Thursday,
May 1 - Sunday, May 4
2nd
Annual Black Lily Film & Music Festival
The
Black Lily Film and Music Festival, a multi-racial, generational
and disciplinary women's arts festival, has moved entirely
to University City and this year joined forces with International
House to present the Festival’s Film Program. Over fours days,
Black Lily will showcase both emerging and established independent
female filmmakers including Stephanie Black (Life and
Debt), Pearl Bower (Midnight Ramble) and Tia
Lessin (Trouble the Water). In addition to highlighting
their work, Black Lily also provides opportunities for networking
and training.
Please
visit www.blacklilyfilm.org
or 215-765-3218 for more information
on
the other events in this year's Festival.
Thursday,
May 1
6pm-7pm
Begging
Naked
dir. Karen Gehres, US, 73 mins
Begging
Naked began when
Elise Hill asked fellow artist Karen Gehres to record her
life on videotape. With straightforward honesty, Elise recounts
how at age 15 she left an abusive home and wound up on the
streets of New York as a prostitute, stripper and drug addict.
Her sense of humor and striking face just barely conceal her
pain. Years later she entered rehab and started selling her
art, but soon returned to stripping, recreating graphic images
from the clubs she worked in. As Mayor Giuliani’s zoning laws
put the squeeze on the sex industry in New York, the film
follows Elise as she wrestles with her uncertain fate. Drug
abuse, isolation, mental illness, and eviction complicate
her journey. This inspiring and heartbreaking film transcends
its grim subject, gracefully creating an intimate portrait
of a fascinating individual struggling to survive in a city
that would prefer she didn’t exist.
7:30pm-9pm
New
Year Baby
dir.
Socheata Poeuv, US/Cambodia, 56 mins
Born
in a Thai refugee camp on Cambodian New Year, filmmaker Socheata
Poeuv grew up in the United States never knowing that her
family had survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. In New Year
Baby, she embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search
of the truth and why her family's history had been buried
in secrecy for so long.
Friday,
May 2
11am-12:30pm
Workshop:
Sound Production
1pm-2:30pm
Workshop:
DocuClub
3pm-4:30pm
Panel:
Women and the Art of Film
5pm-6:30pm
Hair
Stories
dir.
Yvette Smalls, US, 40 mins
Hair
Stories chronicles
through personal stories and experiences, the historical and
cultural issues of beauty and "good hair/bad hair"
standards in the African-American community. With an exciting
musical sound track, with the Jazzyfatnastees, et al, archival
film and photographs, and interviews featuring Dr
Renee Robinson, Sonia Sanchez, Erykah Badu, Jackie Copeland-Carson
and Joe Lewis among others.
LoqueeshaAshleyFranklinJoseBrown
dir.
Nadine Patterson, US, 18 mins
An
experimental documentary about children in Philadelphia, with
poetry by Ursula Rucker and tabla music by Lenny Seidman.
7pm-9pm
Trouble
the Water
dir.
Tia Lessin, US, 94 mins
Aspiring
rap artist Kim and her streetwise husband Scott show what
survival is all about when they are trapped in New Orleans
by deadly floodwaters, then seize a chance for a new beginning.
9:30pm-11pm
This
is the Life
dir.
Ava DuVernay, US, 97 mins
In
1989, a collective of young artists gathered at a storefront
health food cafe in South Central LA. Their mandate? To explore
and expand the musical boundaries of hip hop. This is
the Life is a feature-length documentary that chronicles
“The Good Life” emcees, the alternative music movement they
developed, and their worldwide influence on the artform.
Saturday,
May 3
11am-12:30pm
Over
the Hill (Bepecht Houdbaar)
dir.
Sunny Bergman, Netherlands, 60 mins
Many
women are confronted with a young, slim and tight beauty ideal
and worry a great deal if they can’t live up to that image.
Sunny Bergman asks in whose interest it is for her and other
women to have these concerns, what's at stake, what's to gain
and what's to lose. Bergman looks for the cause, the effects,
and possible solutions for the Western preoccupation with
our image.
Flow
dir.
Anula Shetty, US, 5 mins
Flow
explores the fluidity between the different stages of a woman's
life.
1pm-2:30pm
Experimental
Shorts Program
I
Want You
dir.
Timiz Sanyika, US, 13 mins
Jazz
Smollett and Ohene Cornelius star in I Want You,
a stylized, black and white short film that charts the emotional
compass of young love when Lennox Jones, an aspiring novelist,
meets and falls hard for Baldwin Wright, a charismatic musician
on the rise. A whimsical romance ensues, but falls short when
high expectations meet discontent. Eventually, time apart
forces them to decide whether or not their love was meant
to last. I Want You is based on a feature length
screenplay which shares the same name.
24
frames per day
dir.
Sonali Gulati, US, 7
mins
24
frames per day
was conceived by combining 24 photographs taken each day over
a period of 9 months. These photographs are juxtaposed alongside
a conversation with a taxicab driver while returning from
the airport after a trip back from India . The images show
the changing seasons as viewed from the filmmaker's front
door, while the sound reveals her relationship to what is
considered "home". The film raises important questions
around immigration, cultural stereotypes, and diasporic identity.
Birthmarks
dir.
Naima Lowe, US, 29 mins
Birthmarks
is an experimental
nonfiction film exploring the relationship between storytelling
and the physical scars of history as told through the story
of a father’s involvement in the 1967 Newark Riots, and a
daughter's retelling of that story. Bill Lowe was a twenty-one
year old African-American reporter covering what was supposed
to be a peaceful protest in Newark, NJ. There he witnessed
the police instigate a riot that lasted several days and devastated
the city.
