demand reparations instead. Through lenses of both White and Black descendants, the film explores larger national issues of reconciliation and intergenerational trauma.
ECHOES FROM ELAINE encourages viewers to consider important questions: Can there be reconciliation without full acceptance of the past? Is emotional trauma passed down through generations? And what about economic inheritance? How do you repair and heal?
"We get along fine!
The Whites might fight with the Whites and the Blacks with the Blacks... but we don't fight each other."
- Pat Caery, Elaine resident
"In our town, we have the White folk side and the Black folk side. There's a thin line."- Ora Scaiffe
1919 - A posse gathers on Main Street, Elaine, Arkansas
Today - Elaine’s Main Street is economically devastated
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Stories can transform how we see others and ourselves, and ECHOES FROM ELAINE tells a powerful story of how the past overshadows the present. Once released (we're currently in post production), our film will serve as a teaching tool and contribute to important conversations around racial reckoning and transgenerational trauma.
Here’s how we’ll do this:
• SCREENING & DISCUSSION CAMPAIGN, in-person and online events reaching audiences and facilitating conversation
• GRASSROOTS OUTREACH to organizations, churches, libraries, local community centers
• EDUCATIONAL ENGAGEMENT campaign to reach high school and college educators & students
• FESTIVAL RELEASE to build audiences and engage national press
• NATIONAL TELEVISION BROADCAST (PBS) reaching millions of viewers
• DIGITAL RELEASE through iTunes, Amazon, and Netflix
Interested in hosting a screening & discussion or showing the film in your classroom? Or in learning more about how the film could advance your organization's mission?
Please drop us a line!
"I'm just driven to not let this story get lost."
- Sheila Walker, descendant of survivors
THE FILMMAKERS
Franziska Blome - Director / Producer / Editor
The Emmy-Award winning filmmaker has worked for almost 30 years in the documentary field, mostly on highly acclaimed films for public television. As the daughter-in-law of Sheila Walker, the protagonist at the heart of the film, Franziska has a direct connection to the story. Having lived in South Africa during Apartheid, and grown up in Germany, descending from a family with both supporters and opponents of the Third Reich, her perspective is informed by an intimate sense of the power of history, the pain of silence, and the value of reconciliation and reparations.
Llewellyn Smith - Executive Producer
Llewellyn Smith has written, produced and directed groundbreaking documentary films for over thirty years and received numerous broadcasting honors, including the DuPont and Peabody Awards, and the Kavli Science Journalism Award. At the heart of his work are stories that explore how racial injustice is too often nourished by misuses of history and science.
Drs. Jerrilyn & Chris Jones - Consultants for Development
Dr. Jerrilyn Jones, an Air Force combat veteran and expert in emergency medicine, along with Dr. Chris Jones, a rocket scientist, ordained minister and 7th generation Arkansan, are both passionate about films like ECHOES FROM ELAINE that explore and preserve vital unknown stories from Arkansas’ past. They are equally passionate about ensuring that these stories serve to guide toward a future that uplifts everyone.
CONTACT US
Interested in learning more about the film? Or about using the film for a screening or in your classroom?
We'd love to hear from you! (We promise to keep your address private.)
"Uncle Albert fought in WWI. Back at home, the same soldiers he served with are now gunning at him.
American troops killing American citizens!"- Marcus Walker, descendant of survivors
Animation still
HELP US GET THIS FILM INTO THE WORLD!
Our film is now in post production. Once released, ECHOES FROM ELAINE will contribute to important conversations around racial reckoning and transgenerational trauma through screenings and discussions. But before the film can have this impact, we need to raise more funds to finish it, to pay for music, animations and the sound mix.
You can make a tax-deductible contribution via our 501c3 fiscal sponsor, Filmmakers Collaborative - the link below will take you to their portal:
THANK YOU!