BLACK ASSOCIATION OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS WEST

15th ANNUAL DAY OF BLACK DOCS (VIRTUAL)

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022 and SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2022

The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West (BADWest) proudly presents its signature event, DAY OF BLACK DOCS. It is a celebration of documentaries, which highlights the Black Experience and spotlights its filmmakers from around the world.

This year, the 15th annual DAY OF BLACK DOCS will be a virtual event held on Friday, May 20, 2022 , 7:00pm to 8:30pm and Saturday, May 21, 2022, 12:00pm to 6:00pm. The Friday opening feature and Saturday daylong event will include online screenings, panel discussions, Q & A with filmmakers as well as a virtual afterparty. Tickets are $17.

Day of Black Docs is sponsored by the International Documentary Association (IDA).

• Tickets for the entire day's event are $17.00 and can be purchased at www.dayofblackdocs.org.

• Early Bird tickets are available through May 1, 2022. $2 off the regular price of admission.

• Tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite.

• The Day of Black Docs screening links will be emailed one hour before each day's event . Please monitor your emails.

• Please do not share the link.

Four sensational feature length documentaries and one rousing short documentary film screened.

 MODERATOR - TIM COGSHELL 

DAY OF BLACK DOCS is hosted by award winning writer, director and producer Tim Cogshell. 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.

FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES

FRIDAY NIGHT OPENING FEATURE

SWEET BLACK FILM

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 was completed before Melvin’s death on September 21, 2021. The film will debut in the U.S. at BADWest’s Day of Black Docs. Catherine Bernstein and Martine Delumeau are writers and directors. (Feature documentary/FR/52min)

SATURDAY FEATURES

100 YEARS FROM MISSISSIPPI

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. Directed by Tarabu Betserai Kirkland. (Feature Documentary/US/60min)

THE NEUTRAL GROUND

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. Directed by CJ Hunt. (Feature Documentary/US/82min)

CATWOMAN -VS- THE WHITE HOUSE

Catwoman 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. Directed by Scott Calonico. (Feature Documentary/US/11:54min)

AFTERSHOCK

In 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. Directed by Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee. (Feature Documentary/US/89min)

Q&A panelists include: directors Catherine Bernstein, Martine Delumeau, Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, Scott Calonico, CJ Hunt, Tonya Lee Lewis; producers Tanya Hart, Darcy McKinnon and Barry Shabaka Henley; Bruce McIntyre, Omari Maynard and Shawnee Benton-Gibson, Protagonists and Wanda-Lee Evans, Artistic and Executive Director of Kittsville Youth Foundation Dance and Cultural Program.

SCHEDULE

Day One

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022

7:00 PM – 8:30PM PST

7:00PM - 7:09PM – BADWest Welcome

7:10 PM SWEET BLACK FILM

– Q&A with Directors Catherine Bernstein, Martine Delumeau and Co-Producer Tanya Hart

Day Two

SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2022

12:00 PM - 6:00PM PST

– BADWest Welcome

12:10PM 100 YEARS FROM MISSISSIPPI

– Q&A with Director Tarabu Betserai Kirkland and Producer Barry Shabaka Henley

1:26 PM THE NEUTRAL GROUND

– Q&A with Producer Darcy McKinnon

3:04 PM CATWOMAN VS THE WHITE HOUSE (short)

– Q&A with Director Scott Calonico and Wanda-Lee Evans, Artistic and Executive Director Kittsville Youth Foundation Dance and Cultural Program

3:32PM AFTERSHOCK

– Q&A with Co-Director Tonya Lewis Lee, Bruce McIntyre, Omari Maynard and Shawnee Brenton-Gibson, Protagonists

5:20 PM

– Cocktails & Critics Afterparty via ZOOM with Tim Cogshell and Tanya Hart

The Day of Black Docs screening links will be emailed one hour before each day's event . Please monitor your emails.

For more information about BADWest, please visit www.badwest.org. Become a member. Support Black filmmakers and our stories.

The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West is a project of Fulcrum Arts' Emerge fiscal sponsorship program.  www.fulcrumarts.org

Moderator, Tim Cogshell

Catherine Bernstein, Co-Director Sweet Black Film

Martine Delumeau, Co-Director Sweet Black Film

Tanya Hart, Co-Producer Sweet Black Film - Guest Panelist

Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, Director 100 Years From Mississippi

Barry Shabaka Henley, Producer 100 Years From Mississippi - Guest Panelist

CJ Hunt, Director The Neutral Ground

Darcy McKinnon, Producer The Neutral Ground - Guest Panelist

Scott Calonico, Director Catwoman vs The White House

Wanda-Lee Evans, Artistic and Executive Director Kittsville Youth Foundation Dance and Cultural Program - Guest Panelist

Paula Eiselt, Co-Director Aftershock

Tonya Lewis Lee, Co-Director Aftershock

Bruce McIntyre, Protagonist Aftershock

Omari Maynard, Protagonist Aftershock

Shawnee Benton-Gibson, Protagonist Aftershock

Day of Black Docs Sponsor

Day of Black Docs Sponsor

The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West is s project of Fulcrum Arts' Emerge fiscal sponsorship program. www.fulcrumarts.org.