American Black Film Festival is in Miami. Here are some films to check out
As the pandemic forced a global shutdown halting businesses, communities and touching every aspect of how society functioned in 2020, a pivotal election was brewing across the U.S. — one that would have a major effect on southern states.
And as that chaos brewed, Black Voters Matter decided to meet the moment. Their efforts to energize and register voters is chronicled in a new documentary, “Love, Joy & Power: Tools For Liberation.”
That story is one of several films screening at the American Black Film Festival when it rolls into town this week highlighting Black storytellers and providing resources for those in the filmmaking industry.
Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright said the film is a story about overcoming, pointing out the significance of the film’s debut close to Juneteenth. “It’s not just the story of 2020 or the story of Black Voters Matters, it’s really a story of how we have historically overcome, including going back to just Juneteenth,” he told the Herald. “It shows the work that we’re doing, but it also shows what movement is really like.”
The film’s timing is not lost on Albright, who said the story is essential at a time when Black stories and how they are shared is either being banned or altered in schools and libraries. “Liberation” is just one of the films ABFF attendees can see when it kicks of Wednesday.
We’ve put together a few more for you all to check out:
“Love, Joy & Power: Tools For Liberation”
In this documentary, readers are taken on a journey through the efforts of Black Voters Matter to turn Georgia “purple” in the 2020 election through grassroots voting efforts across the South, including Florida. The film, directed by Daresha Kyi, will screen at 1:10 p.m. Thursday at O Cinema.
“The ReWrite.”
.png "image (1).png")
What is an authentic Black voice? That’s what screenwriter Elliot (Stephen Barrington) obsesses over after he is told by white executives how Black people should sound and act. He wrestles with this as he tries to find the balance between being authentic and making money. “I just want to sell without selling out,” he says. The film, directed by Terry Dawson, debuts at ABFF at 2:15 p.m. Thursday at Miami Beach Convention Center in Screening Room #2.
“Wait Until Tomorrow”
The intersection of race, wealth and opportunity take center stage in this documentary that follows the lives of various Black families in the United States. The stories drive home the realities behind data examining the search for economic mobility. Directed by Osato Dixon will show at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at O Cinema.
“Carnival: They Can’t Steal Our Joy”
.png "image (2).png")
The colors. The beads. The feathers. The sounds. These are some of the things that make up Caribbean Carnival. But Ian Mark Kimanje’s film, “Carnival: They Can’t Steal Our Joy,” pulls back the layers of the festival’s significance culturally and historically in Toronto and beyond. Making its U.S. premier, the film will screen at O Cinema at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
