Dawn Jones Redstone Takes on Social Justice through Filmmaking

written by Tricia Louvar | photos by Emily Evans

Dawn Jones Redstone started her company, Hearts + Sparks Productions in Portland, focusing on the social justice movement. “I wanted to capture the heart of the community and bring that spark to the nonprofit world.”

Jones Redstone’s company is a state-certified Minority, Woman and Small Business Enterprise. The 44 year old is a Latina filmmaker who can tell a story about anything. “Most of the time we’re watching film that tends to be set on a certain perception. I represent a new voice to the mainstream, a new perspective.”

Her short narrative film, Sista in the Brotherhood, won best short film and best Oregon short film at the Portland International Film Festival.

The MRG Foundation awarded Jones Redstone the Lilla Jewel Award for her gritty independence and creative arts advance for social change. Jones Redstone’s travels around Oregon in an RV as mobile studio, working on a documentary series called Listen to Her, a project for the Women’s Foundation of Oregon that collects the stories of women and girls to help bring about legislative change.