{"id":59802,"date":"2025-10-03T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=59802"},"modified":"2025-10-01T14:45:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:45:26","slug":"vaca-professors-film-wins-best-documentary-short-at-nc-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/vaca-professors-film-wins-best-documentary-short-at-nc-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"VACA professor\u2019s film wins \u2018Best Documentary Short\u2019 at NC festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After filming her 2024 feature documentary Bloom<\/em>, which explores the American hospital system and the birth workers striving to make reproductive care safer and more accessible, EMU professor and documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Miller-Derstine<\/strong> began searching for her next project. \u201cI was looking for something lighter,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to show people sharing in collective joy together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when the former Durham, North Carolina, resident stumbled onto the annual Beaver Queen Pageant, \u201ca wildly campy, dam-important celebration of queer joy, eco-love, and over-the-top critter cosplay\u201d held in the city for the past two decades. The raucous, homegrown drag competition, with its blend of high drama and low stakes, proved to be the perfect subject for the filmmaker, who joined EMU\u2019s Visual and Communication Arts (VACA<\/a>) Department this year as assistant professor of digital media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
\u201cMadam Bitey White,\u201d another contestant in the 2023 Beaver Queen Pageant, struts on stage.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Her latest film, the heartwarming and quirky Once Upon a Wetland <\/em>(2025), won \u201cBest Documentary Short\u201d at BEYOND: The Cary Film Festival (North Carolina) in mid-September, where it competed against short films from around the world. The 15-minute documentary follows first-time contestants Madam Bitey White, a charismatic performer and trivia host, and 16-year-old Ginger Bite-Dis, the youngest competitor, as they prepare for and compete in the 2023 Beaver Queen Pageant. The film offers a playful and poignant look at how local traditions provide space for defiance, connection, and collective care during a time of looming anti-LGBTQ legislation and tightening drag restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a film that highlights joy,\u201d said Miller-Derstine. \u201cIt\u2019s about the hope we find when we gather together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why beavers?<\/strong>
The first Beaver Queen Pageant was held in April 2005 to celebrate a successful community effort by the Duke Park neighborhood in Durham to stop the North Carolina Department of Transportation from eradicating a den of beavers that had taken up residence in the wetlands north of Interstate 85, according to the pageant\u2019s website<\/a>. The annual event is a fundraiser for local nonprofit organizations, including the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Each June, people of all ages gather at the Durham, North Carolina, park to watch the \u201cun-beaver-lievable\u201d display of folly, pageantry, and humor.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

The pageant\u2019s castorine contestants take on beaver personalities, introduce themselves in their handcrafted \u201cwetlands-ready wear,\u201d showcase unique talents, and participate in interviews in their finest evening wear. The website notes that Beav Aldrin, the 2015 Queen, performed an aerial routine on silks, while the 2012 Queen, Furrah Gnawsett-Major, played the Star Wars theme on clarinet while hula-hooping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The documentary was shown during a weeklong theatrical run at New York City\u2019s Firehouse Cinema in May as part of DCTV\u2019s \u201cRoad to the Oscars\u201d Academy-qualifying initiative, which makes it eligible for consideration and potential nomination in the Academy Awards\u2019 \u201cBest Documentary Short Film\u201d category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n