Happy Mardi Gras from the depths of Carnival Season.

In between parades and king cake, I am working through footage to create a rough cut of “Mississippi Mercedes” before summer. This will allow us to jump into the edit with our editor and consulting editor by June to really get this thing across the finish line!

Thanks to this grand Kickstarter effort that YOU made happen, we almost have enough funds to fully finish the film! The whopping $17,383 that we raised will nearly cover all our editing costs. After that, we must consider the technical finishing, color, and sound costs. We strongly believe that with a well-done edit, securing these final funds will be no problem.

Keep your eyes on our newsletter to see where you can catch the film’s premiere! We are aiming to have it on the big screen THIS YEAR!

Thank you again to everyone who supported this Kickstarter and the film in general over the years. Every day that passes brings even more proof that we must work through—and with—differences at a local community level.

This film and its impact campaign offer ripe conversation for just that. We’re doing it!

xo

Hanna & the MM production team

ps - our kickstarter rewards elves are working hard behind the scenes to get everyone their rewards as a thanks for contributing. We’ll keep everyone updated here!

Starting today, we have a donation match for the film. For the next $5k raised, each dollar will be matched. Right now, we are just over $10k for total funds raised; THANK YOU, each and everyone, for your support to get this far. It’s SO far! And with this match, we are looking to raise at least $20k for this film, which is a THIRD of total funds needed to finish it up.

KICKSTARTER!

Check out this Kickstarter update from Hanna, and if you can’t pin a dollar on her shirt today, make a donation or share the project with someone who you know has to be included in this conversation!

With birthday bliss, film funding excitement, and LOVE,

the Mississippi Mercedes team 🎬 🎞️ 🎥

What a DAY!

We’re still riding the high from our Kickstarter launch party. It was nothing short of magical. Thanks to all of you who came out and supported us. We are so excited to share a few highlights and a big update: we’re now nearly 90% funded toward our $7,000 goal! Once we hit our initial goal — which we need to do this week— we’re off to the races to double that, and then double that, and then double that.

And then…THE WHOLE FILM IS FUNDED!

We can do this!

🎉 Launch Party Highlights

• Our silent auction was a major hit. Folks bid generously, and we were able to raise so much more than we expected. “Mama” Amelia’s homemade sweet and savory pies were the most popular items. There was a full on bidding war at the end for these delectable treats!

  

• Drag King Dustin DeWind showed up and showed out, wearing his finest pair of camo shorts and offering face painting artistry elsewhere unseen.

  

• Matchbox prints from New Orleans artist Mary Scinto (@studioscinto) were another hot item, and so sweetly added a local element to the day’s prizes and wins.

• We introduced Mississippi Mercedes to dozens of new people, both locals and visitors in New Orleans, and shared our vision in a way that felt deeply personal and full of possibility.

💪 Team Spotlight

A huge thank-you goes to our associate producer, Grecia Rodriguez. She was the absolute MVP of the afternoon, guiding every donor through the Kickstarter process, answering questions, and making sure everyone felt comfortable navigating the platform. We couldn’t have done it without her.

🙏 What’s Next

• The Kickstarter campaign is still live, and we need your support today! Please donate right away to get us to our initial, $7,000 goal!

• Between now and Kickstarter’s end, we have some exciting fundraising initiatives to get this film into YOUR community as soon as we possibly can.

• We are enrolled in courses, engaged in deep reading and study, and spending every moment outside of the edit room creating a framework for being open to and working across differences. When we get to your community and screen this film, we will be ready to actually tackle the ongoing divide in our country in a tangible, clear way.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. You’re helping us build something powerful, rooted in community, and driven by love and story. We can’t wait to see where we go next — together.

With gratitude,
The Mississippi Mercedes filmmaking team

P.S. If you missed the party, we’d love to tell you more about the day, the Kickstarter rewards we’re most excited about, + the start of our community-building framework. Just hit reply.

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Hanna here. Usually, these updates come from the filmmaking team as a whole, but this one’s solely from me. I’m writing after having just finished editing our Kickstarter video, where producer Emma Palmer helped me speak right to camera in my first on-camera appearance as a director/DP.

