OPENING NIGHT | Moderated by festival curator Zola Mumford and festival director Andrea Stuart-Lehalle
Seattle Black Film Festival kicks off a weekend of Black cinematic brilliance with a panel of officially selected directors for a riveting discussion about the current state of Black independent cinema, and directors present their works for the evening.
Screening Friday | 6 pm PST
Black Champagne | Dir: Jeremiah Williams | 5min, 24sec | Black Champagne is the first episode of an animated music video series titled Melanogenesis. Parts II and III are currently in production and titled “Dispel The Darkness” and “Heaven”, respectively.
RESPEK | Dir: Kamari Bright | SEATTLE| 3min | An animated video poem dissecting the detriments of respectability politics.
SIXTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS | Symone Baptiste | 17min, 12sec | A narrative comedy short film that imagines a world in which a struggling Black college grad wakes up to find that reparations have finally been paid to descendants of slaves in America. Learn about Callie House, one of the early proponents of reparations at BlackPast.org: https://www.Blackpast.org/african-american-history/callie-house-c-1861-1928/
Headless Into Night | Nifemi Madarikan | SEATTLE| 13min | Headless into Night is a fantasy short film in which a young Black woman must interrogate her own fears and biases when her hyper-conservative father wages war against neighboring activist mystics.
I Hate This Fkn Job Monique | Lola Berkley | 17min, 30sec | Young, driven and professional, Naima Ali is the only woman of color in her office. On the surface seemingly no issues but once peeled back the pages of her employer, Winning Magazine, we get to see why Naima feels the way she does.
Kids Don’t Ride Bikes Anymore | Ganeesh Genus | 10min | A comedic drama following Ant and Dana, a struggling couple in Queens. The two go on a journey in search of a pregnancy test to see if their little family is getting an extra member. From bodega to pharmacy, they discuss the ever-changing neighborhood and the prospects of their life if they’re expecting.
Retch | Tifa Tomb | 13min, 24sec | This Monday morning, when the bus breaks down, it’s a living tomb where the passengers die one by one from a sudden retching sickness. Everyone is suspicious when no one is to blame.
Our Troll | D.J. Walker| SEATTLE | 12min | A dinner goes awry when a Troll with an agenda of his own arrives.
Black Ghost Son | Chris Low | 10min, 30sec | Eddie, a first-generation Chinese-American, is learning to become a father, and his son, Troy, is navigating the spaces between ethnicity and identity. As Troy gets older, Eddie recognizes they carry different racial stigmas and worries that he may not have all the tools to guide Troy through the gauntlet of race.
