An award-winning documentary that explores woes wreaked by water in one of eastern North Carolina’s most historic towns is set to hit television and streaming platforms on Monday.
“Freedom Hill,” a documentary about the flooding of Princeville, will be available to stream on PBS Plus, the WORLD YouTube Channel and Black Public Media’s YouTube Channel beginning at 8 p.m. April 22. Princeville is the first American town incorporated by freed slaves.
The film was created by Resita Cox, a Kinston native and former eastern North Carolina news reporter. The streaming debut concludes Season 16 of “AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange,” a series which presents short films and documentaries about “contemporary life, art and culture from the African diaspora,” according to WORLD Channel’s website.
The documentary was shot in 2019 and debuted in 2022. Cox followed Princeville residents like Marquetta Dickens, founder of local community development group Freedom Org, as they advocate for their town, piece together history and examine why flooding so regularly harms the town of about 1,250 people.
Cox reckons the film has been aired at 15 or so festivals since it debuted in 2022, having raked in awards such as 2022’s best documentary short at Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival in Vermont and best documentary long short at the 2023 Pecan Pickling Short Film Festival in Bertie County.
“Every time I think I’m about to lay ‘Freedom’ to rest, she just comes back alive and has another life,” said Cox, who is currently working on other environmental documentaries in Kinston.
According to Cox, her executive producer Chris Hastings at WORLD Channel told her “that is the result of making a good film that’s also evergreen and very timely.”
Cox’s connection to Princeville has remained strong, too. She now serves as narrative director for Freedom Org, which works with Cox on an annual youth media camp in Princeville. The four-week camp provides guidance and resources to eight students aged 14-19 who will work together on a documentary. This year’s camp applications will close May 31.
Having a chance to continue her work with Dickens, who featured as what Cox called the “main character” of “Freedom Hill,” will only continue to yield positives for Princeville, she hopes, and the wider audience provided by streaming is still sinking in for her.
“I think I still am trying to grasp the idea that it is going to play on people’s televisions,” said Cox. “What brings me the most joy is, I’m always mind blown when people sit and watch a story about our little eastern North Carolina. When I’m in D.C. or I’m in Vermont, we’ve had Canadian screenings, I’m just like, wow. Look how far this story has travelled.”
In the five years since filming began, Cox said she, too, has come to learn more about environmental racism, both what it is and how it affects communities like Princeville. She hopes her film will do the same for others.
“This is a personal story of understanding the political nature of our flooding, not having the words, the language or the connective tissue to even understand things like climate change as it relates to the Black community,” Cox said. “Then, coming to the point where we created this story, and it is now going to be broadcast to a lot of people, to make them aware of a story that even I just found out about the full narrative when starting this film journey.”
Cox said she is excited to see what’s next.
“To know that so many people are also going to have that moment of awakening, and hopefully action … it’s just mindblowing, it’s exciting,” Cox said.
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