Check it out! Should I have been a TV reporter?! (NO!) 😂

This video really tells it all: We’re officially launching our Kickstarter in a few days! As promised, we’re hitting off with a bang at a Launch Party to celebrate this milestone. If you’re anywhere near New Orleans this weekend, you MUST come to Junk Drawer Coffee to celebrate with us. We’ll have a silent auction, drag king face painting, a ping pong tournament, and donation-based cold brew and sweet treats!

This Kickstarter campaign isn’t just to get the funds needed to hire our editors, it’s about cementing our audience and finding our people (THAT’S YOU!) as we push this film across the finish line. The end is in sight, and the success of this Kickstarter will really determine how the rest of this project goes. To set ourselves up for the most success possible, it’s really important to remind you that if you plan to contribute financially (not a requirement! we also benefit greatly from you simply sharing about the film with ONE friend!), please do so as close to the Kickstarter’s launch as possible, meaning… on SATURDAY 11/15! We can *beat the algorithm* by getting a big portion of our goal met as quickly as possible, and that will also mean the campaign is seen by as many eyes as possible via the platform.

👀 Speaking of many eyes, the Kickstarter reward tier I’m especially excited about is THE COMMUNITY FILM SCREENING. At $3,000, this is our biggest reward, and my hope is that you’ll pool resources with people in your area to hit the funding mark to attain it. If you can make it happen, I (and possibly other film crew and participants!) will make my way to your town and set up a screening for you and a group of your choice.

We’ll watch the film together, and after, have a conversation about your reactions and the questions you and your friends are left with after viewing. I personally want to start building bridges across divisions all around this wonderfully wonky country. Don’t you?! LET’S DO IT!

We’ve set a modest fundraising goal ($7,000) because we really need to exceed it. Ultimately, we need $60,000 to finish the film strong, and this first campaign will help get us there.

Y’all ready?!
Let’s finish Mississippi Mercedes together.

❤️
Hanna

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It’s been a beautifully wild fall for Mississippi Mercedes.

Earlier this month, our team hit the road for Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and Filmmaker Forum, where we were honored to screen a portion of the film as a Work-in-Progress. It was a gift to share this film with an audience that could relate to the film’s themes and setting. Fellow filmmakers and industry leaders offered valuable insight into our work so far, and all in all, everyone is really excited to see this film come to life! Like most things these days, the documentary film landscape is polarized between political ideologies. Mississippi Mercedes conveniently forces conversations it turns out we’re all itching to have, and at Hot Springs, we felt excited that this film could offer a starting point for valuable dialogue.

Then, just two weeks later on Halloween day, director Hanna Lane Miller joined an important conversation in Washington, DC as a panelist at the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival, where she spoke about balancing care and accountability in filmmaking. It’s no secret Hanna’s own political views don’t align with the film’s star participant’s, the inimitable Mercedes Ricks. As discussed on the panel — and hopefully discussed much more broadly with the release of this film! — identity politics are, ultimately, farfetched ideas that letdown the very people who rely on them to understand others. Blessed to be Southern, Hanna (along with the entire filmmaking team) has never known a life that fit cleanly into theoretical lines. And this film really gets into that, which makes it an urgent, timely story.

Between festivals, we’ve been heads-down finishing preparations for our Kickstarter campaign, officially launching November 15th (mark your calendars!). This campaign will help us raise $15,000 toward our $60,000 goal — the crucial funds to bring on our incredible editors and finish the film.

✨ Magdalena Hernandez, our Colombian editor, and Christie Herring, consulting editor and fellow Mississippi native, are already dreaming big about shaping this story with care and nuance. We can’t wait to bring them fully onboard — with your help.

And because there’s never not a reason for a party in New Orleans…

🎉 Kickstarter Launch Party — New Orleans, Saturday November 15th 1-4pm 🎉
We’re throwing a Mississippi Mercedes party at Junk Drawer Coffee Shop (2045 Broadway Street), complete with a silent auction, drag king face painting, cold brew, sweet treats, and some very fun surprises. If you’re anywhere near New Orleans, come join us to kick things off right.

We’ll be sharing the full campaign link and all the exciting reward tiers soon — think: Southern magic, queer joy, and Magnolia-inspired treasures.

Thanks for being with us as we steer this film toward the finish line. Every word of encouragement, every share, every dollar means the world.

