Editor’s Note: Welcome to the tenth program of our Virtual Film Festival, which offers a weekly watching schedule of moving image works available for free streaming. Previous programs can be found here.
If you enjoy this week’s program, we ask that you please click the ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’ button below to make a donation to your local community or a national organization (or both!)
by MLP
Over the past two weeks I have watched events unfold in the USA, first with disgust, then followed by a wave of hope. People are using real voices and physical presence to enact real change. But as the movement has gained momentum, so have many seen this moment as an opportunity to (often falsely) self-righteously proclaim that they’ve never supported racism. It is my hope that you will accept this program as a small gesture of support, rather than a promotional stunt. As someone mentioned on Twitter, programming black artists’ work should be regular and perfectly normal occurrence, rather than a trendy one-time PR event. If you’ve been following our festival, you’ll know this is not the first time we have featured the work of black artists in a program (check out Programs 5 + 6 in particular), yet it’s undeniable that the road to true equality and justice is still a lengthy one with a great deal of ground to cover. I don’t have much else to say, so I’ll let the films do the talking.
Rest in power to George Floyd, Eric Garner, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and so many others.
“A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” -Malcolm X
| Title | Year | Filmmaker | Runtime | Supplements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Women | 1977 | Julie Dash | 7:20 | |
| Black Chains | 2017 | Amir George | 2:36 | |
| H-E-L-L-O | 2014 | Cauleen Smith | 11:06 | |
| I’m Not Gary | 1991 | Stan Douglas | 0:31 | Monodramas |
| Speech Addressing Police Brutality | 1962 | (Malcolm X) | 2:48 | Perfect Film |
| Extract from Mining Review 2nd Year No. 11 | 1949 | Peter Pickering | 3:26 | |
| Paul Robeson: On colonialism, African-American rights | 1960 | (Paul Robeson) | 3:09 | |
| Vanilla Sex | 1992 | Cheryl Dunye | 3:22 | Dunye + Hammer |
| Excerpt from Vertigo Sea | 2015 | John Akomfrah | 1:39 | |
| Three Degrees of Proximity to the Disaster | 2013 | John Akomfrah | 1:45 | |
| Handsworth Songs | 1986 | John Akomfrah | 60:57 | Article |
| Wealth of a Nation | 1966 | William Greaves | 20:55 | |
| Drylongso | 1998 | Cauleen Smith | 81:34 | Article |
*Well worth nothing as well that Madeline Anderson’s half-hour documentary I Am Somebody (1970) is available to rent from Icarus films!
**Some extra reading material shared on twitter can be found here + here + here.