Black Voices and Visionaries in Cinema

Black Voices and Visionaries in Cinema is a seminar that bridges decades of filmmakers who have explored the fundamental predicaments of the Black experience in the United States and around the world.  Together we will ask: what defines the Black experience, and how do we represent it in cinema?  What are the struggles and complexities of telling Black stories truthfully in America? Is this experience trans-cultural? Lastly, how can we dispel the persistent myth that Black cinema does not travel well worldwide?

To delve deeper, we have invited visionary storytellers to join us in answering these questions.  Charles Burnett is a living archetype of an artist who has succeeded in creating his work despite the incredible socio-economic and political resistance. Burnett paved the path many generations of African American filmmakers, including our second keynote speaker; Shaka King reflects creatively on the history of the Black Panthers Movement in his Oscar nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah.  Two of our international guests whose award-winning films have premiered in festivals from Cannes to Toronto and Berlin are testimony that the Black experience is a global phenomenon:  Ghanaian-British producer, Ama Ampadu, is currently the Executive Director at the British Film Institute, and Ethiopian-Canadian producer, Tamara Dawit, is a founding board member of the Racial Equity Media Collective in Canada.

CONTACT

Please contact Lisa Sacks (lsacks@wesleyan.edu) with questions. 

ACCOMMODATION

The Inn at Middletown
70 Main Street
Middletown, Connecticut 06457
(860) 854-6300