UnionDocs is proud to collaborate with BOMB’s Oral History Project to present a screening of Flag Wars (2003), a documentary co-directed by their recent interviewee Linda Goode Bryant. Bryant’s oral history with BOMB tells the tale of her audacious life as the founder and director of Just Above Midtown, a gallery and later non-for-profit arts spaces in New York City. After JAM, Linda pursued other ventures including Active Citizen Project and its primary initiative Project EATS, as well as several documentaries.

Linda Goode Bryant will be joining after the film screening for a Q&A, followed by a wine reception in UnionDocs’ backyard.  

Shot over a four-year period, Flag Wars is a cinéma vérité documentary based in Bryant’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio that documents the fallout of white gay homebuyers moving into a working-class black neighborhood. This conflict brings issues such as racism, homophobia, and class to the forefront, showing the complicated nature of gentrification and its impact on residents, both old and new.

As the new residents restore the beautiful but run-down homes, black homeowners must fight to hold onto their community and heritage. The inevitable clashes expose prejudice and self-interest on both sides, as well as the common dream to have a home to call your own. Winner of the Jury Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival, Flag Wars is a candid, unvarnished portrait of privilege, poverty, and local politics taking place across America.

Press and Awards: Flag Wars and filmmakers Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras won the 2003 CDS Filmmaker Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the 2003 SXSW Competition Award at the SXSW Film Festival, and a 2003 Peabody Award. Flag Wars was also nominated for a 2004 Truer than Fiction Award at the Independent Spirit Awards and a 2004 Emmy Award. It was screened at the Brooklyn Museum in July of 2017.

Founded in 2014, this Project is dedicated to collecting, developing, and preserving the stories of distinguished visual artists of African descent who are based and/or developed a significant portion of their practice in New York City. Interviews include Maren Hassinger by Lowery Stokes Sims, Terry Adkins by Calvin Reed, Kara Walker and Larry Walker, and Wangechi Mutu by Deborah Willis.

BOMB’s Oral History Project is proud to collaborate with UnionDocs to present a screening of Flag Wars (2003), a documentary co-directed by our recent interviewee Linda Goode Bryant.

Linda Goode Bryant is the Founder and President of Active Citizen Project and Project EATS, originally from Columbus, OH. She developed Active Citizen Project while filming the 2004 Presidential Elections and developed Project EATS during the 2008 Global Food Crisis. Linda is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Peabody Award recipient. She was Founder and Director of Just Above Midtown, Inc. (JAM), a New York City non-profit artists space. Linda has a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in painting from Spelman College.

Stephanie E. Goodalle is a writer, curator, and BOMB’s Oral History fellow. Her writing has appear in BOMB and BURNAWAY and past curatorial and programming endeavors include Synesthesia: Sound, Color, and Iconography in Free to Be at Jenkins Johnson Projects, Other Articulations of the Real at the Hessel Museum, NY; and Click, Click: Conversations on Black Photography. Goodalle has a MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY and a BA from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA.