From healing to hope and back again. This four pack of documentary shorts examines intergenerational trauma, the politics of subway dancing, Miami’s Liberty City youth, and the healing power of music. Log in and get ready to go deep as we unpack the layers of history and look at the world through the eyes of tomorrow.
Films:
Dorian Emerson
Latin for the word Blacks, Negros is an experimental short film depicting the young black male experience in modern day Miami. The story follows James, 14, as he overcomes a series of traumas in order to make a difference in his neighborhood and rediscover adolescent joy.
Ash Goh Hua
A short documentary about the reunion and repair between Mike Africa Jr and his mother Debbie Africa—a formerly incarcerated political prisoner of the MOVE9. In 1978, Debbie, then 8 months pregnant, and many other family members were arrested after an attack by the Philadelphia Police Department; born in a prison cell, Mike Africa Jr. spent just three days with his mother before guards wrenched him away, and they spent the next 40 years struggling for freedom and for each other. In 2018, Debbie was finally granted parole. This film meditates on Black family preservation as resistance against state violence.
Kelly Whalen
The Oakland musicians of SOL Development use hip-hop, jazz and soul to tell stories about the effects of policing, mass incarceration and gun violence, and the band members work to create spaces for healing in Black and brown communities. When MC Karega Bailey loses his own brother in a shooting, his grief makes him sick with revenge and hopelessness, and he is left questioning his own message of hope and peace. Turning to his faith, family and writing, Bailey finds his voice and purpose again. With the collective BE-IMAGINATIVE, Bailey and his bandmates help lead retreats for mothers whose children have been taken by gun violence. This work prepares Bailey and his wife, Felicia, as they are tested with another profound personal loss.
Jun Bae
Turfing is an Oakland-born dance form that combines roots in gang culture with elements of tutting, gliding and bone breaking; Turf Nation follows the street dancers perform on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains, as they pave their own paths towards freedom and independence.