Black Ark Media present an exciting and unique double bill!
NOSFERASTA dir Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer (30 mins) gives a nod to its German expressionist precursor of 1922, Nosferatu, to reimagine the life of Oba, a Brooklyn-based rastaman, artist, musician, and co-writer of this short film in which he stars. In a nutshell, Nosferasta explores the notion of colonialism by suggesting that once bitten, twice shy. In this case, it is the vampire Christopher Columbus who bites Oba and makes him eternally complicit in his settler project and crimes inferring that one can never truly be decolonized because it is in the blood. Nosferasta straddles the old world of 1492 and our own contemporary moment to shed light on an ongoing project of human trafficking, war, exile, migration, destruction and bloodsucking by a vampiric system known as capitalism. This is a wonderful postmodern mélange of history that manages to condense a vast amount of diasporic experiences into Oba’s reimagined life.
THIS IS OUR COUNTRY TOO looks at Australia from the bottom up or should I say from the frog’s perspective. Forget the stereotypical blond-haired surfer
dudes, with their perfect bodies and golden skin riding the set waves or just
laying back in the hot sun on some sandy beach at peace with themselves and
the serenity of a splendid sea. The film is a report on what happens (to draw on the title of a Langston Hughes poem) ‘when a dream is deferred.’ Although, for the aboriginal people of Australia, the dream was never offered in the first place. A deeply insightful and hard-hitting documentary which aims to debunk the myth of an aboriginal nation marred by hopelessness and the perils of domestic violence, drugs, and alcohol abuse. As a film audience we are invited into the heart of a struggle that humanizes the oppressed by shedding light on their troubles, their route to agency, and by putting a long-awaited gaze on a culturally rich and powerful people.
Director: Ishmahil Blagrove Running time: 59 min
Black Ark Media will chair a Q&A with the director or a representative of the production team after the screening.
Black Ark Media creates events that bring communities together to share socially conscious art, literature, and films that allow people to have meaningful conversations about race, culture, and identity.
Venue: Lansdown Hall GL5 1BB
Start time: 8.00pm
Cost: £6/£5