BLACKTRANSEVERYTHING Film Festival - I Am (Hear)

I Am (Hear)
Olympia Perez, 2015, 14 min

The new short documentary I Am (Hear) is a powerful, experimental, narrative exploring the role media has had in shaping the depiction of black transwomen. In the film Olympia introduces us to Ares, a black transwomen whose committed to taking control of her life and her future. Olympia Perez takes us on part of her journey to see how she is shifting and reframing black trans power and love by creating media that speaks out about transphobia and racism, with the intent to reframe the way we view and value black trans people in the world.

Q & A with the director Olympia Perez Alexander and character Ares, as well as celebration of the launch of artist Tatyana Fazlizadeh’s powerful “Stop Telling Women To Smile” collaboration with Black Trans Media’s Olympia Perez Alexander.

To learn more about Tatyana Fazlizadeh click on "Source" at the bottom.

BLACKTRANSEVERYTHING Film Festival - Representations

New and Emerging #BLACKTRANSEVERYTHING

Representations featuring Seven King

There’s a lot of new media coming out with characters that are black trans people, but how often are we the creators of our own stories? Join us as we view and discuss new and emerging work created and produced by black trans and gender non-conforming people. Featuring Seven King #blacktranseverything writer, director, producer of the upcoming new series premiering this September, Edens Garden – a new series created by King focusing on socially relevant issues including: trans-dating, same-sex dating, HIV and AIDS awareness, homophobia, gay-bashing, trans-bashing and more.

Q&A with “Edens Garden” creator Seven King.

BLACKTRANSEVERYTHING Film Festival - Oya: Something Happened on the Way to West Africa

Oya: Something Happened On the Way to West Africa!
Oluseyi Adebanjo, 2015, 33 min

This beautiful new documentary from #blacktranseverything artist/educator Oluseyi Adebanjo follows the journey of Queer Gender Non Conforming Nigerian Seyi Adebanjo as Seyi returns home to speak directly with ancestors, connect with Òrìṣà (African God/dess) tradition, and follow a trail back to the powerful legacy of great grandmother, Chief Moloran Ìyá Ọlọ́ya. This personal and political story vibrantly investigates the heritage of command, mythology, gender fluidity and the hidden truth that women are behind the power of indigenous Yorùbá spirituality. The documentary illuminates the lives of Òrìṣà Ọya (Warrior Goddess), Chief Moloran Ìyá Ọlọ́ya and Seyi Adebanjo while interweaving Yorùbá mythology, poetry, performance, and expert interviews.

Join us for performances and a Q&A after the film.

BLACKTRANSMEDIA Film Festival - Passing

Passing
Lucah Rosenberg-Lee and J. Mitchell Reed, 2015, 22 min

Passing features Toronto native and #blacktranseverything producer Lucah on his journey as he examines experiences of racism and sexism today, through the eyes of 3 transmen of colour.

Q&A with co-director Lucah Rosenberg Lee and Passing character Sasha Alexander Perez.

BLACKTRANSEVERYTHING Film Festival - Hero Mars

Hero Mars (Manhattan Premiere)
Skyler Cooper, 2015, 24 min
Hero Mars is a beautiful new narrative short by #blacktranseverything producer Skyler Cooper about a struggling actor who gets the chance of a lifetime to audition for a world-class theater company while overcoming misconceptions and ignorance.

Skype Q&A with California based director Skyler Cooper.

Jamaica Hip Hop

V.S. Roberts, 2015, 60 min
This documentary isn’t your typical tourist visit to Jamaica’s beautiful beaches where you drink island cocktails to your heart’s desire and eat jerk chicken all day. Of course, we did that. At the same time, however, we uncovered an interesting generational divide between the young and the old in the reggae scene. Veterans of Jamaica’s world renowned reggae industry believe that the tried and true basic formula works and should not be tampered with. Clearly, it seems, no exceptions will be made for the the new wave of artists popping up on the reggae scene. Today, a percentage of young reggae artists are now using their musical gifts to create rap music, which they believe is a natural progression for them. Despite this progression, it seems to incite anger among the traditional reggae artists, radio personalities, and sound system deejays. This documentary takes an objective look on the situation, allowing both sides to freely voice their opinions about the rapidly changing genre.

