Erin Bernhardt is an independent filmmaker. She has won two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, and numerous film festival awards. Her first independent feature documentary, “Imba Means Sing,” aired worldwide on Netflix, Delta Studio, and all major VOD platforms. Bernhardt previously served in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, as a writer/producer at CNN, and as the Director of Engagement for the Points of Light foundation.

Din Blankenship is an architectural designer turned filmmaker. She has designed transitional shelters for refugees, and was invited to present her work at the Symposium for the Architecture of Disaster Relief. In 2021, Blankenship founded Late Bloomer Films, and she is currently in pre-production on “Love, Your Birth Mom,” a documentary that follows several women with unplanned pregnancies who are considering adoption.

“Refuge” starts screening at the 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival on November 13. The fest runs from November 10-28.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

EB&DB: “Refuge” follows two men from different worlds but on the same journey — to find healing and acceptance in a broken America. Chris Buckley is a combat veteran, recovering addict, and former leader in the KKK with a virulent hatred towards Muslims. Dr. Heval Kelli is a Syrian Kurdish refugee trying to build a new life in Clarkston, Georgia — home to resettled refugees from all over the world. Heval and the community of Clarkston have survived extremism and oppression in their home countries and now face a new kind of threat: American white nationalism.

At its core, this is a film about the search for acceptance, healing, and belonging. It’s about the tension between fear and love, and the transforming power of facing hate with humanity. This story captures our shared longing for security, and a safe space to bring our pain and trauma — our need for refuge.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

EB&DB: When we first set out to make this film, we were making it in direct response to the 2017 Unite the Right riots in Charlottesville. Both of us — and one of our executive producers, Katie Couric — went to UVA [University of Virginia, in Charlottesville], and watching such a hateful incident occur in a place that shaped the women we are felt like a call to action. Our initial instinct was to find a story that could serve as a counter-narrative to white nationalism and disprove its insidious ideologies. If white nationalism claims that non-white immigration is harming our country, we wanted to find a story in which non-white immigrants are not only not a threat to our country but actually contribute to the thriving of our communities. The story we were looking for was in our backyard, Clarkston, Georgia.

It wasn’t until months of filming in Clarkston that one of our main characters, Heval, was introduced to Chris. When we look back at our initial goal in making the film, we wanted to create something that could play a role in combating hate and extremism. In capturing Chris’ journey, we uncovered the roots of hate, what can lead a person into hateful ideologies, and ultimately how they can be overcome, all set to the backdrop of a community of hate and extremism survivors, Clarkston, GA.

W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?

EB&DB: We hope that after watching “Refuge” people will consider the biases they hold, examine why they hold them, and commit to confronting them. We hope that people will consider the polarized state of our world, and consider their own culpability in that reality before placing blame on someone else.

Ultimately, we hope this film reawakens our sense of empathy for one another. We’ve captured a story about a community that insists that their shared humanity is more important than any kind of shared ethnicity, faith, or even shared language. We hope that anyone who watches it will see themselves in all of the characters. If people walk out of this film and are more likely to offer compassion to someone who is different than they are — someone of a different race, a different faith, a different political belief — then we feel like the film will have been a success.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

EB&DB: This was a tough film to make for several reasons. Firstly, trying to make a film that moves people across the political spectrum in 2021 is a tall order. It took us many revisions to find the sweet spot of inviting our audience — regardless of political affiliation — to question assumptions, without putting anyone on their heels and ultimately shutting out the film.

Secondly, because the film took a huge shift when Chris entered Heval’s life, for a long time the film felt like it had a split identity — was this a film about Chris overcoming his hate, or a film about Heval and the community of Clarkston? It took us a long time to really home in on our narrative arc, and ensure that the story had clarity and focus. 

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

EB&DB: We raised support in a number of ways from hundreds of generous people and organizations. We took on impact investments from angel investors. We did a crowdfunding campaign. We held fundraising parties with our incredible executive producers. We shared our passion and dedication for this story with everyone who would listen. We invited our networks to bring their networks to the table to help us. We applied for dozens and dozens and dozens of grants, and were honored to actually receive one of them — thank you, SDF [Southern Documentary Fund]! We brought thoughtful film lovers from all over the country who care about the issues addressed in our film to share a cup of coffee at Refuge Coffee in Clarkston.

