Joanna Hay Productions

Joanna Hay Productions Impact & Legacy. Find our films at the Library of Congress, in distilleries, at universities & museums. Videos and exhibit design In the U.S. and abroad.

With love, indeed! It has been an incredible year so far at Joanna Hay Productions. Thank you. My documentary film "Stor...
09/11/2026

With love, indeed!

It has been an incredible year so far at Joanna Hay Productions. Thank you.

My documentary film "Stories from the Balcony" celebrated a sold out premiere, received the London Independent Film Award, a Kentucky History Award, we published our official trailer, and more.

As a Docs in Progress Impact Producing Fellow, with support from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, I have gained valuable skills, resources and connections to amplify the impact of “Stories from the Balcony.”

New exhibits at Lexington’s Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation and New Albany’s Town Clock Church are in the works, preserving the stories of historic places to better shape our future.

Stay tuned with more to come, including a new public art installation in downtown Frankfort, Kentucky!

vanessa german’s artwork, pictured, was recently on exhibit at the Speed Art Museum during my Speed Cinema screening of “Stories from the Balcony” earlier this year. It features a direct quote from civil rights leader, Reverend Dr. William Barber II, during his address at the 2016 Democratic National Convention: “We must shock this nation with the power of love!”

Photo by Liliana Fischer

“Stories from the Balcony” Interviewer and Collaborator Katima Smith-Willis received oral history training from the Kent...
08/20/2026

“Stories from the Balcony” Interviewer and Collaborator Katima Smith-Willis received oral history training from the Kentucky Arts Council's Community Scholars Program, with Folk & Traditional Arts Director Mark Brown. In her interview with WUKY’s Clay Wallace, Katima explains, "...[Mark] taught me how to go into these interviews with not the lens of an activist, not the lens of an advocate, not the lens even as a black woman, just to be able to receive the information and to be able to communicate it back to the community in a way that it could be understood.”

Thank you to the Kentucky Arts Council for providing this incredible training to Kentucky communities and to the Kentucky Oral History Commission and the Kentucky Foundation for Women for project funding and professional development support!

Listen to or read the full interview at https://www.wuky.org/wuky-news/2026-01-01/frankforts-grand-theatre-premieres-documentary-about-its-segregated-past-in-stories-from-the-balcony.

Photo by Alan Lytle, WUKY, January 2026 | Bill Cull, President of Save the Grand Theatre; Katima Smith-Willis, Frankfort City Commissioner; and Mike Fields, Board Member of Save The Grand Theatre

Interviewee Bobby Jones of Louisville, Kentucky reflects on Producer & Director Joanna Hay's creative vision after watch...
08/19/2026

Interviewee Bobby Jones of Louisville, Kentucky reflects on Producer & Director Joanna Hay's creative vision after watching “Stories from the Balcony” for the first time: “Your insight, compassion and dedication really came through with this project. And I wanted you to know that I truly appreciate your effort…. It brought back a lot of memories for me and for the most part positive ones.”

Our community’s buildings and gathering places hold memory, which shapes how we move through time and space across generations. Bobby recalled a fondness for the memories he made in the Grand Theatre, despite the discrimination that ruled the Grand and Frankfort community.

Photo Credit: Capital City Museum & Historic Sites, Gene Lutes Family Collection

Speaking on his experience living in Frankfort, Kentucky in the 1950s, Ike Fields shares: “I never liked being restricte...
08/19/2026

Speaking on his experience living in Frankfort, Kentucky in the 1950s, Ike Fields shares: “I never liked being restricted to the upper level of the theatre. But that wasn’t the only place that I encountered…conflict or being uncomfortable. The theatre was a symbol of a suite of behavior in the city where Black people were routinely dismissed, and the police were like the gestapo. You always felt like their job was to keep us in order, and as long as we stayed in our neighborhoods, we would be okay. But the moment we ventured out of our neighborhoods, it was not a very comfortable place.”

As summer break comes to a close, we wish all the teachers, administrators, students, and families a wonderful start to ...
08/07/2026

As summer break comes to a close, we wish all the teachers, administrators, students, and families a wonderful start to the new school year! “Stories from the Balcony” is not just a documentary film. We are busy at work on our school curriculum that engages youth in documentation activities to tell the history of their communities through the voices of their own community and elders.

Donate to help get “Stories from the Balcony” into more schools and communities: https://bgcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=12649. Thank you!

Photo courtesy of Kentucky Historical Society, 1995ph2_34aafra2_orig

08/05/2026

TOMORROW, Wednesday, August 5 join the Nantucket community preview screening of “Stories from the Balcony” with Producer & Director Joanna Hay, Katima McMillan and Sheila Mason-Burton.

Twenty years in the making, “Stories from the Balcony” is a documentary film about growing up going to the movies at the Grand Theatre in Frankfort, Kentucky during the era of Jim Crow segregation. It is the story of community, love, and belonging, despite the discrimination and degradation faced by the town’s Black community, who were relegated to the balcony.

🎟️FREE with a Nantucket Dreamland membership | $20+ for General Public | Get your tickets and learn more at https://www.nantucketdreamland.org/events/fft-stories-from-the-balcony-with-director-qa-to-follow

Kentucky Historical Society Museum of African American History - Boston and Nantucket

08/03/2026

Here’s the trailer for Stories from the Balcony- at last!

"Community Memories" is a fascinating look into life recalled by African Americans who consider Frankfort their home. Fe...
08/03/2026

"Community Memories" is a fascinating look into life recalled by African Americans who consider Frankfort their home. Featuring unique oral history recollections and over two hundred candid personal photographs collected from community residents, the book provides an enlightening expression of the Black experience in Kentucky's capital.

“Stories from the Balcony” features many of the images from "Community Memories" and gives special thanks to the community members who donated the photos, and to the Kentucky Historical Society for sharing their archive. We all owe editors Winona L. Fletcher (1926-2023) and Sheila Mason Burton a debt of gratitude for preserving Community Memories.

Purchase your copy from locally owned stores Poor Richard's Books and the Kentucky History Center!

08/03/2026

Twenty years in the making, “Stories from the Balcony” is a documentary film about growing up going to the movies at the Grand Theatre in Frankfort, Kentucky during the era of Jim Crow segregation. It is the story of community, love, and belonging, despite the discrimination and degradation faced by the town’s Black community, who were relegated to the balcony.

You can help get this important conversation into communities across the United States by making a tax-deductible donation today at https://bgcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=12649. Thank you!

Trailer editing support and mixing by videobred, Steve Hurst and Marcus Brothwell. Documentary by Joanna Hay.

Kentucky Foundation for Women Kentucky Heritage Council - SHPO Kentucky Historical Society Kentucky Arts Council Capital City Museum & Historic Sites

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