The Elements

Poetry forms “the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.” Audre Lorde

Still from the film Suzanne Suzanne directed by Camille Billops

 

The light in this scene from Suzanne Suzanne!!! The light in this scene is poetic. It speaks! It demonstrates the separation, the distance and later the possibility by the way the light falls on the faces of Suzanne and her mother. In this scene that is like a mother-daughter “come to Jesus” moment the light is a narrator for the emotion, for the energy. It is a moment of transformation that is made possible by the ceremony of sharing this story of Suzanne’s family. The filmmaker Camille Billops’s family.

When I think of the elements of filmmaking, the elements of script writing and the roles in a film crew, I cannot separate them from the elemental forces of nature. Yes, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Air – the elements. Fire – the great transformer – is manipulated as light energy in filmmaking. And in When We Free, our film, the river is a character. And I am craving a conversation about the elements of filmmaking and the elements of nature.

black feminist film school – summer session (begins June 6-8)

Description

The Poetics of Black Feminist Film (School) – Summer Session

Black Feminist Film School Summer Session is the answer to a prayer whispered by those who believe another world is possible as long as we can imagine it. It is an answer, a vision, a liberation. Black Feminist Film School is an initiation journey that will transform all involved toward the possibility of love and light amplified through film.

I invite you to join in and support in the ways that make sense for you. We are now accepting applications for our Summer Session. The application is due May 15th. The first in person session is the weekend of June 6-8, 2014..

more information – CLICK HERE

4/4/13 – Black Feminist Film School Presents Experimental Shorts

4/4/13

What: Black Feminist Film School Presents Experimental Shorts
Who: Black Feminist Film School (and you hopefully)
When: Thursday, April 4th – 6pm
Where: Duke University FHI Garage Smith Warehouse Bay 4
114 S. Buchanan Blvd., Durham, NC 27708-0403
General Info: https://blackfeministfilmschool.wordpress.com/

Films will include:

still from Water Ritual #1

Water Ritual #1 (1979)
Directed by Barbara McCullough

Vanilla Sex (1992)
Directed by Cheryl Dunye

Hairpiece (1984)
Directed by Ayoka Chenzira

and select shorts Directed by Julia Roxanne Wallace
including No Legacy Let Go: A Ritual of Remembrance and Healing (2012)

…

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The Blueprint: Script Reading and Writing

What: The Blueprint: Script Reading and Writing
Who: Black Feminist Film School (and you hopefully)
When: Saturday, March 9th – 3 to 5pm
Where: The Eleanor at Rigsbee 204 Rigsbee St. #201  Durham, NC
General Info: https://blackfeministfilmschool.wordpress.com/

Event Description
Because the ceremony must be found to give life to our poetic filmmaking dreams we are convening this “Production” workshop-playdate. This is a space to explore the foundational document in filmmaking – the script. We will work with scene’s from Julie Dash’s script and film Daughters of the Dust. In this conversation-workshop-playdate looking at the conventions of the film script, how some black feminists have used the form of the script and explore what form of blueprint/script and other documents might be useful for a black feminist approach to filmmaking.

black feminism the frame, not the limit