Local filmmaker Janet Fitch
Janet Fitch is a local filmmaker and activist who uses her work to educate and engage the public about gun violence. Her documentary series, Guns, Grief and Grace in America, explores and discusses gun violence in all its forms and communities. Her work explores urban, suburban and rural gun violence related to homicide, domestic violence, suicide and mass shootings. She emphasizes discussing gun violence with a non-polarizing perspective.
How did you get into filmmaking?
I did a masters in journalism at UWM back in the late ’90s. I kind of just discovered documentary. My master’s thesis became my first documentary, which was on the 1960s civil rights movement in Milwaukee. That’s when I got turned on to doing engagement with film—that’s what really got me into documentary. I could see the potential of what you can do with the documentary film. You just get so much energy out of it. I came on as an activist, then I fell in love with making film.
What inspired you to make your documentary series, Guns, Grief and Grace in America?
I never intended to make a documentary series. I was going to make one film on the Million Mom March, which was following Columbine. It just keeps getting worse. People were waking up, and finally we’re going to get to this. That was very much a time like this. We need to have a sustained conversation; we can’t just talk about these things when we have a great tragedy. We need to have a sustained conversation, non-polarized, bring people in to talk about this critical issue.
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My goal has always been to reframe the conversation from gun rights versus gun control to public health and prevention. When you come under that umbrella, you have a whole other conversation going on.
Why did you decide to make a series?
It became so big. Gun violence is about all of us, but we don’t realize that. For example, suicides are the leading category of gun deaths, and completed suicides come from guns. Even though I knew that statistic, I didn’t really know it until I saw all the people there. So it became clear to me that we couldn’t tell that story in one hour-long documentary. We decided to do a local, state and national film on gun violence.
What did you learn while working these films?
I think they’re [communities in the inner city] blamed for gun violence. The leading category of death because of guns is suicide, which happens more in suburban and rural communities. It’s not like it’s a hidden fact, but it doesn’t get talked about enough. So I feel that central cities carry the main burden, and get the blame. And it’s not the truth—gun violence is everywhere. We all experience it, and we all carry the burden.
What is the toolkit that comes with your film?
The toolkit we’re working on is so everyone can easily create an informed event to discuss gun violence. We want events where people with different perspectives, different political viewpoints, have a facilitated conversation, so we include conversation models for a safe dialogue. We also want people to have facts, so you can embed facts in your conversation about gun violence and deaths.
For more information, visit changegunviolence.com.
