BEST DOCUMENTARY - The Pan African Film Festival
Presidential Elections • Unpacking the Electoral College • Vote Erasure • DemocracyDate of Completion: 2024 | Run Time: 78 minutes | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Maximina Juson | Producers: Maximina Juson & Daresha Kyi | Co-Producer: Christie Herring | Executive Producers: Dale & Don Franzen | Lead Historian: Dr. Paul Finkelman
An absolute must-see for anyone who can vote for president in the United States, this eye-opening exposé of the origins and contentious history of the Electoral College gives context to current events recalling the often forgotten role of slavery in its creation. Throughout American history, the Electoral College has dramatically impacted American politics and society, particularly with respect to vote erasure of the minority party vote.
An ACLU Special Briefing - One Person One Vote: The History of the Electoral College
Grace Andrews, 12th Grade History Teacher
"Viewing One Person, One Vote? with my AP US Government & Politics class of 12th graders in Bronx, NYC was a perfect conclusion to our course, demonstrating both the fragility of democracy and the urgency of civic engagement through a uniquely American history and current, lived experiences. The film's message is an accessible and nonpartisan call to action through education, values of equity, and advocacy, reinforcing original American democratic ideals of agency and representation through understanding and participating in the US Political system. Director Maximina Juson visited our classroom to speak to us about her work, further connecting my students to the American political landscape and our collective and individual roles as citizens. Her visit to our classroom crystallized the film's call to action, as she shared her experience, values, and passions, my students connected with her as an inspiring, real-life role model of civic activism in the United States. This film's content and message embodies critical aspects of US Government & History education and action; everyone in our country should be watching this!"
AWARDS
Best Documentary | The Pan African Film Festival
Audience Award | Harlem International Film Festival
Audience Choice Award & Reel Impact Award | Pulling Focus Festival
Maximina Juson is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of HUMovies, a film and video production company in Los Angeles. Her debut feature film, ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE? is a National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipient that world premiered at The 2024 Pan African Film Festival, taking home the Programmer's Award for Best Documentary Feature. Maximina Juson was Consulting Producer (and Additional Camera) for Mama Bears, a documentary exploring the transformative experience of conservative, Christian mothers who decide to accept their LGBTQ children, which premiered at SXSW in 2022 —a short version of the film was commissioned by the ACLU and won an Emmy for 2019 Outstanding Documentary Short and two Webby Awards. In 2018, she produced Harlem Rising for The Harlem Children’s Zone. The documentary, drawing upon 30 years of archival footage, is a history of the organization’s efforts to “break the cycle of generational poverty” for Harlem families. Juson also shot, produced and directed a video web series for The Washtenaw ID Project, an organization that helps disenfranchised communities and individuals obtain a valid government-issued ID in Washtenaw County, Michigan.