The Morrill Lecture Series
At the Octagon Barn
E4350 Horseshoe Road, Spring Green
A Decent Home: screening and conversation
Candi Evans
Film by Sara Terry
October 3, 6:00 p.m.
Gard Theater
The evening will begin with a screening of A Decent Home. A DECENT HOME is a feature length documentary film by Sara Terry that addresses urgent issues of class and economic inequity through the lives of mobile home park residents who can’t afford housing anywhere else. The film asks, Who are we becoming as Americans? — as private equity firms and wealthy investors buy up parks, making sky-high returns on their investments while squeezing every last penny out of the mobile home owners who lack rights and protections under local and state laws, and must pay rent for the land they live on.
Candi Evans, Iowa park resident and activist for manufactured home park issues, will share her experiences after the screening.
Candi Evans (pictured with her daughters) is a courageous, compassionate leader motivated by love for her neighbors and a strong desire for justice. As co-founder of the Golfview Residents' Association in her North Liberty neighborhood and leader of the newly formed Iowa Manufactured Home Residents Network, she is a prominent public voice for affordable housing and fair treatment for Iowa manufactured homeowners. Faced with steep lot rent increases and harsh rule changes when new out-of-state owners took over her mobile home park in 2019, Candi organized her neighborhood, researched state laws, and reached out to community leaders. She has since gone on to become a powerful media spokeswoman and coordinator of statewide legislative advocacy.
Sara Terry is a mid-career director whose work explores how we define our humanity and the role of community in helping us understand what our humanity looks like. Her first documentary, Fambul Tok (2011), about an unprecedented grass roots forgiveness program in Sierra Leone, was supported by Sundance and Chicken and Egg and won several awards at more than hundred festivals world-wide. FOLK, Terry’s second documentary, followed three singer-songwriters through the sub-culture of American folk music; the film enjoyed a successful niche film and music festival run, including DOC NYC, Nashville Film Festival and Bonnaroo Music Festival. Terry is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild, and has worked as a story consultant/consulting producer/grant writer on more than a dozen documentaries. She is a Sundance Documentary Fellow, a Film Independent Independent Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow in Photography, a Logan Non-Fiction Fellow and a member of VII photo agency.