To those of you that contributed to help make this movie: thank you! 

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

DB: My background is in architecture. Prior to filmmaking, I was designing transitional shelters for refugees, domestic affordable housing, mixed-use buildings, and charter schools. I’ve always been passionate about using my skills towards shaping a more just and equitable world, but it wasn’t until Erin invited me to join her on “Refuge” that I realized that my architectural design skills could be transferable to filmmaking.

I have always been captivated by a well-told story and have personally benefited from documentaries’ unique insights into lives and worlds unknown. Knowing that I could be part of shaping a story that could provide the world with much-needed healing and hope in a time when we so desperately needed it was really compelling to me.

EB: My background is in journalism. I grew up watching and being inspired by powerhouse women like Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour, and Pat Mitchell, who not only broke down barriers for women in journalism, but who reported stories that offered us insight and nuance. When I saw the documentary “Born into Brothels” and the impact that it made, I knew I wanted to create similarly impactful films.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

EB&DB: We both have incredible mentors in our lives, so it’s hard to choose just one piece of advice. One thing we both go back to when making decisions is something Erin’s mom often says: “When your head and your heart are pointed in the same direction, follow, no matter how scary it may seem.”

Thankfully, we can’t think of bad advice we’ve received.

W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?

EB&DB: This work is hard, but it’s so worth it. Our world needs stories that are creatively shaped by women. Stay deeply connected with fellow females in the industry since community is vital to survival.

Also, get a great therapist! 

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

DB: How to pick only one? I’m going to have to go with “Little Women,” directed by Greta Gerwig. This film moved me. Watching it, I felt a conflicting sense of sorrow and anger over the hardships uniquely faced by women and awestruck by what women are capable of. I saw the film only days after it was announced that, while the film was nominated for a number of Academy Awards including Best Picture, Gerwig was not nominated for Best Director. Watching Jo struggle to create meaningful art in an industry dominated by men in the 1860s, I couldn’t help but see the film’s director — and myself — facing the same obstacles today.

EB: Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama.” It’s so intimate, honest, and terrifying, yet still with a glimmer of hope, and the film that I most want everyone in the world to see to have more empathy for refugees, women, and new moms — three of my greatest passions.

W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you keeping creative, and if so, how?

DB: I’m definitely feeling the weight of having lived in this world in which previously mundane decisions now feel like high-stakes decisions. Should I spend time with my family indoors? Is it safe to go out to dinner? Should we have a babysitter in our home? Does my toddler have another runny nose or is it COVID? I’m tired, y’all.

Working on “Refuge” has definitely offered me hope and energy, as we continue to navigate this season. I’m also in development on my next film, “Love, Your Birth Mom,” which will follow several women with unplanned pregnancies who are considering adoption. The story touches on several issues that many people are passionate about, and yet few people understand the lived experience of being pregnant and accepting that you may lack the resources, capacity, or ability to raise your child.

I am an adoptive mom, and my filmmaking partner is a birth mom. We hope this story can illustrate to our children and other adoptees that they weren’t “given up,” but rather the decision made by their birth moms was weighty, complex, and courageous, and one marked by grief and loss.

EB: Half the time, I think we’re in a nightmare and I can’t wait to wake up. The other half, I am grateful to still have my loved ones around me and for the extra time I got to spend with my son since the first six months of his life were extremely difficult. He was a “failure to thrive” baby and I had severe postpartum depression. As tough as 2020 and 2021 were, they don’t compare to 2019. Let’s just say 2022 is looking like rainbows and butterflies!

Lastly, I think all of my creativity goes into our family Halloween costumes.

W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What actions do you think need to be taken to make the doc world more inclusive?

EB&DB: Preach! We need to work on this at all levels of the industry. One way “Refuge” made a small dent was by creating a workforce development program within our film crew. We trained and hired refugees and others underrepresented in the film industry to be on our team.

One thing that we could have done better, and encourage our industry to join us in considering, is who has creative control over the film? While we are really proud of the team we assembled, we do think that we could have ensured that creative control was held by a broader range of those underrepresented in our industry. We’re committed to doing better moving forward.