Share Mississippi Mercedes Film

With love and gratitude,
Hanna, Fabiola, Emma, & Grecia
Team Mississippi Mercedes

Share Mississippi Mercedes Film

At the screening, we will share a 10-minute work sample of the film that features key participants, locations, and themes. Fellow filmmakers and industry leaders will get to respond and react to character development, tone, and cinematic approach in the film. This is a big deal for us because it means some of the best and brightest minds in the documentary film industry will offer invaluable feedback and direction; and it’s perfect timing! We are about halfway through our rough cut now, which is the most critical time for these types of considerations.

We’re so proud to be part of this lineup. Hot Springs is the oldest all-documentary film festival in North America. In many ways, this is where our film was born. It was at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival’s Filmmaker Retreat many years ago that Mississippi Mercedes set foot into the world as a feature film, rather than as a short, which was the initial intention.

Also — equally as exciting — our director, Hanna Lane Miller, will participate on a panel during the Festival called “Where are all the Southern accents?” The panel will discuss representation in the documentary film industry, and all the joy and baggage that comes along with having a country twang.

😎 While at the Festival, we will be gathering pledges for our upcoming Kickstarter campaign! We have really, REALLY good merch. And this is only the beginning. 😎

🧩 What’s Next: Our Crowdfunding Campaign!

Behind the scenes, we’ve been working hard to prepare for our **Kickstarter campaign — now officially set to launch (drumroll, please…) → **
🎉 Mid-November! 🎉

We’re in that fun, slightly-chaotic phase of finalizing all the details — crafting reward tiers (some SUPER FUN stuff coming 👀), fine-tuning the rollout plan, and generally buzzing with excitement.

Our immediate goal for the campaign is simple but mighty: raise the funds to bring our incredible editors on board so we can finish the film.

The total we need to reach the finish line is $65,000, and through Kickstarter, we’ll be aiming to raise $20,000 of that.

✂️ Meet Our Editors

🎞 Magdalena Hernández — Editor
A film editor from Bogotá, Colombia, Magdalena earned her BA in Filmmaking from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and her MS in Cinema Post-Production from DePaul University. Her work has screened at Sundance, DocFest, the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, and many more. She brings a deeply human, artistic eye — and a personal connection to Mercedes’ story — that we’re so lucky to have shaping this film.

🎬 Christie Herring — Consulting Editor
An award-winning filmmaker, producer, and editor, Christie has worked in documentary for over 25 years, often exploring complex political and cultural subjects. Her PBS-premiered film The Campaign chronicled the fight for marriage equality in the U.S. A native of Canton, Mississippi, Christie’s grounded perspective and storytelling wisdom are already bringing heart and clarity to Mississippi Mercedes.

💖 Stay Tuned (and Get Ready to Be Bugged — Lovingly)

Indie films, grassroots efforts, and Kickstarter campaigns only work when many hands come together. Your enthusiasm, shares, and encouragement mean everything. Get ready for social media updates, more newsletters, and maybe even a personal email or two from the film’s crew.

Thank you for being here and believing in this story. We can’t wait to bring you along for the wild ride ahead.

— the Mississippi Mercedes team

In June, producer Fabiola Rodriguez and director/DP Hanna Miller headed to Durham, NC for the Southern Documentary Convening, an annual three-day conference for first-time, emerging, and seasoned documentary makers.

Over the weekend, they joined panels, workshops, and industry roundtables—sharing updates on Mississippi Mercedes, diving deep into storytelling craft, and reflecting on the values that drive urgent documentary film work. It was energizing and clarifying, and the timing couldn’t have been better as we gear up for the next phase of this film.

Conversations That Matter

One of the highlights was reconnecting with Reel South for rich conversation about what it means to tell a Southern story right now. Mercedes’ story is completely Southern and completely American. The tale of a queer Latina business owner running for mayor in a small Mississippi town feels more relevant than ever in this politically charged (and even fraught, depending on your take) moment in the U.S.

This film stands on contradictions, charisma, courage, and blunders. Documenting and sharing this story has always been about holding multiple truths at once. We were reminded why that’s so needed.

Being more than “one thing” is a given; discussing that complexity is a dying art.

A Full Circle Moment

Another special connection: the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. Back in 2019, Hanna attended the HSDFF filmmakers’ retreat and shared Mississippi Mercedes with an audience for the first time (back when it was just realized this wasn’t a short — but a feature!). In Hot Springs, people were really excited about this film. That energy and excitement has all but carried us to where we are now.

