Film
Care Cinema
- 7PM
Programmer: Melissa Lyde
“This program is a selection of experimental and archival shorts and interviews of Black women in dialogue about (and) being Black women. Largely these films encompass an obsession I have with “care cinema,” a cinema that is correcting what has been left out, removed, and rejected from the archetype of the Black woman's image. These films make me feel cared about and seen, and that's how I feel when I read Ms. Morrison's work.”—Melissa Lyde
Post-screening conversation with Melissa Lyde and Zahra Patterson
Dir. Ben Caldwell
1973, 7min
This experimental mini-masterwork from LA Rebellion figure Ben Caldwell evokes the past, present, and future of the African-American experience through hypnotic, rhythmically edited images set to Amiri Baraka’s poem “Part of the Doctrine.”
Dir. Edward Owens
1967, 6min
Though he made only a handful of films (all before the age of 21), the works of queer avant-gardist Edward Owens display a virtuosic formal mastery, as seen in this portrait of his mother and her friends which blends pop music with the compositional style of a Renaissance painting.
Dirs. Young Filmmakers Foundation
1970, 1min, 16mm
A montage of faces from the Harlem community in the early 1970s.
Dir. Not Channel Zero
1991, 26min
Feminist homegirls offer a powerful analysis of sex, class, and gender attitudes in the Black and Latino communities, arguing for cultural understanding and political liberation.
Dir. Stan Lathan
1970, 28min
A 1970 episode of the public television series Black Journal features a number of guests including poet Nikki Giovanni, anthropologist Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, and singer Lena Horne, discussing the challenges and realities of being a Black woman in America.
1971, 31min
From Ellis Haizlips pioneering series, Soul, Salute the Black Woman opened the fourth season in 1971. Guests include Carmen de Lavallade, Carolyn Franklin, Nikki Giovanni, Margaret Harris, Novella Nelson, and others performing a mixture of dance, spoken word, and music in appreciation of Black Women.
Zahra Patterson is a writer and educator. Her first book, Chronology, won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography. She is the creator of Raw Fiction, a community arts project for young writers. Her work has been supported by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, Mount Tremper Arts, Brooklyn Arts Council, the Pratt Center, and many individuals. She lives and teaches in Pennsylvania.
Go to the movies just once a month and a BAM membership pays for itself.
A program dedicated to the extraordinary life, career, and legacy of Audre Lorde.
Ava DuVernay explores grief and renewal through bonds and encounters between Black women.
These shorts offer a call-and-response style interrogation of themes in Toni Morrison’s work.