Building Community with Joseph Erikson

The Documentary Life: Listener Stories

Special contributor, Joseph Erikson

Joseph Erikson didn't grow up watching documentaries. Raised in a working-class family, nonfiction filmmaking simply wasn't part of his world.

That changed in a community college Film 101 class when he watched Roger & Me. For the first time, he saw people who looked and lived like the people he knew represented on screen. "It changed the way I looked at the camera." That moment planted a seed that would eventually lead him from the classroom to documentary filmmaking.

Before becoming a filmmaker, Joseph spent years as an Ethnic Studies teacher. Looking back, he doesn't see teaching and documentary filmmaking as separate callings. Both begin with the same foundation.

Trust.

"It's not dissimilar to my experience in the classroom," he says. "People want to share, they want to learn, they want to see and be seen. But none of that happens without trust between the people sitting across from each other."

Documentary filmmaker, Joseph Erikson

For Joseph, the camera is not simply a tool for recording reality. It's an invitation into a relationship. Whether standing in front of a classroom or behind a lens, he believes meaningful stories emerge only when people feel seen, respected, and heard.

That same philosophy extends beyond individual conversations.

Joseph sees documentary filmmaking as part of something much larger: the health of a democratic society. "It’s infuriating, but it needs to be acknowledged, because it is the crisis of our time," he says. "Teachers, librarians, cultural institutions, public television, and documentary filmmaking are civic infrastructure against fascism."

He believes these institutions are being intentionally weakened, making the work of educators, journalists, and documentary filmmakers more important than ever. "We are wrestling with grim catastrophe and need solidarity at a time when we have been systemically divided and attacked."

It's a perspective shaped not only by filmmaking, but by years spent teaching and building communities. "I’ve approached it the way that I’ve approached teaching—it’s the role of a civic leader, someone who speaks truth to power and builds community everywhere they go."

He laughs that filmmaking introduces one complication teaching never quite prepared him for. "The business aspect... adds a whole other circle of hell to contend with," he says. "But I still do what comes naturally—build community."

It's a deceptively simple phrase, yet it echoes throughout his journey. Community first found him in the classroom. Then through documentary storytelling. And now through the people gathered around his debut feature, Class Wars, which follows his own journey from a pandemic-era classroom into an international campaign to dismantle public education.

When asked what living a documentary life means today, Joseph doesn't offer an elaborate philosophy. Instead, he offers something closer to a compass. "Have courage, stay curious, and do the right thing."

For Joseph Erikson, documentary filmmaking isn't simply about making films. It's another way of building the kind of communities we hope to live in.

About Joseph Erikson

Joseph Erikson is a former Ethnic Studies teacher turned filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon. His debut feature, Class Wars, follows his journey from a pandemic-era classroom into an international, far-right campaign to dismantle public education.

Website: https://classwars.love

Instagram: @History_Dance_Club