Join us for our July Movies in the Lot with Filmfront!

Filmfront presents a program of recent short works by Black experimental filmmakers and artists exploring the act of reading for revolutionary purposes and finding acts of resistance in the written/spoken word. Featuring films by Ephraim Asili, Claudrena N. Harold, Kevin Jerome Everson, Cauleen Smith, and an in-person live reading/new work by Imani Elizabeth Jackson.

RSVP Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/movies-in-the-lot-with-filmfront-tickets-377451155567

Featured Films:

Fluid Frontiers (2017) by Ephraim Asili

Fluid Frontiers is the fifth and final film in the series entitled The Diaspora Suite, exploring Asili’s personal relationship to the African Diaspora. Shot along the Detroit River, Fluid Frontiers explores the relationship between concepts of resistance and liberation, exemplified by the Underground Railroad, Broadside Press, and artworks of local Detroit Artists. All of the poems are read from original copies of Broadside Press publications by natives of the Detroit/Windsor region, and were shot without rehearsal.” —Video Data Bank (distributor)

Pride (2021) by Kevin Jerome Everson and Claudrena N. Harold

Set in Charlottesville during the early 1990s, Pride follows a young college journalist and editor as she finalizes stories for the latest issue of Pride, a student-run newspaper at the University of Virginia. Over a hectic two-day period, she puts the finishing touches on the upcoming issue as well as reflects on her aspirations as a writer. Despite the looming deadline, she moves with a calm confidence. The film screens courtesy of the filmmakers and Picture Palace Pictures.

Three Songs About Liberation (2017) by Cauleen Smith

Three women declaim excerpts from Gerda Lerner’s book Black Women in White America (1972), from memory, to the camera. Shot in the South Side of Chicago, this simple gesture summons up several stories of African-American women during the time of slavery. While confrontational, there is pride in the women’s delivery. The film appears courtesy of the artist.

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Filmfront is a cine-club located in chicago’s pilsen neighborhood. selected programs draw from overlapping spheres of global, classic, documentary, experimental and local cinema. since 2019 filmfront has shared a storefront with sister project Inga, a bookshop focused on independent and alternative publishing.

This program is in partnership with our Artist Run Chicago Fund.