Directors
Theresa Delsoin, Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker
Producers
Rachel Burns, Karin Chien, Judson Childs, Theresa Delsoin, Clarence Dossie, Wynne Hannan, Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker
Editors
Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker
Cinematographers
Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker
In the Southern Illinois region of Little Egypt, a sound recordist revisits the flat fields where once stood Pyramid Courts. These housing projects formed the heart of the Black community of his hometown, Cairo. His mic gathers sonic ephemera of past, present, and future within the grasses, trees, and skies. Kids play, birds flock, a grandmother and granddaughter sage for protection from evil spirits, and an official who oversaw the projects’ closing reflects on its psychic toll. Throughout, a 1970 private release LP by the United Front of Cairo, a Black Power movement led by Rev. Dr. Charles Koen, guides the sound recordist – and us – on a search for connections across struggles for liberation, near and far. Through On the Battlefield, these voices march towards resurgence.
Ray Whitaker is an artist and entrepreneur from Cairo, Illinois, who previously lived in Pyramid Courts housing projects. At a young age, he trained as a concrete worker with his grandfather, Elihue Whitaker, who also shared with him the importance of cultivating the next generation. He is a founding member of Little Egypt Collective, where he focuses on training youth in Cairo to unlock their artistic potential through film and acting workshops.
Theresa Delsoin is an author, teacher, and community leader who grew up in Pyramid Courts housing projects in Cairo, Illinois. She has published multiple books that explore healing across race relations and family histories, including the co-authored work Malindy’s Freedom: A Story of a Slave Family, which was featured as an American history book in academia. She is the first female director of a Boy’s Club within the Boys and Girls Club of America, a former US Peace Corps volunteer in Samoa, and a leader within Southern Illinois’ NAACP chapter and Community Health and Emergency Services organization—her role as a founding member of Little Egypt Collective marks her foray into filmmaking.
Lisa Marie Malloy is an artist whose work centers on cinema’s potential for collective world-mending, engaging communities in the US and Taiwan to create films such as The Raw and the Cooked (2022) and A Shape of Things to Come (2020). She uses cinema as a stage to illuminate connections across generations and between species. As a founding member of Little Egypt Collective, she leads filmmaking workshops with youth and elders.
J.P. Sniadecki is a filmmaker who works between China and the US in collaboration with people and places to make films such as A Shape of Things to Come (2020), El Mar La Mar (2017), The Iron Ministry (2014), Yumen (2013), and Peoples Park (2012). He is also a Professor in the Radio, TV, and Film Department of Northwestern University and a core faculty in the MFA of Documentary Media. As a founding member of Little Egypt Collective, he works to create generative opportunities and connections for emerging artists.
