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20030915
On Friday night, I played the role of "projectionist" for a two-night, mini-festival of films by Cinema Diaspora. This is a venture begun by Stephanie Chomondeley, a recent arrival in Seattle from Los Angeles... and a friend of my friends and cousins (I ran the video, Michele introduced the films, and for a minute my cousin Anne sold tickets).
In its full manifestation, Cinema Diaspora will bring films by and about African people in this country, in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, the African continent and other lands to the screen in the Emerald City. I think (I won't confirm yet) that this will take place at the location of last week's screenings, the soon to be completed Central Cinema on 21st Ave E, just north of Union.
The theme of the weekend event was "...On Image," and each film addressed conflicts in perception of beauty and freedom of sexuality among African women.
The films were "The Body Beautiful" by Ngozi Onwurah, dealing with the story of the director's mother and the loss of her breast (and supposedly her sexuality) after cancer manifests; "Black Women On: The Light/Dark Thang," about the origins, politics and effects of skin tone preference ("light supremacy"); "Warrior Marks" by Pratibha Parmar, narrated by and featuring Alice Walker, delving into the stories and communities where female genital mutilation is practiced; and "Perfect Image?" by Maureen Blackwood, which addressed some of the same light-dark conflicts from before in a series of mostly comical vignettes.
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"Don't tread on me, either."
HST 1937-2005
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