Reminder: Circling the Archive on April 29
Our short film presentation featuring filmmakers Dwayne LeBlanc and Tayler Montague live in the theater on Saturday, April 29th at 4pm
Hello friends & readers,
We hope you’ve been enjoying the seasonal changes and they’ve been kind to you. A quick reminder about our Spring film event which we’re so delighted about! In just over a week, on Saturday April 29th, join us at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive for an afternoon all about narrative in Black films where you can expect to see Dwayne LeBlanc’s short film Civic (2022) and Tayler Montague’s short film In Sudden Darkness (2020) alongside a 35mm restoration of Charles Burnett’s short film Several Friends (1969), selected by LeBlanc, and three music videos from the early aughts selected by Montague including Beyonce’s “Upgrade You” and Ashanti’s “Rain On Me”. LeBlanc and Montague will both be present in the theater for a post-screening discussion with Black Life co-curator ruth gebreyesus which will focus on narrative storytelling in canonical and contemporary Black filmic works including the filmmakers’s own.
The first 50 guests can expect to take home riso posters of the LeBlanc and Montague’s films kindly printed by BAMPFA’s Art Lab.
A bit about our guests and their films ~
A native New Yorker, Tayler Montague forayed into filmmaking via her background in cultural criticism and film programming. Montague tells stories that place Black people front and center, building on the legacy of Black storytelling that she grew up with. Her debut film, In Sudden Darkness, is a portrait of a working-class Bronx family as they experience the Northeast blackout of 2003.
Dwayne LeBlanc is a Los Angeles–based, first-generation Caribbean American artist and filmmaker. He is primarily self-taught, and his multimedia practice focuses on themes of migration, visibility, and dual identities. His debut short, Civic, is a meditative work about homecoming that was awarded a production grant from Ghetto Film School and Netflix. LeBlanc is currently in postproduction on two additional films that will form a trilogy with Civic.
As always, we reserve a set amount of free tickets that we joyfully offer to Black Life’s extended community of Black and brown filmmakers, artists, creators, and curious viewers. We encourage you to send a request for a ticket with your full name to blackblacklifelife@gmail.com by April 22nd.