Counter Stories Productions

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) recognizes the value and importance of amplifying voices and stories. Using film as a resource to increase awareness on social justice issues, Counter Stories Productions (PDA’s Story Ministry) seeks to connect and equip communities while cultivating wider circles of engagement and action.

“The power of these films to make what was happening in the news real and relational. It proved to me that these films were powerful and could motivate folks to action in a very real way.”

Rev. Hardy Kim, Sunnyvale, CA

These award-winning documentary resources are available to congregations and communities to organize screenings and host conversations about important and timely issues. If you are interested in these resources or hosting a screening, below are links to trailers, film posters, descriptions, study guides, and links to the full films.

Community Engagement Model

Gathering people in a room to watch these films yields more community involvement than just watching them by yourself at home — for this very reason, we encourage screenings.

This 12-minute video focuses on a film forum that was developed in Dayton, Ohio, using our films “Locked in a Box” and “To Breathe Free.”

Trouble the Water: Conversations to Disrupt Racism and Dominance

“Trouble the Water: Conversations to Disrupt Racism and Dominance” is a free course and documentary series produced by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for communities and congregations to facilitate conversation and engagement around the issues of race and racism.

Flint: The Poisoning of an American City

Flint: The Poisoning of an American City traces the timeline of the city’s interaction with the Flint River — from the continued abuse and neglect of both city infrastructure and environmental regulations, to subsequent population decline, through to Michigan’s 2013 appointing of outside emergency managers. This poisonous mix of factors created a crisis which has gone on for five years, resulting in record high levels of lead in the drinking water of the city.

The film intersperses with area residents (including parents, social workers, educators, pastors, and experts on water and health) with testimony at congressional and other oversight committee hearings to demonstrate how 100,000 people have been poisoned by lead, an irreversible affliction. No timeline exists for the remediation of the situation.

“Flint” explores the critical question of how this could happen in America and how this event should serve as a warning for the rest of the country. A recent report found that 5,300 American cities were found to be in violation of federal lead rules, and research published in USA Today detected excessive lead in nearly 2,000 public water systems across all 50 states. This documentary educates and inspires action, seeking to radically change how we view and value water.

This film is currently being screened around the country, see its website for details. It is available on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV+, and Video on Demand across major cable providers.

Download the study guide for faith communities
Download the poster
Download the Flint Grassroots Screening Kit

To Breathe Free

Short documentary and winner of "Best Documentary Short" at the Covellite International Film Festival 2017:

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
To Breathe Free follows the 5-year journey of a Syrian family fleeing the war in Homs to the refugee camps in Jordan and starting a new life in Washington, D.C. Using home movies, phone video, family photos and interviews with family members and former refugees, this short documentary gives an intimate and unique perspective not seen in current media reporting on the refugee crisis. To Breathe Free captures the intersection of individual narratives from a family fleeing the Vietnam War in 1970, to the Syrian Conflict in 2017, to the families who help create a new home in our nation's capital, giving voice to our common humanity and the struggle that binds people together.

Download the study guide
Download the poster
View the full film

Locked in a Box

Locked in a Box is an award-winning short documentary that follows the stories of individuals held in the U.S. Immigration detention system and those who visit them. The film traces the lives of individuals who fled their homelands in search of safety and freedom only to end up in U.S. prisons under a mandatory bed quota system run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Since the 1990s, there has been a massive expansion of the immigration detention system up to 34,000 immigrants in detention on any given day in approximately 200 different facilities, many of which are for-profit prisons. Locked in a Box helps strip away the political rhetoric to see the human cost of detention.

Locked was an award winner for “Achievement in Documentary Film” from the Georgia Latino Film Alliance and Film Festival.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance supports the development of visitation ministries, legal orientation programs, and community-based services to those who are released in partnership and collaboration with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). This film is the result of the collaboration between PDA and LIRS with local partners in the hope of inspiring its viewers toward action.

Download the study guide
Download the poster
View the full film

Trigger: The Ripple Effect Of Gun Violence

Trigger, selected for the Martin Luther King Jr. D.R.E.A.M Film Series, frames gun violence as a “disaster” and “public health” issue. It examines how one shooting impacts individuals, families and communities and gives voice to the questions and insights that arise. In the documentary, all those scarred by gun violence arrived at the question, "Why did this happen to us?” After looking at these in depth experiences of gun violence, Trigger turns its attention to the bigger question, "What can we do to prevent gun violence?”

While in production in 2012, Trigger was selected for broadcast by NBC in cities around the country and a version of the film was completed specifically for these broadcasts. This version is available on DVD for purchase HERE.

Production continued on Trigger from 2015-2017 and the final version of the film, with new interviews and updated content, was completed in 2017. The film is now available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime.

Download the poster

Download the study guide

Kepulihan: When The Waters Recede

When we first met Pak Yadi in 2004 on the island of Sumatra he took us on a short walk to a makeshift gravesite where he had buried 15 family members after a series of tsunamis killed more than half the population of his community. Over the next 10 years we traveled back to Indonesia to spend time with Yadi and record his thoughts, reflections and insights, as he searched, amidst the loss and devastation, to find a way forward. Kepulihan: When the Waters Recede is a short documentary that captures the 2004 Tsunami aftermath and recovery told entirely through the eyes and experiences of 1 survivor over a 10-year period, as he struggles to forge a new life and rebuild his community. Kepulihan was an official selection for the Beaufort International Film Festival and the Covellite International Film Festival, and received the DeRose Hinkhouse Award for Excellence.

Other short films

A Tradition of Welcome (4.5 min)
Tapestry: Reweaving The Fabric Of Community After Public Violence (21 min)
Introduction to the PDA International Program (4.5 min)
Fort Hood Shooting (5 min)
Facing the Human Tragedy in Syria (12 min)
Syria Situation (3 min)
Blue Shirt Ministry (5.5 min)
Remembering Hurricane Katrina 10 Years Later (3 min)

In Production

An update to Trigger is in production
A short documentary on eviction and the housing crisis will premiere in Spring 2025
A feature-length documentary on environmental racism is in production