Tickets for the entire event are $17.00 and can be purchased on-line at www.dayofblackdocs.org A limited quantity of Early Bird tickets are available for $15.00 until May 1, 2022. The Day of Black Docs screener links will be emailed to all ticket holders an hour before each day’s event. Please monitor your emails.
Tim is a veteran film critic and journalist with over 30 years of experience working for national print, broadcast, and internet-based media concerns, including NPR, KNBC, Spectrum News, ABC 7, Box Office Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Alt-Film Guide, among others. He's a regular on NPR affiliate KPCC's FilmWeek with Larry Mantle and co-host of the CineGods podcast.
Day of Black Docs is co-sponsored by the International Documentary Association (IDA), the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA).
BADWest Welcome
Q&A with Directors, Catherine Bernstein, Martine Delumeau
and Co-Producer Tanya Hart
BADWest Welcome
Q&A with Director Tarabu Betserai and
Barry Shabaka Henley, Producer Kirkland
Q&A with Producer Darcy McKinnon
Q&A with Director Scott Calonico
Q&A with Co-Director/Co-Director Tonya Lewis Lee, Bruce Mcintyre,
Omari Maynard and Shawnee Benton-Gibson, Protagonists
Cocktails & Critics Afterparty (via Zoom)
Panelists subject to change
Tarabu is the director and producer for the award-winning documentary film, 100 Years From Mississippi. His diverse background as a Media Artist, Producer and Administrator includes twenty years in Public Radio having served as General Manager of radio station KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, Assistant Manager of KPFA in Berkeley where he co-founded the Third World Media Department and helped establish national radio training programs for producers of color, and General Manager of the Community Information Network.
He is also the author and composer of the musical Jukebox which starred Danny Glover, author and producer of the stage play Ritual of a Bop Solo, producer of the stage play Jungle Bells, and producer and musical co-director for the National Public Radio drama Quiet Thunder, and has been the writer and producer for numerous radio documentary projects and video industrials. In addition, Tarabu has worked in the cultural and social service sector as the Director of Programs at A Place Called Home, Managing Director of Great Leap, Inc., and Managing Director of the Black Theatre Artists Workshop
Veteran actor Barry Shabaka Henley draws from a rich history of acting in many high-profile films, television shows and theatre productions. He most recently appeared in the hit Oscar-nominated film “A Star is Born” with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. He is currently starring in the new CBS Chuck Lorre comedy “Bob ♥ Abishola,” and ABC’s Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Shabaka can also be seen appearing with Eddie Murphy in the biographical comedy “Dolemite is His Name”, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, to rave reviews. Perhaps the biggest testament to Henley’s talent is his professional collaboration with director-producer Michael Mann, who has cast him in multiple projects including his films, “Ali,” “Collateral,” and “Miami Vice” as well as the HBO’s series “Luck” starring Dustin Hoffman. Henley’s other film work includes starring in the big budget hits “The Terminal”, “Rush Hour”, “Patch Adams”, “How Stella Got her Groove Back”, “Bulworth” and the “Carrie” with Chloe Moretz. Born in New Orleans, Henley currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.
Mamie Lang Kirkland was seven years old when she fled Ellisville, Mississippi in 1915 with her mother and siblings as her father and his friend, John Hartfield, escaped an approaching lynch mob. John Hartfield returned to Mississippi in 1919 and was killed in one of the most horrific lynchings of the era. Mamie’s son, Tarabu, had grown up hearing stories of John Hartfield but didn’t know if his mother’s stories were fact or folklore until one day in 2015. Tarabu discovered an article describing Hartfield’s gruesome murder before a crowd of 10,000 spectators. At that moment, the film was born. Mamie had vowed for a century that she would never return to Mississippi. Yet with Tarabu’s remarkable find, he urged his mother to finally confront her childhood trauma by returning to Ellisville. Mamie was 107 when they began the journey to connect her story to the larger impact of America’s legacy of racial violence, which echoes today from Ferguson to New York, Atlanta to Los Angeles. Like many of the six million African Americans who left the Deep South, Mamie’s story is a testament to the courage and hope of her generation. Her indomitable will and contagious joy of living is exceeded only by her ability to tell her story now, 111 years later. In a time of great social divisions, 100 Years From Mississippi gives us the simple wisdom of an ordinary woman’s extraordinary life.
