On a rare 29th day of February 2020, I gave a lecture for Toronto’s Black Museum: Lurid Lectures for the Morbidly Curious on The Omega Man and the inadvertently Afrofuturist themes called The Omega Man’s Utopian Dystopia. I spoke about how this classic film has an Afrofuturistic bent without seemingly trying. Sure, it was... Continue Reading →
HBO’s Exterminate All the Brutes: An AAFCA Roundtable Interview
In my grade school history class, I remember my history teacher talking about the War of 1812. He spoke of “savages” and Tecumseh. It was in the late 70s, and I wondered what he was talking about, who were the “savages”? In high school, I did a study on Indigenous women and the unfair loss... Continue Reading →
Genius: Aretha Gives a Glimpse of a Musical Prodigy
Aretha Franklin is and always will be the Queen of Soul, but the woman behind the well-deserved title was a bit of a mystery to me. Luckily, National Geographic continues its Genius Limited Series Anthology based on history-making innovators. This season, we get a look into the origins of Franklin and her musical genius. With... Continue Reading →
Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois): The AAFCA Virtual Roundtable Interview
Philippe Lacôte’s Night of the Kings defies genre. Through dance, music and calling upon the pageantry of the stage, he creates a world of storytellers and danger within MACA, one of the most notorious jails on the Côte D’Ivoire, in D’Abijan. This critically-acclaimed film draws on Lacôte’s own experiences as a child visiting his mother in MACA,... Continue Reading →
The Vigil
There are ceremonies around death in every culture that requires obligation and respect of traditions. Some may bring up past traumas, and we see this in Keith Thomas' The Vigil. Yakov (Dave Davis) is an awkward young man coping with the faith he left and something from his past that breaks his very core. He... Continue Reading →
Safer at Home Needs Renovations
Filmmaking has been forced to make a shift due to restrictions presented by the pandemic. With the 2020 breakout film Host by Rob Savage, the video call has become an essential tool for creating content to keep the film industry afloat. Safer at Home is a film that also uses the video call as a... Continue Reading →
Test Pattern Adjusts the Picture of Sexual Assault
Sexual assault is never an easy subject to approach cinematically. It's hard to convey the anguish and violation without sensationalizing the event, and the aftermath can often be lost in dramatic embellishment for the most part. Shatara Michelle Ford attempts to change the perspective with her award-winning first feature film, Test Pattern. Renesha (Brittany S.... Continue Reading →
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at The Cecil Hotel and Losing Elisa Lam
The Elisa Lam case was mysterious, perplexing, and one that received a lot of attention. I'm sure I saw the news reports of her disappearance in 2013, but she resurfaced through paranormal Youtube videos I'm prone to watching late at night. Many accounts speculated that the young woman popping in and out of an elevator... Continue Reading →
The Rapture of Saint Maud
What is our purpose in life? Is it to care for others? Do good work to help humanity? And what if an already fragile psyche creates its own support system amidst this existential uncertainty? Writer and director Rose Glass presents this premise in her first feature, Saint Maud. Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a private care... Continue Reading →
TIFF Next Wave Film Festival 2021: Unapologetic
Black women and girls have a heavy load to bear. We are nurturers and fighters, supporters and innovators, working behind the scenes caring for families, lovers and doing the work. Often, we go unnoticed because that has been the narrative for so long. We can be rendered voiceless, and when we speak up, we are... Continue Reading →