Q&A with producers Cole and Roberts to follow the screenings on both Friday, August 7th and Saturday, August 8th.

Shake the Dust

Adam Sjöberg, 2014, 108 min
Can breakdancing save the world? From executive producer and rapper Nasir “Nas” Jones, who also provides original music for the film, we are treated to a fascinating look at how hip-hop is striking a resonant chord in the slums, favelas, and ghettos of the world and is inspiring young people to enact social change. Hip-hop music, and the acrobatic breakdancing culture that arose in tandem with it, started on the streets of The Bronx, but its reach is now worldwide. Today, “b-boys” and a growing number of “b-girls” hone their gravity-defying breaking techniques in virtually every country on the planet. Shake the Dust by journalist-turned-filmmaker Adam Sjöberg, chronicles the far-reaching influence of breakdancing.

Shot in Colombia, Cambodia, Uganda and Yemen, the film shows that while each culture adopts and adapts hip-hop music, blending it with their own traditions, the breakdancing moves act as a universal language. Moving smoothly between breakdance crews in the poorest urban neighborhoods of these countries, Sjöberg weaves together the stories of rappers, DJs, and b-boys across three continents, revealing how breakdancing today acts as a positive force for social change. Older generations are passing along their moves and showing kids, most of whom are orphans, that the “family” of hip-hop can be an alternative to street gangs and drug addiction. With a soundtrack of globe-spanning hip-hop samples and some of the most jaw-dropping breakdancing moves ever committed to film, Shake the Dust is an inspiring tribute to the uplifting power of music and movement.

Following the screening on Saturday, August 1st there will be a Q&A with director Adam Sjöberg.

Following the screening on Sunday, August 2nd there will be a Q&A with director Adam Sjöberg, moderated by Fab Five Freddy.

Beat Breakers, a B-boy/B-girl (breakdance) program where students learn the art of breaking from dancers and practitioners who authentically come from the culture. Part dance program and part social history class, Beat Breakers bridges the need for a program that is not only culturally relevant and physically active, but also educates the youth on the rich history and cultural significance of hip hop in the place of its birth.

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Monday, July 27th, 6:30pm
Summer of Music: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Presented by Maysles Cinema and Reel Harlem: The Historic Harlem Parks Film Festival
@ Morningside Park
(113th and Morningside Drive)
Lawn Chairs Permitted

100% Free

Rain Location:
The Maysles Cinema
343 Lenox Ave/Malcolm X Blvd

6:30pm)
Night of 1000 Bowies’ Dance Party and Look-A-Like Contest
with DJ Cosmo Baker

(8:30pm)
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Introduced in person by legendary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker.
D.A. Pennebaker, 1973, 90 min
David Bowie’s final electrifying performance as Ziggy Stardust in 1973 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon Theater. The feature length film captures the aura surrounding one of the most unusual stars of the contemporary music scene. Framed by a smattering of behind-the-scenes footage, the bulk of the film concerns the actual concert, notable as the final time that Bowie would perform under the Ziggy Stardust persona, an announcement that, at the time, led many fans to mistakenly believe Bowie was retiring altogether.

Featuring numerous songs like “Ziggy Stardust,” “Moonage Daydream,” “Changes,” and “Space Oddity” from the albums Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane and other Bowie albums, as well as a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat.” Though a shortened version of the film was broadcast on television in 1974, the film did not receive a full theatrical release until 1983.