Now, five years later, the film is in post-production. It felt deeply meaningful to check back in with that community and reflect on how far this story has come.

A Note About Public Media

One message we heard loud and clear during the convening: our public media institutions need us. Mississippi Mercedes seeks broad distribution through PBS. We believe this story belongs in every living room in America; our country deserves this mirror to be held up to itself in this exact moment.

But PBS is at risk. Federal budget cuts could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars lost for stations across the South—and in many places, that’s more than just programming. That’s jobs, that’s local reporting, that’s the end of the line for powerful storytelling.

If you care about public media—and we know you do—head to protectmypublicmedia.org to learn how you can help keep these platforms alive.

An Evening to Remember

Finally, the conference also screened two stunning films, both followed by rich Q+As. One that stole our hearts was The In Between by Robie Flores. Robie and Hanna were BAVC MediaMaker Fellows together back in 2020, workshopping their projects side by side, Robie with The In Between and Hanna with Mississippi Mercedes.

Watching Robie’s finished film on the big screen was a celebration: of the process, of perseverance, and of storytelling that refuses to flatten real people into tidy narratives to serve powers that only divide us. It was emotional, it was affirming, and it was just the inspiration we needed as we head toward…

🚀 Our Upcoming Kickstarter Launch

We’ll be sharing more details very soon—but for now, know that the Mississippi Mercedes Kickstarter campaign is around the corner!

We’ve got a lot to share in the coming weeks, and we’re so grateful to have you with us on this journey. Thank you for being here, for reading, for sharing, and for caring about this story.

With love from the South,
—Hanna, Emma, & Fabiola

The Mississippi Mercedes Team

We’re back with a spring update — full of gratitude, progress, and a little peek behind the curtain at what’s ahead for Mississippi Mercedes.

First, some great news. We’ve received a $5,000 grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council! This support will help cover honoraria, travel, and equipment rental for our next big step: completing secondary production, which brings the film’s stylized, performative newspaper readings to life.

These scenes are a key part of the film’s rhythm and visual language – and here’s what’s really cool about them. The newspaper readings feature articles from the Enterprise Journal, which is a paper serving a few counties in southeast Mississippi. This paper is published a couple times a week and is delivered to people’s doorstep, offering adept coverage of all newsworthy moments. There aren’t many papers like this left in the country, and we’re really proud to show off such an impactful community staple in these scenes.

Additionally, these scenes will help weave the narrative of the documentary together, and we are taking liberties as a creative team to make them compelling and fun. Playing with concepts of identity and performance, you can expect to see southern lives colorfully and indulgently celebrated.

Our full funding goal for this shoot is $15,000, which means we’re now $10,000 away from making it happen! We need funds for:
• Supplies & props - $1,500
• Hair, makeup, and wardrobe - $500
• Location rental - $500
• Crew labor & meals - $2,500
• Licensing fees for the local newspaper archive - $5,000

NOTE: We’re not launching our Kickstarter campaign just yet — but we’re starting to raise funds through grants and direct donations. Think of this as a soft launch: We’re moving the project forward, brick by brick, and we want to be transparent about what it takes.

When the Kickstarter does go live (this summer!), there will be amazing rewards and lots of ways to get involved. The main goal for that fundraising round will be to hire our talented and accomplished editors.

For now, we have great momentum for you to join by sending a donation to complete secondary production! If you feel called to support the film in this quieter, pre-campaign moment, this will help assure these stylized scenes are completed by mid-July. All donations will be processed through our non-profit fiscal sponsor, Creative Mississippi, and are a tax write off for you.

Tax-deductible donations can be mailed to:
Jo G. Prichard
4011 Hawthorne Dr.
Jackson, MS 39206-5833
(Please include a note that it’s for “Mississippi Mercedes.”)

And finally — a big thank you to a new friend of the film, documentary filmmaker John Marks. We had the pleasure of meeting John recently thanks to a dear professor from Hanna and Emma’s Sewanee days, Dr. Elizabeth Grammer. John’s warmth and wisdom have been a balm, and he’s already connected us to a few more generous and thoughtful folks (including some family!). We’re reminded again that one of the best parts of this work is building real relationships along the way.