Paula Eiselt directs and produces feature films about unforgettable characters thriving in unbelievable circumstances. Her most recent feature, AFTERSHOCK, premiered at 2022 Sundance in the U.S. Doc Competition and was awarded the Special Jury Award: Impact for Change. AFTERSHOCK will be released by Disney’s Onyx Collective and ABC News to stream on HULU and Disney+ in 2022. Her previous feature 93QUEEN, now streaming on HBOMax, was released theatrically across the U.S. and broadcast worldwide starting with PBS’s POV. IndieWire named Paula one of 22 Rising Filmmakers to Watch in 2022. In 2019, Paula was named one of Jewish Week's “36 Under 36.”
Tonya Lewis Lee is a director, producer, writer whose work often explores the personal impact of social justice issues. As a television producer, Tonya served as Executive Producer on the episodic series She’s Gotta Have It which is currently streaming on Netflix. As a film producer, Lee produced Monster which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is now available on Netflix. Most recently Lee co-directed and co-produced AFTERSHOCK which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which examines the U.S. maternal mortality crisis winning the Special Jury Award for Impact for Change and was acquired by Onyx and ABC News to stream on Hulu. IndieWire named Tonya as one of 22 rising female filmmakers to watch in 2022.
AFTERSHOCKIn October 2019, 30-year-old Shamony Gibson tragically died after being ignored by medical providers 13 days following the birth of her son. Two months later, we began filming Shamony's surviving mother, Shawnee Benton Gibson, and bereaved partner, Omari Maynard, as they began to process what happened and figure out their new normal.
In April 2020, 26-year-old Amber Rose Isaac, died due to an emergency c-section that stemmed from medical negligence. Within weeks of Amber's death, Omari reaches out to Amber's surviving partner Bruce McIntyre and a lifelong bond is formed. Together, Omari and Bruce begin the fight for justice for their partners with their families and community by their side, while caring for their children as newly single parents.
Through the film, we witness these two families become ardent activists in the maternal health space, seeking justice through legislation, medical accountability, community, and the power of art. Their work introduces us to a myriad of people including a growing brotherhood of surviving Black fathers, along with the work of midwives and physicians on the ground fighting for institutional reform. Through their collective journeys, we find ourselves on the front lines of the growing birth justice movement that is demanding systemic change within our medical system and government.
Feature Documentary/US/89min NO TRAILER AVAILABLE
Omari Maynard, Protagonist
Shawnee Benton-Gibson, Protagonist
Bruce McIntyre, Protagonist
Website: https://www.aftershockdocumentary.com
Twitter: @Aftershockdoc
Instagram: @aftershockdoc
Facebook: @Aftershockdocumentary
Hashtag: #AftershockDoc
Scott Calonico’s short films have been shown at Sundance, Tribeca, Edinburgh and Rotterdam festivals, and others. His movies have also been featured content on The New Yorker, Comedy Central, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly, Ch4, Boing Boing, Dangerous Minds, OUT magazine, and VICE. In 2014, “The Silly Bastard Next to the Bed” received the audience award for best short at the Full Frame Film Festival. Scott also served as producer and animator on “No No: A Dockumentary.” In 2015 he was awarded a documentary commission from the Scottish Documentary Institute. His short documentary, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth* (*but were afraid to ask)” premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and subsequent screenings across the globe. He holds a BSc in Radio/TV/Film from the University of Texas and an MA from City University, London in International Journalism
Catwoman vs. The White HouseCatwoman vs. The White House details Eartha Kitt's run-in with Lady Bird Johnson and the president at a 1968 luncheon. Mixing TV clips of Kitt in character as Catwoman and as herself among Washington's wives, she summons her superpowers to sound off about the Vietnam War. A necessary reminder of how society treats Black women who speak up and how history regards heroines.
