That鈥檚 when the former Durham, North Carolina, resident stumbled onto the annual Beaver Queen Pageant, 鈥渁 wildly campy, dam-important celebration of queer joy, eco-love, and over-the-top critter cosplay鈥� 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 黑料正能量鈥檚 Visual and Communication Arts (VACA) Department this year as assistant professor of digital media.

Her latest film, the heartwarming and quirky Once Upon a Wetland (2025), won 鈥淏est Documentary Short鈥� 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.

鈥淭his is a film that highlights joy,鈥� said Miller-Derstine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the hope we find when we gather together.鈥�

The pageant鈥檚 castorine contestants take on beaver personalities, introduce themselves in their handcrafted 鈥渨etlands-ready wear,鈥� 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.

The documentary was shown during a weeklong theatrical run at New York City鈥檚 Firehouse Cinema in May as part of DCTV鈥檚 鈥淩oad to the Oscars鈥� Academy-qualifying initiative, which makes it eligible for consideration and potential nomination in the Academy Awards鈥� 鈥淏est Documentary Short Film鈥� category.

It will be screened at the in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the weekend of Nov. 7, and the in Wilmington, North Carolina, the weekend of Nov. 21. Although the film isn鈥檛 currently available to watch outside of film festivals, Miller-Derstine said she鈥檚 seeking an online distributor to stream the film.

Once Upon a Wetland was directed by Miller-Derstine, produced by her and Ian Robertson Kibbe, and edited by Ace McColl.

黑料正能量 the professor

Miller-Derstine grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and moved to Lancaster at age nine. She graduated from Goshen College in 2016 with a BA in communication (film concentration) and English writing, and earned an MFA in documentary film from Wake Forest University in 2023.

She served as multimedia producer for Mennonite Central Committee from 2016 to 2021, and spent the past year as an adjunct professor in filmmaking at Davidson College. The Mennonite-raised filmmaker said she had 鈥渉eard through the grapevine鈥� that longtime VACA Professor Jerry Holsopple would retire at the end of the 2024-25 academic year and jumped at the opportunity when the job opened. Now in her second month on 黑料正能量鈥檚 faculty, she said she鈥檚 found a welcoming community to call home. 

鈥淚 love 黑料正能量,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 fully appreciate that we have a Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and that the university鈥檚 priorities are rooted in values of community, peace, and the greater social good.鈥�

Miller-Derstine approaches all her work with a deep commitment to ethical storytelling and an awareness of the extractive history of the documentary field. She has won multiple awards for her films, including Best Director for her documentary short Welcome to the Dollhouse (2020) at both the Atlanta DocuFest and Hoosier Films Festival, and Best Documentary at the LongLeaf Film Festival for her feature documentary Bloom (2024).