While
witnessing these incidents, he was beaten by the police and
has a series of small dark scars on his back. For the last
twenty years director Naima Lowe has heard the story of those
scars in various forms. This documentary explores how they’ve
each come to understand these events over the years in our
modes of storytelling, memory, and artistic practice.
Cusps
dir. Sara Zia Ebrahimi, US, 14 mins
Utilizing
film, video and archival photo images, this visual journal
documents the unresolved struggle to embrace change and impermanence
in ones life. Paralleling changes in the city with those in
her own life, Iranian-American filmmaker Sara Zia Ebrahimi
explores her experience living as an urban nomad, migrant
and immigrant in the post-industrial landscape of Philadelphia
neighborhoods.
3pm-4:30pm
Manhattan,
Kansas
dir.
Tara Wray, US, 79 mins
Manhattan,
Kansas is a first
person documentary about a daughter coping with her mentally
unstable mother. It delves into the complicated ways people
care for one another, and offers insight into the mind of a
parent struggling for physical and emotional survival, and
the effects this has on those who love her.
She
Used to See Him Most Weekends
dir.
Penny Lane, US, 4 mins
A
short story about growing up, a certain love song, and the
apocryphal memories of childhood.
5pm-6:30pm
Narrative
Shorts Program
Chicxulub
dir.
Malona Voight, US, 14 mins
The
first story is about Ted and Maureen Biehn who receive a phone
call in the middle of the night from a hospital informing
them that their 17-year old daughter has been in a car accident.
The second parallel story is about the catastrophic events
occasioned by large meteors that hit earth. As the stories
unfold, Ted and Maureen are informed that there was nothing
that could have been done to save their daughter's life and
when they go to identify her body, their life is about to
change forever.
A
Few Simple Words (Kilka Prostych Slow)
dir.
Anna Kazejak-Dawid, Poland, 35 mins
Krystyna
is an attractive, full of energy and independent woman. She
wants to take her daughter, against her will, for the casting
to the vocal girlsband. Unexpected car damage forces Krystyna
to look for the help from a man whom she hasn't seen for a
long time. This meeting will change a lot in life of each
of them.
The
Maid
dir.
Heidi Saman, US/Egypt, 19 mins
The
Maid examines the
moments in which we are forced to understand that other people
are real in the same way that we are. Rasha is an Egyptian
house maid who is not so skilled at her job. When suspicions
of her employers are weirdly confirmed, Rasha must come to
terms with her perceptions of trust, duty and her place within
the family household.
Yesterday's
Today
dir.
Falena Hand, US, 15 mins
Kendra,
an intelligent 8th grader, calls on her best friend Roshad
to help her with her science project. After having a brief
disagreement, Kendra and Roshad quickly call a truce. The
following day, Kendra comes home to find saddening news. She
must decide whether or not to fall apart or cope with her
situation.
7pm-9pm
Africa,
Unite
dir.
Stephanie Black,
US/Ethiopia,
89 mins
Africa,
Unite is
a singular and masterfully executed film by Stephanie Black
that is at once concert tribute, Marley family travelogue
and humanitarian documentary, igniting the screen with the
spirit of world-renowned reggae icon Bob Marley in its every
frame. In commemoration of Bob’s 60th birthday, Africa
Unite is centered on the Marleys’ first-time-ever family
trip to Ethiopia in 2005. Includes rare footage of world-renowned
reggae icon Bob Marley. In the capital city of Addis Ababa
three generations of Marleys take part in a 12-hour concert
attended by more than 300,000 people from around the world,
with the ultimate purpose of inspiring the young generations
of Africa to unite for the future of their continent.
Nappy
Heads
dir.
Sabrina Moella, Canada, 3 mins
Nappy
Heads is a short
tribute to afro hair. Shot in super 8 in the streets of Toronto,
it draws a dozen joyful portraits of men, women and children,
who choose to happily wear their hair in its natural state.
Sunday,
May 4
10am-11:30am
Panel:
Women and the Business of Hip Hop
11:30am-1:30pm
Roe
v. Wade
Anniversary Block
Every
year more than 8,000 Irish women make the journey to England
for abortions. They do so despite the risk of life imprisonment
and social stigmatization. They make this journey in secret
and return in silence, some of them never telling a soul. Like
A Ship in the Night is a thoughtful and expertly paced
piece of filmmaking, in perfect rhythm with its subject matter.
The three women begin their journeys with different views on
abortion rights, they all return similarly silenced, terrified,
and angry at their country. “This issue reaches beyond women
in Ireland - these rights have no borders. It just tells a story
that could be any of us.” - Dayle Steinberg, Planned Parenthood
Celebrated
film producer and historian Pearl Bowser presents a collection
of rare clips from full-length films and shorts from the John
Baker Jazz on Film Collection courtesy of the American Jazz
Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. Bowser, who since 2000 has consulted
with the Museum, draws from its collection of over 700 hours
of film spanning from the 1920s to the early '70s. A wealth
of visual evidence of African-American culture, the collection
includes over 3,000 'soundies' - the forerunner of MTV-style
music videos. 
In
1969, Palestinian Leila Khaled made history by becoming the
first woman to hijack an airplane. As a Palestinian child growing
up in Sweden, filmmaker Lina Makboul admired Khaled for her
bold actions; as an adult, she began asking complex questions
about the legacy created by her childhood hero. This fascinating
documentary is at once a portrait of Khaled, an exploration
of the filmmaker’s own understanding of her Palestinian identity,
and a complicated examination of the nebulous dichotomy between
"terrorist" and "freedom fighter." The result
is a multi-dimensional film unlike any other in its skillful
handling of the complexities that arise when liberation movements
incorporate violence as a tactic. 