Short Documentary/US/12min NO TRAILER AVAILABLE
Website: https://www.scottcalonico.com
Graduated from the Sorbonne University in history and sociology. Most Martine’s documentaries talk about French society through immigration, racial discrimination, health at work and disabled people issues. Her first documentary for France 2 public channel « It’s too Hard to Work » (in the office of 3 company doctors in Nantes or how work can make people sick) was awarded at the Filming Work film festival. Then she directed racial discrimination theme documentary for France 5 public channel. In 2015, she directed the story of the Puma and Adidas company creators, the Dassler brothers and the competition between them which is at the origin of sport business and corruption. She collaborated on several programs for Arte, France 5 and France 2 channels. During 4 years, she led a television program for deaf people «The Eyes and the Hand » for France 5 channel. At the same time, she was script reader for Magouric production. Since 2018, she’s been a documentary workshop tutor at La Fémis, the French national film school and at CIFAP, a film professional training center.
Catherine directed her first short film in 1996, Zohra on the Beach (Award at the International Short Film Festival of Locarno). She then filmed three documentaries in Germany based on the theme of German guilt: Oma (Grand’ma), Sour Grapes (Jean Lodz Scam 2000 Award) and The Absent Ones. Murder of a Hatmaker, made in 2006, 90 minutes shown on Arte, dealt with the plundering of the Jews by the Vichy government, winning awards worldwide. In 2008 she directed: a portrait of the philosopher Michel Serres for France 5 and Asylum, a film shown on Arte and developed from archive footage filmed in several psychiatric hospitals. She directed a 8 min. documentary, Naked, in 2009 and won the Best film Award at the International Festival of Saint-Petersburg. Lately, she directed a creative documentary Alan Turing, The Code of Life. Then for French broadcast, in 2017 Fritz Bauer - Prosecutor against the Nazi and T4, in 2018, A Physician under the Nazis a film on the Nazi project of extermination of handicapped persons and The Bookseller winning awards in France, in Bulgaria and Croatia.
In 1971, Melvin van Peebles overturned the figure of the black hero in American cinema with his film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. This documentary retraces the genesis of a hard-hitting film, an unprecedented cinematographic gesture that has become an essential reference and that gave birth to the Blaxploitation movement. Sweet Black Film is a tribute to filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. His children (Mario, Max and Marguerite) and his grandson (Mandela), as well as witnesses of the time (Reginald Hudlin, Mike Sargent and Sandra Rush) who are now producers, directors and actors, tell us about this extraordinary and highly political adventure. As heirs, they talk about how this film opened the way for them and proved that outside of Hollywood, there is salvation. This 52-minute documentary made its debut on Arte TV in France and the E.U. on March 16. The film will debut in the U.S. at BADWest’s Day of Black Docs. The film was completed before Melvin’s death on September 21, 2021. Catherine Bernstein and Martine Delumeau are writers and directors. Co-produced by Tanya and Philip Hart.
A comedian and filmmaker living in NYC, CJ is currently a field producer on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He has also served as a staff writer for A&E's Black and White, and a field producer for BET's The Rundown with Robin Thede. Before working in late night, CJ spent nine years living in New Orleans where - in 2015 - he began filming what he thought would be a quick and easy confederate monument removal. CJ is an alumnus of Firelight Media's Doc Lab and New Orleans Film Festival's Emerging Voices program. He is also a 2020 New America Fellow and a regular host of The Moth. A graduate from Brown University's Africana Studies department, CJ is endlessly fascinated by race and comedy's ability to say what we can't.
Synopsis
The Neutral Ground documents New Orleans’ fight over monuments and America’s troubled romance with the Lost Cause. In 2015, director CJ Hunt was filming the New Orleans City Council’s vote to remove four confederate monuments. But when that removal is halted by death threats, CJ sets out to understand why a losing army from 1865 still holds so much power in America.
Feature Documentary/US/82min
Twitter: @gocjhunt
Website: http://gocjhunt.com
The Day of Black Docs screener links will be emailed
to all ticket holders an hour before each day’s event.
Please monitor your emails.
FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Join BADWest for $45, and reap all the benefits of being a member, including free monthly meetings, screenings and other special events.
The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West is a project of Fulcrum Arts' Emerge fiscal sponsorship program. www.fulcrumarts.org
The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West (BAD West) is a professional organization providing people of African descent working in documentary film, video or other media the opportunity to network professionally, share resources, exchange ideas and meet socially in order to enhance the development, production, promotion and exhibition of documentaries. The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West also advocates the recognition and professional advancement of Black documentary filmmakers.