Marlon Riggs' Toungues Untied

Curated by Evan Garza
Part of the Featured Fridays Series, sponsored by SCRUFF
Co-presented with VisualAIDS

Tongues Untied
Marlon Riggs,1989, 55 min
Tongues Untied is a film essay by Marlon Riggs, a Texas-born African American poet, filmmaker, educator, and gay rights activist. The film, which Riggs describes as his legacy, celebrates black men loving black men as a revolutionary act. The film, which features spoken word and poetry by Riggs and poet Essex Hemphill, is an artful visual statement about the queer black male experience and embraces authentic and radical notions of black gay identity and positivity. Riggs was diagnosed with HIV while making the film, and later died of AIDS-related causes in 1994.

Historian George Chauncey notes that in the 1920s, “Although Greenwich Village’s gay enclave was the most famous in the city, even most white gay men thought gay life was livelier and more open in Harlem than in the Village.” Its Prohibition-era gay-oriented clubs, mixing among black and white, straight and gay, featured queer performers such as Gladys Bentley. When Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens) decided to open a non-profit cinema, he chose Harlem specifically to serve a community without direct access to independent cinema. The Maysles Cinema – the only independent cinema north of Lincoln Center – is committed to creating a democratic space that provides educational outreach to the local community as well as pay-what-you-can screenings. It is located near the site of the gay club Lulu Belle, where, according to Chauncey, “thirty men were arrested for wearing drag” over a two week period in 1928.

Hustler's Convention

Sunday, July 19th, 6:30pm
Summer of Music: Hustlers Convention
Presented by Maysles Cinema, the National Black Programming Consortium, the People’s Film Festival and Reel Harlem: The Historic Harlem Parks Film Festival
@ St. Nicholas Park
135th St. Plaza & St. Nicholas Ave
Lawn Chairs Permitted

100% Free

Rain Location:
The Maysles Cinema
(343 Lenox Ave/Malcolm X Blvd)

(6:30pm)
Diggin in the Crates: Godfathers of Rap
with DJ Chuck Chillout

(Just Added!)
Hustlers Convention will be introduced by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, AKA Lightnin’ Rod, the creator of the album “Hustlers Convention” and the subject of the documentary, and Quenell Jones, producer and cinematographer of Hustlers Convention.

(8:30pm)
Hustlers Convention
Mike Todd, 2015, 91 min
While largely unknown, the 1973 album “Hustlers Convention” is regarded as a cornerstone in the evolution of Hip Hop. It’s creator, Lightnin’ Rod, aka Jalal Nuriddin of The Last Poets, is affectionately known in some circles as ‘The Grandfather of Rap’ for his contribution to the genre. The film includes interviews with some of the key figures connected to the story, including the late Amiri Baraka, Ice T, Melle Mel, KRS One, MC Lyte, executive producer Chuck D and many more – intercut with archive footage and stills as well as specially commissioned animation to help bring the album to life.

The Spirit Moves: Brooklyn Flexes

"Flex is Kings"
Deidre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols, 2013, 83 min
Flex Is Kings takes place in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, where high crime rates and diminished opportunities have left the young men growing into adulthood few choices and fewer resources, pushing so many to lives dependent on crime and gangs. Yet there is a large and growing group resisting the notion that their prospects are limited to a powerless existence.

On these streets a dance community rose, eager for an avenue of expression and determined to create a positive force in their neighborhood. “Flex” is the name of the dance style – it involves dance battle competitions that are at once flights of fancy as well as poetic evocations of the streets – gun battles, romantic interludes, run-ins with authorities. The film is structured around a season of Battlefest, the central organizing event of the Flex movement, and focuses on some of the community’s key personalities.

Followed by Q&A with the directors Deidre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols.

Roots of South African Jazz

Hosted by Seton Hawkins W/Guests
As the first Jazz 78s made their way across the Atlantic to South Africa, they met up with South Africa’s own marabi culture, and a new musical styles was born. Join us as we explore through rare film and audio some of the earliest South African Jazz music that would come to inspire and inform masters like Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Abdullah Ibrahim.

