A Reckoning in Boston 

In the fall of 2014, Kafi Dixon and Carl Chandler enrolled in a rigorous night course in the humanities at a community center in their Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Kafi, 44, sharp, witty and restless, dropped out of school at 15. She dreams of starting a land cooperative in Boston for women of color who have experienced trauma and disenfranchisement. Carl, 65, a community elder and doting grandfather, is the class’s intellectual leader. White suburban filmmaker James Rutenbeck comes to Dorchester to document the students’ engagement with their course, but as he is awakened to the violence, racism and gentrification that threaten their place in the city, he is forced to come to terms with his flawed film premise and his own complicity in racist structures. Spending more time listening than filming, James enlists Kafi and Carl as producers of the film. Five years on, despite many personal obstacles, Kafi and Carl arrive at surprising new places in their lives, and, following their lead, James does too. Bringing to light the foundations of systemic racism in one community that has spanned generations, A Reckoning in Boston shows that transformation, healing and social change begins within each of us.

This film is being presented as an exclusive preview.

Watch at your own pace anytime between Feb 2-Feb 8, 2021, or join us and watch-along before the live Q&A

February 6, 2021


5:30pm (PST) / 8:30pm (EST) : Press play and begin watching the film.


6:53pm (PST) / 9:53pm (PST): Grab a quick snack and refill your beverage


7pm (PST) / 10pm (EST) : Join us for the live Q&A on Zoom (RSVP required.)

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ALLIE HUMENUK 

Cinematographer Harvard College Class of 1991

Allie Humenuk is an award-winning filmmaker and Emmy-nominated cinematographer whose films have been broadcast nationally and internationally. Her most recent film, The Guys Next Door (co-director, co-producer, and cinematographer), had long and successful festival runs and aired on PBS. Her previous feature documentary, Shadow of the House (director, producer, and cinematographer), about the photographer Abelardo Morell, was heralded as “one of the best films ever made about an artist and the artistic process” by Bo Smith, former curator of the film program at the MFA Boston. Her first film, Love Knots, was shot on 16mm film and was nominated for a student Academy Award. Allie was nominated for an Emmy for her camera work on the PBS series Design Squad. Her other cinematography and camera credits include programs for HBO, BBC, PBS, National Geographic, MTV, and ESPN. She has taught film and video production at Harvard University, Massachusetts College of Art and the Maine Media Workshops. Currently, Allie freelances as a director and cinematographer.