About

After a 32-year career as a feature writer, university magazine editor, and director of publications and periodicals at UAB, Pam Powell began telling stories via video, audio, and photography in 2009; she has produced several multi-chapter biographical films (life stories captured through video interviews and archival media) and has produced numerous short video features. Since 2014, she has conducted more than 100 full life-story interviews and edited this footage into several short films, as well as into video features about the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham. Bending the Arc is her first documentary miniseries; she serves as director, co-producer, writer, photographer/videographer, and one of the two primary editors of the film.

David Brower has spent four decades filming, directing and producing commercials, documentaries, narrative shorts and feature films, accumulating many awards. Growing up in Chicago, then living and working in Phoenix, he moved to Birmingham 28 years ago, then moved to Placitas, New Mexico in 2021. He was involved with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham for many years (for his children and for social justice issues), without ever joining the congregation, giving him both a familiarity and an objective perspective on the church. He hopes these films will inspire people to continue to fight for equal justice for everyone. He serves as co-producer, videographer, photographer, and one of the two primary editors of the films.

Shannon Leutzinger is a graphic designer and art director who has ten years of experience working in marketing agencies as well as with in-house marketing departments. When approached by the Bending the Arc team to design the project’s branding, motion graphics, and marketing deliverables, she was honored. This project not only utilized her love of all things design and development, but it also tapped into her passion for history, community impact, and positive change. She is a South Alabama native who has called the Magic City home for years now. She is a graduate of Auburn University and obtained her master’s from Savannah College of Art and Design.

Gail Allyn Short is an award-winning writer and freelance journalist based in Birmingham, Alabama. She specializes in writing about business, government, social issues, education and faith for local, regional and national publications. Her work has appeared in American Profile, American City & County Magazine, Outreach, Business Alabama Magazine and Birmingham Watch, to name a few. She has covered everything from the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee and the minimum wage to the intersection between race and public education. When she isn’t working, she is volunteering in her church’s outreach programs. The work has included ministering to women at a work-release center in Birmingham. She is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Tonya Groomes is an Atlanta chemical engineer whose relative was caught up in the brutal convict lease system in Birmingham back in the early 1900s. She and her family were featured in a Publitzer-Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name, and also in a documentary with the same title. She is a central narrator who helps weave the Bending the Arc films together.