Instructors:

Project Director-Administrator:

Ben Powell holds a BFA in Film, Animation, and Video from the Rhode Island School of Design and received artist grants from the Austin Film Society and the Mississippi Arts Commission. Powell’s assignments as a cinematographer have taken him to communities all over the world, while his documentary films as director have focused on landscapes near and dear. His documentary BARGE focuses on the culture of towboat workers on the Mississippi River. After premiering at SXSW, BARGE won Best Documentary Feature prizes at Indie Memphis and the Dallas International Film Festival. In 2020, Powell moved back to the Mississippi Delta and formed a creative consultancy called Broken Arm Studio.

Glenn Payne of Dead Leaf Productions is an award-winning filmmaker and artist, as well as an improvisational and film actor. He has produced and directed over 100 short films, feature length movies, commercials, and music videos. Payne considers film the most influential art form our world has ever seen. It combines painting, music, dancing, performing, and writing to create a powerful form of artistic expression that has the ability to reach the masses in a way that nothing else can match. Payne's films can be seen on Amazon, Tubi, and various other streaming platforms.

Laeitta (LAH-EE-TAH) Wade-Robinson is a native of the Mississippi Delta and creator of Eittabug Productions and Laeitta Photograph. She is a videographer, photographer and editor and received a degree in Music Industry Studies: Audio Engineering; Interdisciplinary Studies: Media Arts, Songwriting, and Entrepreneurship from Delta State University. Laeitta “Eittabug” Wade-Robinson’s skill set consists of varieties of Media Arts such as videography, photography, editing, social media management, and audio engineering. She has been crafting her videography and audio engineer skills for the past 10 years. Wade-Robinson teaches videography at Greenville High School where she works with students to learn the basic techniques of video production.

Based in Cleveland, MS, Eittabug produces a variety of multimedia such as commercials, promotional clips, interviews, short films, music videos, and documentaries. Eittabug has produced numerous short films and videos for Delta State University, Delta Music Institute (DMI) and for individual artists, musicians, and small businesses.

Monica Land is the producer of the award-winning film, Fannie Lou Hamer's America as well as the 10 short videos in the Fannie Lou Hamer Digital Driving Tour. As the niece of civil rights icon, Fannie Lou Hamer, Land has written numerous feature articles about Hamer, as well as an essay for the book, Pieces From The Past: Voices of Heroic Women in Civil Rights (2011) published by Joan H. Sadoff and Tasora Books. She has also produced historical segments for Entertainment Tonight and A&E's Biography.

Land also manages and maintains the digital educational website, www.fannielouhamersamerica.com.