Arts Roll Call Episode 16: Petra Daher–Uniting People and Creating Change

Welcome to Episode 16 of Arts Roll Call–a podcast for the arts curious. In this episode, host Robin Miner-Swartz talks with local photographer and filmmaker Petra Daher. They delve into Petra’s 20-plus years as owner of Petra Daher Productions and how Petra’s love of photography and film have led down a path of activism. She talks about teaching, documentary filmmaking and how we can use our art and experiences to create change in the world.

Meet Petra

Petra Daher is a filmmaker, photographer and artist who specializes in documentary film production, digital storytelling and photography. She studied at Michigan State University and has been the owner of Petra Daher Productions for twenty years. Her films explore culture, creativity, environmentalism and grassroots activism. Petra has produced and worked on award-winning films that have been screened at film festivals, on Netflix and public and educational television. Her photography has been exhibited in galleries and published nationally in a variety of media outlets.

She loves to share her passion for storytelling and has taught Digital Filmmaking, Photography, and Puppet Theater to people of all ages. She’s an artist in residence for the Wharton Center’s Kennedy Center Partners in Education Program and works with teachers to integrate puppetry and digital storytelling into their lesson plans. In 2019 Petra Productions released the film In Peace We Trust, a documentary about the Meta Peace Team, a group that teaches nonviolence techniques as alternatives to militarism. The documentary is currently streaming on the Reel Women’s Network.

She was also the Michigan Director of Photography for Director Jane Rosemont’s feature documentary, Acting Like Nothing is Wrong, about Hollywood actor Jim Hoffmaster. Petra Productions is currently producing a documentary series called Great Lakes Water Warriors, about the Great Lakes Water Protectors who are working to safeguard water and enforce healthy water policies. And Uniting People, a documentary about the rebirth of the Poor People’s Campaign. A social justice movement led by Rev. William Barber that inspired the largest wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in the 21st century in the United States. Have a look.

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