Summer of Music: The Amazing Nina Simone

Sunday, July 12th, 6:30pm
Summer of Music: The Amazing Nina Simone
Presented by Maysles Cinema, African Film Festival, Inc and Reel Harlem: The Historic Harlem Parks Film Festival
@ Jackie Robinson Park
(148th St. & Bradhurst Avenue)
Lawn Chairs Permitted

100% Free

Rain Location:
The Maysles Cinema
(343 Lenox Ave/Malcolm X Blvd)

(6:30pm)
Nina Simone: High Priestess of Soul
with DJ Reborn

(7:30pm)
JUST ADDED!!!!!
Dr. Sam Waymon & His Musicians
(Jazz and Blues Legend and Nina Simone’s Brother)

Sam Waymon – Keyboard & Vocals
Brent Williams – Drums
Mario Giampaglia – Guitar
Laurents Hollands – Bass (also Musical Director)
Phyllis Kee – Guest Vocals

(8:30pm)
The Amazing Nina Simone
Introduced by director Jeff L. Lieberman and Sam Waymon.
Jeff L. Lieberman, 2015, 110 min.
The Amazing Nina Simone reveals the real Nina Simone through over 50 intimate
interviews with those who best knew the artistry and intentions of one
America’s true musical geniuses. The film follows Nina’s journey all
the way to the South of France and the place where she finally found
freedom and traces Nina’s roots from her upbringing in segregated
North Carolina.

3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets

3 1⁄2 Minutes, Ten Bullets
Marc Silver, 2015, 98 min
On Black Friday 2012, four African-American teenagers stopped at a gas station to buy gum and cigarettes. One of them, Jordan Davis, argued with Michael Dunn, a white man parked beside them, over the volume of music playing in their car. The altercation turned to tragedy when Dunn fired 10 bullets at the unarmed boys, killing Davis almost instantly. The seamlessly constructed, riveting documentary film 3 1⁄2 Minutes, Ten Bullets explores the danger and subjectivity of Florida’s Stand Your Ground self-defense laws by weaving Dunn’s trial with a chorus of citizen and pundit opinions, and with Jordan Davis’ parents’ wrenching experiences in and out of the courtroom.

As conversations about Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Freddy Gray, and other victims of senseless violence play out on the national stage, 3 1⁄2 Minutes, Ten Bullets dives deep into the aftermath of Jordan Davis’ murder. This intimate story of unnecessary loss in the face of insidious racism promotes seeing one another as human beings, with the hope that compassion will lessen the inevitability of racial bias, disparity and violence.

Skype Q&A with Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis to follow the screening on Friday, July 10th and Saturday, July 11th.

Dirty Looks: On Location

Greetings From Africa
Cheryl Dunye, 1994, 10 min

Frankie and Jocie
Jocelyn Taylor, 1994, 20 min

I Never Danced the Way Girls Were Supposed To
Dawn Suggs, 1992, 7 min

Spin Cycle
Aarin Burch, 1991, 5 min

What Is A Line?
Shari Frilot, 1994, 10 min

A showcase of films from the 1990s by black queer women filmmakers, exploring the trials and traumas of navigating dating and love at the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. The films intermix humor, fiction, experimental visual tactics, and candid dialogue to examine relationships with family, community, romantic partners, and self.
Along with its well-documented history of mixed cultural spaces during the Harlem Renaissance and beyond, where people of diverse racial, gender and sexual identities interacted, Harlem has remained a crucial site of Black cultural production, community building, and resistance since the early twentieth century. Maysles Cinema, the only independent cinema north of Lincoln Center, is committed to creating a democratic space that provides educational outreach to the local community as well as pay-what-you-can screenings. Maysles is located near the former site of Wellworth’s, a down-low lesbian bar in the 1950s-60s – it was a straight bar in the front and lesbian bar in the back (as documented by lesbian scholar Bonnie Zimmerman). In the midst of racial exclusion, alienation, and racist experiences in predominantly white lesbian and mixed spaces, places like Wellworth’s provided rare access to public sociality for Black lesbians.

