Client: Advancement Project, Inc.
Producer: Leila McDowell
Director/Editor: Paul Grant
Camera A: Paul Grant
Camera B & Audio Assist: Joshua A. Washington

 

Every now and again, our work allows us to touch history.  It’s an electrifying yet fleeting moment. But we are thrilled to work behind the scenes while great stories that define the times in which we live unfold in front of our eyes.

Desiline Victor, a 102 year-old, Haitian Immigrant, was told  she had to wait up to six hours to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election at the polls near  her North Miami residence. Desiline persisted through the heat, the long lines and having been wrongly returned from the front to the back of the line because  it was though that she had the wrong paper work proving her residency.  Three hours later, she emerged from the polls with her “I Voted” sticker and throngs of cheering people, to become the symbol of voter frustration and for much need revamping of the U.S. voting system/ process.

Ascender was tapped by Advancement Project, Inc., a non-profit civil rights advocacy group, to document her experiences in Washington immediately leading up to her being an invited guest at the 2013 State of The Union Address.  Save for a few technical embellishments, this was story that ended up telling itself–and inspiring millions in the process.