YoFi DMAC
BLACK HISTORY SHOWCASE
Join us for a selection of short narratives, music videos, experimental works and documentary films about the Black experience.
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The showcase is divided into two programs with a Q&A following each one. There is a single admission charge to attend either or both programs.
PROGRAM 1 @2pm
The Call
(dir: Trina Michelle Robinson, 4 min)
Anna French, a young African-American teacher from Kentucky, makes plans to participate in the Great Migration by moving to Chicago in 1917, following other family members who migrated to Chicago in the 1860s. She'll be leaving generations of pain, along with memories, behind as she chooses to forget her past when migrating north.
The Listening Heart
(dir: Storäe Michele, 26 min)
An Afro-Native Futuristic film about self-love and deep listening, bringing to life an original story grounded in Mayan and Yoruba cosmologies. Our protagonist, named after the Mayan Goddess Ix Chel, is a child healer who searches for the meaning of love. This story follows a common paradigm of women who are hurt when going against social norms—but in this film, reclaim their voices through self-healing.
Riding with Sunshine
(dir: Kristian Comer & JT Maguire , 11 min)
This short film, based on a true story, is about two friends and how a normal day goes from great to horrible in a blink of an eye because of racial profiling.
Rondo: Beyond the Pavement
(dir: High School for Recording Arts students 33 min)
In the 1920s, Rondo, Saint Paul’s largest African American neighborhood, was flourishing. With music, theatre, African American newspapers, and businesses booming, the community was thriving—until September of 1956, when construction of Interstate 94 tore through the Rondo community and thousands of Rondo homeowners and businesses were displaced.
Scars Of Our Mothers' Dreams
(dir: Meschida Philip, 11 min)
A documentary that offers a unique, intimate glimpse into the complexities of parental migration. Growing up with absentee mothers on the island of Grenada, three people recount their emotional stories of abandonment, psychological damage and the attempts to reconnect with their estranged parents who migrated abroad for work.
PROGRAM 2 @4pm
Black Mail
(dir: Brandon Peterson, 5 min)
A music video featuring Josey Wellz, a good, hardworking black male who experiences racial profiling first hand, which drastically changes the course of his life and jeopardizes the future of his growing family.
Don't Expel The Blacks
(dir: Princess A. Hairston, 5 min)
Residents in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn explain the effects gentrification has on their community.
I'm Sorry
(dir: Marcellus Cox, 14 min)
A Drama about a man who spends his last free day before heading to prison apologizing to everyone near and dear to him for betraying their trust in him.
Jabari Keating
(dir: Stacey Larkins, 10 min)
Upon making a life altering decision, Jabari Keating is a candid first person narrative film that explores his personal reflections, life experiences and trials and tribulations as an African American in present day America.
The Reckoning
(dir: Christopher Malcolm Reese, 13 min)
In order to save his own life, a gangbanger being held hostage must appeal to the empathy of his kidnapper.
The Smile of a Monster
(dir: Diemiruay Deniran, 35 min)
A drama and psychological thriller that presents the harsh reality of domestic violence, and the consequences of being pushed too far when there's nowhere left to go.
United States vs White Men
(dir: Princess A. Hairston, 5 min)
The year is 2050 and the dynamics of power have changed hands. White Men are being interrogated for humanitarian crimes across the US. United States vs White Men showcases the new world order of adapting to various cultures and all races through interrogation. In order to change society, white men are now on trial and are forced to deal with their inability to respect all cultures.