Press
Download Gina's Journey Press Kit
For Media Inquires Please Contact:
Craig Rosebraugh
Co-Producer
(323) 446-4335
Awards
Winner: Official Roots Award at the 15th Annual Oakland International Film Festival in 2017.
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Winner: Grand Festival Award: Documentary Re-Enactment at the Berkeley Video Film Festival in 2019.
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Winner: Best Director Award at the Golden Statuette International Film Festival in 2019.
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Latest News
Learn about one woman's 15-year journey to find her escaped slave ancestor before she comes to RootsTech
Deseret News Article
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SALT LAKE CITY — Significant breakthroughs often seem to come when a person is at the point of giving up. That was true for Regina Mason, who said she was ready to abandon her multiyear search for an alleged escaped slave ancestor named William Grimes when she finally found a critical piece of the puzzle.
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For years, the Oakland, California, resident had skimmed through stacks of books on the topics of slavery, U.S. history, the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, looking for any reference to Grimes. She finally found what she needed in a basket of books ready to return to the library. Read more...
"Gina's Journey" On The Big Screen
New Haven Independent Article
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In 1825 in Litchfield, Conn., William Grimes wrote and published the story of his life as a slave and of his subsequent escape to freedom.
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Almost two centuries later, his great-great-great-granddaughter Regina Mason picked up where her pioneering ancestor left off, with a book, a documentary and her own story of self-discovery through a rigorous commitment to her family’s past.
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On Monday night at the New Haven Museum, Mason and filmmaker Sean Durant presented Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes, a new documentary about Mason’s 15-year pursuit to research, publish and celebrate the life of a family member (and former New Haven resident) who wrote the first autobiographical slave narrative. Read more...
Regina Mason explores family’s past with “Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes”
The Spectrum - University at Buffalo
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Regina Mason’s quest to discover her ancestry started as a child. Today, her journey has been transformed into an award-winning film.
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Mason presented a screening of “Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes” on Thursday night to a crowd of nearly 100 attendees at the UB Jacobs Executive Development Center. The film began the UB Humanities Institute’s “Reclaiming Our Ancestors: Community Conversations About Racial Justice and Public History” a three-day conference in downtown Buffalo this past weekend. Read more...
UB conference aims to reclaim ancestral history
WBFO - Buffalo NPR
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A three-day conference, "Reclaiming Our Ancestors II," begins tonight in Buffalo. With artists, filmmakers, descendants of slaves and slaveholders, and scholars from around the country taking part, the event looks to counteract "an amnesiac culture," so says Kari Winter, professor of translational studies at UB. Read more and hear the audio...
UB conference to focus on racial justice and public history
University at Buffalo Now
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A distinguished group of scholars, filmmakers and artists will join many descendants of authors of slave narratives at UB for three days of community events, conversations and workshops on racial justice and public history being held Oct. 19-21 at various locations on UB’s campuses and throughout Buffalo. Read more...
“The Stripes on My Back”: The origin of America’s first fugitive slave narrative
The Liberty Project
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William Grimes had always known a life of violence. The offspring of a wealthy plantation owner and his neighbor’s “favored” slave, the field was the only place that Grimes could think of as home. But there was something about Grimes that made him stand out amongst his fellow slaves: his light skin. Being the son of both master and slave embedded in him two sides of history, allowing him the liberty of sometimes being able to pass as a white man. Still, the feeling of whip against flesh became as familiar to him as a daily prayer. While shuffled between ten different owners throughout the American South, he went on a hunger strike, tried to break his own leg with an axe, and made a break for Connecticut to live as a free man. Would he be condemned to a life of enslavement or would he find the relief of freedom? In the end, Grimes had more than a story to tell, but a legacy to create. Read more...
AWARD WINNING FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM, “GINA’S JOURNEY: THE SEARCH FOR WILLIAM GRIMES” – NARRATED BY KEITH DAVID – IS AN OFFICIAL SELECTION OF THE 2017 HARLEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Press Release
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NEW YORK – The film, “Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes” has been named as an official selection of the 12th Annual Harlem International Film Festival. Narrated by veteran actor and voice artist Keith David, “Gina’s Journey” follows the quest of one woman, Regina Mason, in tracing the steps of her ancestor, who traveled along the Underground Railroad to freedom and authored the first fugitive slave narrative in U.S. history. Read more...
HARLEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE FOR 2017 FESTIVAL
Selig Film News Article
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The 2017 Harlem International Film Festival (Hi) today announced the official selections for the 12th edition of the film festival taking place on May 4-7 at MIST Harlem (41 West 116th Street). Read more...
Oakland resident’s search for slave ancestor fodder for documentary
East Bay Times
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“Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes,” is a new documentary that depicts Mason’s dogged efforts to retrace the steps of her great-great-great grandfather, who wrote the first slave narrative published in the U.S., and publicize his little-known story. It also recounts the brutality Grimes endured and his escape from a plantation in Savannah, Georgia. Read more...
OAKLAND/BAY AREA PRODUCED FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM, “GINA’S JOURNEY: THE SEARCH FOR WILLIAM GRIMES” – NARRATED BY KEITH DAVID – TO SCREEN AS AN OFFICIAL SELECTION OF THE 15TH ANNUAL OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Press Release
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OAKLAND, CA – The film, “Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes” has been named as an official selection of the 15th Annual Oakland International Film Festival. Narrated by veteran actor and voice artist Keith David, “Gina’s Journey” follows the quest of one woman, Oakland resident Regina Mason, in tracing the steps of her ancestor, who traveled along the Underground Railroad to freedom and authored the first fugitive slave narrative in U.S. history. Read more...
Now Playing! Oakland and S.F. Film Festivals Vie for the Spotlight
KQED Arts
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The 15th Oakland IFF kicks off April 4 with local filmmakers Christiane Badgley and Erica Marcus’s revelatory globalization documentary, Guangzhou Dream Factory, which sold out its S.F. premiere at CAAMFest a few weeks ago. The lineup includes several shorts programs, offering an introduction to talented new directors while inviting viewers into lives and worlds they’ll never encounter on their own. Sean Durant’s ambitious documentary, Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes(Apr. 6), illustrates Regina Mason’s long and arduous mission to research, edit and republish the memoir of her ancestor and runaway slave. Read more...
A very exciting Oakland International Film Festival spotlights Roots’ 40th anniversary
San Francisco Bay View
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The 15th Oakland IFF kicks off April 4 with local filmmakers Christiane Badgley and Erica Marcus’s revelatory globalization documentary, Guangzhou Dream Factory, which sold out its S.F. premiere at CAAMFest a few weeks ago. The lineup includes several shorts programs, offering an introduction to talented new directors while inviting viewers into lives and worlds they’ll never encounter on their own. Sean Durant’s ambitious documentary, Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes(Apr. 6), illustrates Regina Mason’s long and arduous mission to research, edit and republish the memoir of her ancestor and runaway slave. Read more...