Short Series 2: Period Stories from the First to the Last

Short Series 2: Period Stories from the First to the Last
91 min
Excitement… disappointment… shame… relief… elation… every girl has a different reaction to her menarche (first menses). This collection of first period stories explores these emotions and more. The Program closes with a refreshing look at life after menopause.

Q&A with directors.

Hot Flash Havoc
Marc Bennett, USA, 2012, 88 min, Documentary
Hot Flash Havoc is a provocative and revealing documentary that offers audiences a crash-course in menopause. With poignant stories shared by real women and in-depth interviews with some of the world’s most noted experts, this film has the power to be a life-changing experience, and redefine what you thought you knew about “the change.”

Carrie
(Festival Closing Film)
Brian De Palma, USA, 1976, 98 min, Narrative
Stephen King’s Carrie is the seminal menstruation horror story. De Palma’s film adaptation of this groundbreaking narrative tells the story Carrie, a sheltered teen, whose life is thrown into turmoil when she experiences her first period. Shunned at school and at home, Carrie’s menstrual shame sets the stage for her ultimate revenge.

Menstruation for Beginners

Menstruation for Beginners (Recommended for ages 9-14)
Special Film Screening & Presentation for Young People

With short films made in the United States, India, Philippines and Slovakia, this program has been designed to provide young audiences with a kid-friendly period-positive global introduction to menstruation.

Shorts Series 1: Menstrual Management & Mishaps
87 min
A menstruating puppy eludes a young group of brothers; a self-taught mechanic designs a groundbreaking low-cost sanitary pad machine; and a young girl attempts to fast-track her way to womanhood through somewhat unconventional means. Enjoy this collection of unexpected and sometimes humorous short films about the fine art of managing menstruation.

Q&A with select directors.

Period: The End of Menstruation?
Giovanna Chesler, USA, 2005, 53 min, Documentary
As millions of women and girls take shots and pills to stop their periods, Period: The End of Menstruation? explores the cultural and medical side effects of menstrual suppression.

Preceded by
Vivian: A Period Piece
Aimee Dixon, USA, 2002, 23 min, Narrative
Erin struggles to balance her life between law school and her relationship. However, she is repeatedly interrupted and overwhelmed by a visit from her monthly friend, Vivian.

Q&A with Director Giovanna Chesler & Reception.

Art, Film & Menstruation
Art, film and menstruation gently collide to create this diverse artists’ journey into the world of menstruation. This program will begin with a screening of experimental video works, followed by a panel discussion with selected featured artists.

The program will include a live performance by Swedish menstrual performance troupe, Mensmagi (Menstrual Magic) and screening followed by Q&A with select directors and performers.

Moon Inside You

Diana Fabianova, Slovakia, 2009, 76 min, Documentary
Moon Inside You explores the cultural stigmas and physical realities that shape how women and men experience menstruation.

Preceded by
Red Alert
Amanda Ribrant, Australia, 2014, 4 min, Narrative
A short comedy about embarrassment, ingenuity, and a date night to remember.

Period Stories
Charlotte Forsgård, Finland, 2015, 20 min, Documentary
Period Stories is an innovative, crowdsourced documentary featuring people from around the world, who are breaking the menstrual taboo by publicly sharing their period stories.

Q&A with filmmakers Amanda Ribrant & Charlotte Forsgård.

The Unmentionable Intersections: Black trans folk speak on Menstruation

(The Unmentionables Film Festival is an annual theme-based festival that will focus on a different “taboo” topic each year. The inaugural Unmentionables Film Festival invites audiences to participate in a public discourse and celebration of all things menstrual.)

The Unmentionable Intersections: Black Trans folks speak on Menstruation
In collaboration with Black Trans Media, a community based project committed to reframing the value and worth of black trans people, the festival presents an evening about trans folks and menstruation. Featuring short films and live storytelling from the black trans and non-gender conforming community, The Unmentionable Intersections will present powerful stories about bodies, health, gender, race, self-determination, menstruation, and more.