This project was supported by a McKnight Media Arts Fellowship, a Jerome Foundation Minnesota Film, Video and Digital Production Grant, a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, and St. Olaf College.
TRAILER
Whiteness at Work
Stop-Motion Animated Film
6:15 min
“White People . . . Your survival has never depended on your knowledge of white culture. In fact, it’s required your ignorance.”
— Ijeoma Oluo, “Welcome To The Anti-Racism Movement …” The Establishment, April 15, 2019
'Whiteness at Work' follows a dough-faced character — an animated proxy for the filmmaker — as he stumbles through memories that have shaped his understanding of whiteness. His snappy monologue contains all the requisite sentiment of a white person belatedly coming to terms with their racial identity: guilt and excitement, outrage and shame. As the character searches for the right thing to say, awkward pauses accentuate the discomfort and hypocrisy that occurs when white people disavow a supremacy they benefit from. Following the character’s impassioned plea for white people to “do something” about their privilege, the final scene shows him on his couch apathetically scrolling through his phone.
As a Minnesota educator and filmmaker, this project — with the first screenplay drafted in early 2020 — took on new meaning after the tragic murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the national racial reckoning that followed. The legacy of white silence and anti-Black violence came into clear relief for me and many other white Minnesotans. Initially, there was great energy focused on listening, learning, protesting, and working towards social change. Predictably, however, that energy diminished over time, leaving many white people wondering what to do with a newfound understanding of race, privilege, and power.
CREDITS // Click here for cast and crew bios
Written and Directed by Peter Bonde Becker Nelson
Art Direction by Evan Weselmann
Animated by Brin Gordon
Featuring the voice of Adam Whisner
Percussion by Chris Golinski
Costumes by Mary Loven
With Liv Nelson
Production Team:
DeA Brown
Liberty Czarnik
Keyra English
Marcel Hones
Ana Hortencia Freeberg
Sofia Moran
Carter Schafer
Luca Trujillo