In partnership with the Mississippi Film Society, MMA will host a screening of the unique documentary and animation film This World is Not My Own, which tells the life story of the self-taught artist Nellie Mae Rowe. Stay afterwards for a panel discussion and Q + A with the filmmakers and to learn more about works on view by other self-taught artists at MMA.   

This screening of This World is Not My Own is part of South Arts’ Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. Since its inception in 1975, Southern Circuit has brought influential independent filmmakers and their films from around the country to communities throughout the South. The program is made possible through a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, Mississippi Film Society, and the Mississippi Humanities Council. 

Schedule of Events

• 6 PM – Doors Open, Cash Bar Available
• 6:30 PM – Screening of This World is Not My Own (1h 37m)
• Following the film, there will be a Q&A session with Chase Quinn, MMA’s Creative Director and Curator of Special Projects, and filmmaker Ruchi Mital.

About the Panelists

Ruchi Mital is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and writer with a social justice background. She is the Foundress of Solani Media, whose first co-production, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow (dir Martina Radwan) was an official selection at DOCNYC 2023.

In 2014, Ruchi produced We Could Be King, which won the Emmy for Outstanding Sports Documentary. Her subsequent films Sky Ladder: The Art Of Cai Guo-Qiang (2016), and This is Personal (2019) premiered at Sundance. For HBO, she produced the Emmy-nominated series, The Case Against Adnan Syed. In 2021, she produced The Me You Can’t See for Apple TV+ and in 2023 the emmy-nominated Encounters for Netflix. This World is Not My Own, a hybrid documentary about self-taught artist Nellie Mae Rowe that Ruchi produced and co-wrote premiered at SXSW in 2023 and will air on PBS in Spring 2025.

In 2020, Ruchi was selected as one of DOCNYC’s 40 Under 40 list of emerging non-fiction talents. She has served as a filmmaking mentor through the 2021 Sundance Producer’s Intensive and 2022 DOCNYC Storytelling Incubator and served as a juror for DOCNYC and Reel Sisters of the African Diaspora film festival.

Chase Quinn is recognized by Garden & Gun magazine as one of the art world’s rising vanguards, Chase serves as MMA’s Creative Director and Curator of Special Projects, overseeing education and curatorial departments to foster inclusive storytelling and innovative programming. Previously, at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, he led bold initiatives, including a diversity-focused internship and the landmark exhibition Something Terrible May Happen, which recontextualized Charleston’s art history with support from institutions like Harvard Art Museums and the Musée d’Orsay.

About our Partners

About the Mississippi Humanities Council
The Mississippi Humanities Council is a private, nonprofit organization funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities. The MHC creates opportunities for Mississippians to learn about themselves and the larger world and enriches communities through civil conversations about our history and culture. 

About the Mississippi Film Society
The Mississippi Film Society is a non-profit that works to entertain, educate, and inspire Mississippians through community film screenings, lectures, workshops, and festivals.