We Are Chaffee Documentary
“A Home in Paradise” is based on the stories of four local people who share their challenges
to create a healthy and secure home in Chaffee County, and their efforts to access and
bridge the housing, behavioral health, and socioeconomic divide.The film is directed by Julie
Speer Jackson, an Emmy Award winning filmmaker/producer who also serves as the Chaffee
County Film Commissioner, and videographer and editor Sarah Hamilton.
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We Are Chaffee Documentary
A Home in Paradise Trailer
"A Home In Paradise" is a documentary about the growing health disparities here in Chaffee County, including housing, mental and behavioral health, and the socio-economic divide. This film is a call to action for community members to begin important conversations around these issues and work together to mend our divided paradise that we call home.
The documentary highlights the lives of the following Chaffee County community members.
Ursula Jones: Immigrant from Peru discussing the importance of community and the challenges of being an immigrant.
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Jordan Cunliffe: Jordan shares his experiences living with addiction and staying sober in Chaffee County.
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Shelley Schreiner: Executive Director of The Alliance, shares her personal challenges with housing both for herself and her staff. During filming, Shelley lived in the Saguache Valley which was a 45-minute drive each way to get to work.
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William Doyle: William gives us a window into the local recreation economy as a raft guide in the summer and ski patrol in the winter. When William’s rental was sold suddenly, it left him facing an unaffordable housing landscape and nowhere to live.
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“Shepherding this documentary has been a very important project for me personally,” says Julie Speer Jackson. “I’ve lived in Salida since 2018 and have seen housing costs rise astronomically. Bringing together local talent, including Sarah Hamilton who’s the editor and lead videographer, Amy Turner who wrote the script, and many local musicians, allowed us to tell this story with completely local creatives. It’s truly a home grown documentary film exploring a phenomenon that’s happening across the country. We’re using our art to shed light on these issues and creating a tool that brings the community together to talk about it is a great first step to solving the housing crisis.” The film also engages many local experts who share their personal and professional perspectives and offer hope for the future.
This documentary was developed with a “Creative Committee” of 25 local representatives from diverse parts of the community. The committee provided guidance throughout the process of the development of “A Home in Paradise”, and ensured that it is honest and true to Chaffee County. The committee drew on information from Chaffee County’s Public Health and Housing Reports and their real-life experiences with housing insecurity, behavioral health challenges, aging, transportation, and the general growing socio-economic divide within Chaffee County.
“A Home in Paradise" is funded through a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: Office of Health Equity, and is managed by Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority.
The We Are Chaffee storytelling initiative was developed in 2019 and works with community members to share their stories in short videos, written stories, and a podcast that is available worldwide on any podcast app. We Are Chaffee partners with local authors, Colorado Mountain College, KHEN Radio, nonprofit organizations and others to make this possible. “Storytelling is a powerful advocacy tool that empowers people to speak up about the issues that they care about and that impact them, while also informing our community’s leaders and decision makers to make thoughtful and equitable policies and build inclusive systems. Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority have been working together for several years to ignite a storytelling movement, We Are Chaffee, to highlight the rich
diversity of our county while also uniting us,” says Andrea Carlstrom, Chaffee County Public Health Director.
JULIE SPEER JACKSON PRESIDENT & CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
An Emmy-Award-Winning filmmaker and 4th generation Coloradan, Julie has produced and directed over 1000 documentaries across the US and abroad, including several Emmy Award-Winning shows for Public Television. She is the Creator of Rocky Mountain PBS’s “Colorado Experience” and has several narrative and documentary projects in development. She is the Chief Creative Officer for jSPiNC, the Chief Content Officer for Truce Media Collective and the Chaffee Country Film Commissioner. She lives in Salida and Denver.
SARAH HAMILTON - VIDEOGRAPHER & EDITOR, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Sarah Hamilton is a documentary editor and director. For seven years she has created films exploring Arab-American identity post 9/11, the power of music after tragedy, and a Corps' movement grappling with its problematic past. Sarah is drawn to stories with deep emotional truths that transcend our differences. An intrepid camera operator she can get the shot in highly technical and remote environments: her work has been done climbing, skiing, as well as deep in the backcountry for extended periods. She assistant edits
for films featured at Tribeca, Banff, Mountain Film, and Five Point. She lives in Salida, Colorado.