Black Voices and Visionaries in Cinema

November 8 – 9, 2024

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? And how can we dispel the persistent myth that Black cinema does not travel well worldwide? 

 To explore these questions further, we have invited two visionary storytellers to deliver keynote addresses. Charles Burnett is a living archetype of an artist who has succeeded in creating his work despite incredible socioeconomic and political resistance. Winner of an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement, Burnett paved the path for many generations of African American filmmakers—including our second keynote speaker, Shaka King, who reflects creatively on the history of the Black Panther Party in his Oscar-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah. There will be a conversation with each filmmaker following screenings of their celebrated films, a newly restored print of The Annihilation of Fish and 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 to the idea 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 

Tell them you are staying for the Shasha Seminar. 

Wi-Fi INSTRUCTIONS 

CAMPUS MAP