A documentary short film co-produced by Little Rock-based filmmaker Antonio Tarrell premiered at the newly-opened Obama Presidential Center on June 24, during the Every Child Thrives Festival.
Tarrell has embedded himself in the central Arkansas film community since moving to Little Rock in 2022. But he has deep roots in his home state of Mississippi, and often travels to produce films. His latest documentary short, “Evidence of Our Existence,” is a co-production with Mississippi-based Sociologist and fellow filmmaker Castel Sweet. This is the fourth documentary the two have made together.
The film is about Behind the Big House, a historic site tour in Holly Springs, Mississippi that tells the stories of enslaved people who lived behind antebellum homes. Sweet, who has a background in sociology, said their work tries to highlight communities that often don’t see themselves on film.
“I got into filmmaking by wanting to capture some of the things that are happening in communities that people don't know about,” Sweet said. “So how do we amplify some of the stories and some of the work, some of the people, some of the voices that you may not be aware about, but the world should know about. And so that's what led to this film.”
The “Behind the Big House” tour was created in 2012 to coincide with the Annual Holly Springs Pilgrimage tour of historic homes and buildings. It later spawned Arkansas spinoffs in Hempstead County, Chicot County, and the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock. Sweet says the project directly inspired the film’s title.
“The title is called ‘Evidence of Our Existence’ because the way that they provide the context and the history [is] to talk about the structures, the foodways, the skills, the expertise and the knowledge that we kind of see in material culture,” Sweet said. “Such as buildings, such as food, such as the way that we do things is evidence of the existence of people that we don't often talk about.”
Sweet developed the documentary while participating in a short film lab called “How We Heal” earlier this year. The program was launched by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and invited filmmakers to submit films or concepts for films based on the topic of shared humanity. Sweet and Tarrell had been filming at the annual Behind the Big House tour since 2023 but didn’t have specific plans for the footage until Sweet was accepted into the program. Sweet said she was drawn to the program’s theme.
“It was exciting to have the film selected. One, to be selected for the theme of how we heal,” Sweet said. “So that's a lot of the work that we do. A lot of our films center around communities, around healing, around work that still needs to be done around things that people are doing to heal their community. Again, that may not be on the front page of a newspaper that may not be, you know, mainstream news.”
Sweet was one of ten semifinalists to participate in the lab, which provided the filmmakers a four-month-long virtual mentorship with industry professionals to develop their projects. Sweet was then one of five finalists chosen to premiere her film at The Obama Presidential Center in June. Tarrell described the moment he got the news from Sweet.
“Chills kind of went through my body… to be a part of something and working with her again,” Tarrell said. “She's an amazing storyteller. Also, it kind of confirmed all of the hard work that you're doing is paying off. And also to be from a small town, being recognized for that work.”
Tarrell’s and Sweet’s other films have been recognized at film festivals around the country, including Arkansas. The two hope to screen “Evidence of Our Existence” here soon. Like their past projects, “Evidence of Our Existence” is rooted in Southern Black History. Tarrell said storytelling is crucial to preserving this history.
“For me, just continue telling those Southern stories; that rich history.” Tarrell said “Because without people like us, filmmakers and storytellers, if we don't do that, then those stories become lost.”
Tarrell and Sweet are submitting “Evidence of Our Existence” to film festivals now. More information about the film and their work is at antoniotarrellfilms.com and sweetsoilnarratives.com. More information about Behind the Big House can be found at behindthebighouse.org.
