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HipCinema Labs

Make Films that Make Change

RECLAIMING THE LIGHT: The Life & Times of Lewis Latimer

Meet Lewis Latimer, the renaissance man responsible for bringing electric light to the world and Mary Latimer the woman who inspired him.

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About

HIPCINEMA LABS is a media arts incubator located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our mission is to produce film works that preserve African American cultural heritage while envisioning strategies for justice and renewal for communities of culture. Filmmakers that are part of this initiative include Nadine Patterson, Marlene G. Patterson, Martha Conley, Parris Z. Moore and many others. Read more about HipCinema Labs in this Fractured Atlas Profile by clicking here.

November 2019 was the world premiere of the first film produced through the Fractured Atlas fundraising platform, We Are Free Because of Harriet Tubman at The Tull Family Theater. It screened in between showings of Focus Features' film HARRIET.  The Haiku film, done in collaboration with world poet Sonia Sanchez, screened at Black Star Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, and the Women's Film Festival of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D. C.

In 2023 we completed a short documentary called "Educators to Africa: 50 Years 1970 to 2020". The World Premiere was at the Denton Black Film Festival in 2024.

Our current project in development is an historical drama on Lewis Latimer, inventor of the long lasting carbon filament in the electric light bulb. It is called -- Reclaiming the Light: The Life & Times of Lewis Latimer. The team has raised almost $100,000 for development of the script between 2019 and 2024. Writer/Director Nadine Patterson and Writer/Producer Martha Conley have completed the second draft of the script.

Marlene Patterson and Parris Z. Moore have joined the team to produce the $900,000 film.  The goal is to begin filming in 2025 and complete editing by the end of 2025.

Supporters of our initiatives include private individuals, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Independence Public Media Foundation, the Arts Equity Reimagined Fund, and individual donors.

For more information contact Nadine M. Patterson at hipcinema@gmail.com.

Learn More: https://hipcinemalabs.org/