Thanks for being here. Your belief in this film makes all the difference, truly we mean it!!!

With love and grit,
Hanna, Emma, & Fabiola
Team Mississippi Mercedes

Filming in a place like Magnolia, Mississippi, presents its own set of challenges. People here know how they’ve been portrayed before—often as caricatures, often without much care. The disregard has only emboldened my mission to do right by my home, which has meant I’ve given lots of time to Magnolia, and in that, I’ve listened and done my best to remain curious, even when I’ve been sure I already knew the answers.

I shot this film over several years, embedding myself in the rhythms of the town, letting the story unfold naturally. Magnolia is a place that defies simple explanations—it’s queer and conservative, openhearted and closed off, deeply flawed and deeply loving. The South has always been full of contradictions, but those contradictions don’t always make it onto the screen in a way that feels real. The contradictions aren’t just funny, wild, or unbelievable. All behavior has meaning, and in this film, we’re digging into that meaning and rooting the wacky moments in motivations that are very human and widely shared.

One of the ways we plan to capture this complexity is through stylized newspaper readings—one of the final production elements we’re working to bring to life. Throughout Mississippi Mercedes, you’ll hear real articles from Magnolia’s local paper read aloud—sometimes by the very people they’re written about. These staged readings, performed in a stark, almost theatrical setting, will remind us that identity—personal, political, and regional—is always, in some way, a performance. Who tells the story, and how, shapes what we believe to be true.

These readings aren’t just about reporting facts; they’re about how a town sees itself and how that vision changes over time. And they’re one of the most exciting parts of this film.

Bringing this vision to the screen takes resources, and we’re deep in the process of securing funding for this final phase of production. If you’re as eager to see these scenes come to life as we are, stay tuned—we’ll be sharing more soon about how you can be part of making it happen.

Thank you for being here, for being curious, and for believing in the power of a story well told.

More soon.

Best,
Hanna

I’m so excited to finally share Mississippi Mercedes with you. This documentary, my first feature-length film, has been a labor of love, and I can’t wait for you to see it.

The film follows Mercedes Ricks, an immigrant and complicated small-town hero, who runs for mayor of Magnolia, Mississippi. She challenges stereotypes and navigates some of the most pressing questions of our time—questions about identity, acceptance, and belonging. What does it mean to call a town, state, or country “home?” Who determines acceptance?

What makes Mercedes’ story so powerful is the way she embodies the complexities of life in the rural South. This is a story about an imperfect person trying her best in a world that often feels at odds with itself. Maybe you also feel like an imperfect person trying your best despite the chaos. Turns out we all want to belong, some way or another. I certainly do, and it’s this desire that’s prompted this film and that keeps me going as a Southern filmmaker.

Speaking of, growing up in Mississippi, I didn’t see my story reflected in the media. The state is often painted with a broad brush, defined by its history and politics. And, to be clear, the bad reputation Mississippi has begged for has been WELL earned! But when people from outside the South pit the entire country’s problems on our region, well…they kinda let themselves off the hook and leave it there. While many of this country’s problems were birthed and reared in Mississippi specifically, many of the world’s best solutions can also be found there. The best people I have ever known are in Mississippi, and I want you to be able to say the same.

Mississippi Mercedes is a chance to share a different side of the South, one that’s queer, diverse, and full of surprising moments of humor and humanity. It’s a place where people work hard to make things work, even when the world feels like it’s pulling them in different directions. And you know what?! As you’ll see in this film, they mess up. Sometimes really badly. And then they try really hard to deal with it!

Why does this film matter? Because the South is changing. We are the gayest region. Our diversity is growing. We even have a lot of opportunities for film and economic growth. The South has always been a place full of contradictions and complexities that are often overlooked. At a time when so many issues are being framed in black and white, Mississippi Mercedes highlights the gray areas—the messy, imperfect reality of life in a community trying to move forward together with very few resources.

I believe in telling stories that come from within, stories that reflect the real people and places that make up a community. Mississippi Mercedes is a reflection of that. It’s messy, it’s funny, and it’s full of heart. I’m proud of what we’ve captured and so grateful for the support that’s gotten us this far.

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Thank you for being part of this journey. I can’t wait to share more with you soon!

As always,
Hanna

Director, Mississippi Mercedes