Film Selections
Saturday, June 17th
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Brief Exchanges
Brief Exchanges follows Tanya, a young Black woman living in NYC. After a harsh encounter with a drunken stranger, Tanya lands on the same street corner as Troy, a young Black man whose kindness stands in sharp contrast to the unfriendly city. Their chance encounter becomes a daylong affair of flirtatious banter punctuated by poignant moments, or "brief exchanges,” that reflect the various microaggressions she must navigate daily. Filtered through the lens of a charming meet-cute, this film represents a Black woman’s reality in living with these intersectional identities.
Dir: Ashley Versher
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Why More Black Americans Should Try Capoeira
Chinwe Oniah, a student of capoeira, was initially drawn to the Afro-Brazilian art form for its martial arts and self-defense elements. But the art form that also combines dance, music, spirituality, history and philosophy quickly developed into something greater for her – a return to form, a return to self, and the discovery that capoeira is Black people’s cultural legacy, still thriving centuries after its beginnings.
Dir: Chinwe Oniah
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Matriarch
Matriarch is an experimental short documentary celebrating the legacy of elderly motherhood from the perspective of the filmmaker's grandmothers, two Southern Black women hoping to maintain their independence during what could potentially be the final year of their lives.
Dir: Donald Conley
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Wade in the Water
Wade in the Water: The Documentary (2023) is a historical chronicle of the 1,000 year old Pan-African surfing tradition that stretched the coastline of West Africa from Senegal to Angola and has since taken root in America. The film features several of SoCal’s leading surf historians as well as community leaders and environmental activists in the upcoming generation of pioneers.
Dir: David Mesfin
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What Ever Happened To Dinner?
A mother expecting breast-cancer results, plans to tell her family over the dinner she always wanted to cook, (a feat easier said than done, as cooking isn't her forte), but with a family divided by their technological devices, getting them all together for dinner proves to be the more significant challenge.
Dir: Cydney Griffin