Holding Open the Door for Hope

In conversation with Katrina Miller

By Matt Maenpaa

A self-described storyteller, artist, wife and mother, Katrina Miller is an accomplished videographer, filmmaker and documentarian. Her work has graced the halls of film festivals and screens throughout Colorado, highlighting the lives and struggles faced by the African American community.

Still, Miller is far more than the sum of her myriad descriptors. She is a woman engaged in building community, using her talents to shine a light on inequity and struggle while also showcasing the beauty in diversity. Miller chooses to believe in goodness and looks for the best in people, even when society challenges that notion on a daily basis.

“For the most part, I’m a very positive person,” Miller says. “However, being in this realm of unifying work, where hope fluctuates so much, has been a challenge. Interactions with like-minded people help to restore and replenish my hope when feeling depleted.”

Born into a military family and raised by her Panamanian mother outside Colorado Springs, Miller quickly learned the value of hard work and education. Her mother was a health care professional and encouraged her children’s independence as she pursued her own higher education in order to give them a bountiful life.

Miller carries the struggles of her people with her as well, both from her mother’s Afro-Latino heritage and the Seminole and African American from her father’s side. The legacy of oppression, from enslavement to the Trail of Tears, running through her multicultural history serves to inform her work now, she says. She hopes to build a better community where people won’t forget the pasts of Black Americans.

“I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors from all walks of life that have endured the unimaginable,” she says. “All the cultures that make me who I am have lived through these intense periods of oppression. In a way, I’ve felt like an underdog my whole life, but their endurance gives me faith in myself.”

Those experiences, along with her own experiences as a Black woman in Colorado, helped give direction to Miller’s work, casting light on the experiences faced by underrepresented and marginalized communities in Boulder and asking hard questions about the lack of representation and diversity in the area. One of her first films as a journalism student, “Blacklash,” explored the lack of diversity and sometimes racist behavior experienced at CU Boulder more than 20 years ago.

Since then, Miller has gone on to work at landmark institutions like Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where she was director of videography and leads her own team, Blackat Video Productions. Her documentaries, “Silence of Quarantine” and “This is [Not] Who We Are,” have been shown at the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) and beyond. 

“Silence of Quarantine,” as well as Miller’s short “ISO of Boulder,” dig into the struggle of isolation during the COVID-19 quarantine period. Silence looks at the lives of Boulder’s Second Baptist Church through the eyes of elderly members of the congregation and the struggles an already small population faced when in-person gathering was restricted and its membership dwindled.

While working on those short films, Miller had already partnered with Beret Strong and Landlocked Films to produce “This Is [Not] Who We Are.” Framed around the 2019 incident where a Naropa University student, Zayd Atkinson, was racially profiled and forcibly held without cause by Boulder police officers, the film explores the history of systemic racism and its foundations in Boulder’s 150-year history. The film debuted at BIFF in 2022, taking home the People’s Choice Award, even though judges hadn’t considered the film in any other category. Exploring systems of injustice only serves to help dismantle them and encourage a more equitable future for everyone. 

“We all have to chip away at oppressive systems little by little to make progress and move ahead,” Miller says. “We humans have a lot more in common than not; however, the racist matrix that was put into place long ago in our country’s past still affects us. I think it’s going to take something big happening to humanity for us to stop struggling with each other over something as insignificant as skin color.”

Since “This is [Not] Who We Are” debuted, Miller has taken time to further her work in the community while making sure she can prioritize time with her family. Recognizing that as important as her filmmaking has been, it is equally important that she can spend time with her children and encourage their creative pursuits.

After years of videography with the Museum of Boulder, she also stepped into the role of docent, sharing her love of education and history with visitors. Miller stepped up with the Longmont Humane Society as well, seeing a need for fresh perspectives. While volunteering there with her daughter, the Humane Society stopped allowing children to volunteer. Though she found a way in for the pair, she didn’t stop there, instead taking a seat on the board of directors.

“For me it wasn’t enough, and I wanted to see that all kids have this opportunity to volunteer and a pathway towards working with animals in the future,” she says.

Not settling for being an award-winning documentarian, museum docent or board member, Miller recently took a new position with historic Lincoln Hills in neighboring Gilpin County. Through the Museum of Boulder, she worked on an exhibition detailing the area’s history and what is there now.

“It was beyond inspiring to me when I went there to film. I love the outdoors, and part of the magic of working at Lincoln Hills was being out under the stars, surrounded by nature,” she explains.

Founded in 1925, Lincoln Hills was the first resort catering to African Americans west of the Mississippi, incorporating an all-girls summer camp, vacation properties and more. Now known as Lincoln Hills Cares, the nonprofit promotes equitable access to outdoor resources through conservation, preservation and education. Miller records vignettes that highlight the variety of programs on offer.

After the sometimes-exhausting work pointing out inequity and injustice, and her own experiences with it through the years, Miller says finding the work at Lincoln Hills has been eye-opening.

“It’s validating, confirming, and informs me that the things I’ve been saying and feeling aren’t wrong,” she says. “I think I needed to be in an environment where people understand and are working for racial equity. Lincoln Hills doesn’t replace my other work in film and live productions, but it keeps me hopeful and allows me to recharge so I can come down the mountain and try another day.”

No matter which path she’s on, Miller hopes that her work can inspire others to be in community with each other. Whether with organizations like Lincoln Hills or offering up copies of “This is [Not] Who We Are” free to local schools, Miller wants to open the door to a better world.

“A big reason why we made this film is because we are looking toward the future and how we can make an equitable and comfortable place of belonging for our kids,” she says.

For more on Katrina Miller and Blackat Video Production, visit blackatvideoproductions.com

For more on the film “This is [Not] Who We Are,” visit thisisnotwhowearefilm.com

Support Inclusive Business

A diverse and inclusive community can only add to the beautiful mosaic of our home, so we asked Katrina Miller for her top recommendations for Black-owned businesses in Boulder County and its environs.

“Entrepreneurship is critical to the black community. Historically, research has shown that many people of color start their own businesses because of lack of success advancing in a traditional work setting,” Miller says. “For most of us, it’s not enough to be hired and sit in meetings. Having meaningful work within business collaborations and having a voice within an organization are what will bring true inclusion.”

Sharon’s House of Beauty

1455 Coal Creek Dr. Unit A, Lafayette

sharonsbeautyempire.org

Outworld Brewing

1725 Vista View Dr., Ste. B, Longmont

outworldbrewing.com

Alchemy Stitches

instagram.com/alchemy_stitches

Code Ninjas, Louisville

1387 E. South Boulder Rd., Units E&F, Louisville

codeninjas.com

Voice Our Power 

voiceourpower.com

Dance with Georgia

georgiamichelle.com

Mon-Rae Facility Services

mon-raefacilityservices.com

Lincoln Hills Cares

lincolnhillscares.org

R&R Vision

instagram.com/randrvision

NAACP

naacpbouldercounty.org