Welcome to Reel Sisters of the Diaspora

LIVE: Joe & The Shawl
2020-10-25 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Vimeo
LIVE: Joe & The Shawl Screening & Script Breakdown – 4pm-5:30pm
Sponsor: Stephens College MFA in TV & Screenwriting
Reel Sisters & the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Host Script Analysis for Joe & The Shawl
On Sunday, Oct. 25 at 4 pm, Reel Sisters & Stephens College MFA in TV & Screenwriting will host a special screening and script anaylsis of Joe & The Shawl written and directed by Nicole Ballivian, a Sundance Screenwriter Fellow, and co-written by Deonna Kelli Sayed. Enjoy an inside look at Ms. Ballivian’s choices in developing authentic characters and gain insight on her overall vision for the film. Rosanne Welch, PHd, the Executive Director of Stephens College MFA in TV & Screenwriting, and Dawn Comer Jefferson, an Emmy-nominated award-winning writer, will led the script discussion as a part of Reel Sisters Lecture Series panel. The lead actors Jill Galbraith and Travis Lincoln Cox will join the conversation.
This event is free and sponsored by Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting. Donations welcomed.
Joe And The Shawl
Director: Nicole Ballivian
Writers: Nicole Ballivian and Deonna Kellie Sayed
Joe Potay, an adorable tow truck driver really digs Kelli, a fellow North Carolinian, when he meets her as he changes her dead car battery. But Joe’s interest takes a sharp right turn when he learns that Kelli is a Muslim. Kelli finds herself stuck in Joe’s tow truck cab as he reveals his ultra-conservative white nationalist ideas. Joe informs Kelli that she’s damned to hell, so Kelli insinuates she’s left him something special in his truck.

LIVE: Do You Feel Safe
2020-10-25 14:10 - 15:40
LIVE: Do You Feel Safe – 2:10-3:40pm
The Giverny Document (single channel)
Director: Ja’Tovia Gary
Producer: Paige Wood Artesia Balthrop
Documentary, 40 min.
Filmed in Harlem, USA and in Claude Monet’s historic gardens in Giverny, France, The Giverny Document is an experimental, multi-textured cinematic poem that meditates on the safety and bodily autonomy of Black women. Filmmaker Ja’Tovia Gary unleashes an arsenal of techniques and materials including direct animation on archival 16mm film, woman-on-the-street interviews, and montage editing techniques to explore the creative virtuosity of Black femme performance while interrogating the histories of those bodies and lives as spaces of forced labor and commodified production.
Listen (Director’s Cut)
Producer/Director/Writer: Jhanelle Elissa
Narrative, 10 min,
A Black woman who feels like a glitch in society decides to speak up. When her outer bubbly persona is met with exhaustive complacency, she resorts to a tragic alternative with a smile.

Sacred Rites & Rituals
2020-10-25 13:00 - 14:00
Sunday, October 25, 2020 – 1-2pm
Black
Director/Writer: Tamika R. Guishard
Producer: Randall Sawyer, Ania Trzebiatowska, Debbie Goodstein, Birgit “Bitz” Gernböck
Experimental, 10:50 min.
When a reformed drummer cannot get his caffeine fix on the anniversary of his brother’s death, ancestral rhythms guide him to the truth buried deep below his city streets.
My Father The Mover
Director/Writer: Julia Jansch
Producer: Mandilakhe Yengo Sheila Nevins
Documentary, 12:33 min.
African electronic “Gqom beats” motivate kids in the township of Khayelitsha, South Africa to jive through their hardship and find their superpowers. Alatha’s father says he’s more than a dancer — he’s a Mover. Using a unique type of African electronic Gqom dance, The Mover is helping kids in the township of Khayelitsha, South Africa, to transcend the grips of poverty and abuse and “find their superpowers.”
Sundays at The Triple Nickel
Directed by: Jessica Colquhoun Producer: Cordielle Street
Documentary, 13 min.
On Edgecombe Avenue in Sugar Hill, Harlem, Marjorie Eliot is making sure her apartment building’s iconic Jazz legacy lives on. Marjorie and her son have been hosting Jazz concerts in her apartment every Sunday for the past 26 years, in a pursuit of overcoming grief through music. This film tells the story of the women behind the piano.
Sankofa
Director/Writer: Vivian Vivas Producer: San Francisco Art Institute
Experimental, 3:24 min.
Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates to “go back and get it.” This 16mm film interprets an exorcism of social repression. Humanity’s passion, pain, and love are revealed through movement, light, and nature. The song “Tonada de Luna” was performed synchronously with the improvisational dance.

Community Fundraiser
2020-10-24 16:30 - 17:15
A Virtual PLAY DATE (FAMILY FRIENDLY): LIVE LSW – 4:30-5:15pm
Suggested donation: $25 (Donate any amount)
Join Reel Sisters for a fundraiser for director Marta Effinger-Crichlow’s Little Sallie Walker, a film documenting four generations of Black women whose memories of childhood play offers refuge and joy.
Enjoy an excerpt from the work-in-progress and participate in a fun play session with family and friends.

LIVE: Lecture Series on Perceptions
2020-10-24 15:00 - 16:15
LIVE: Lecture Series on Perceptions – 3-4:15pm EST
aghast
Directors/Writers: Rob Underhill and Maxine Eloi
Producer: Rob Underhill
Narrative, 7 min.
Based on true events, Eve Scott stands her ground, protecting property, liberty, and the life of herself and her child as an outside threat works to force entry into her home. Aghast is based on the true story of 23-year-old Korryn Gaines. A several hour standoff between police and Korryn and her 5-year-old son turned deadly when police used a SWAT team to force entry into Korryn’s home, arguably instead of exhausting all means available to de-escalate the situation.
target practice
Producer/Director/Writer: Yasmin Neal
Narrative, 7 min.
A lost boy seeking help is faced with a harsh reality.
ungubani (who are you?)
Producer/Director: Booker T. Mattison
Writer: Mandel Holland
Narrative, 16 min.
The story of a young black man who puts himself at risk to save a young white woman in distress. A powerful tale of identity, perception, and race with a literary leitmotif.

Reflection
2020-10-24 13:15 - 14:30
Saturday, October 24, 2020 – 1:15-2:30pm EST
Dolly
Writer/Producer/Director: Tosin Lepe
Narrative, 5:47 min.
A white babysitter awaits the news of a job commission; meanwhile, she is pestered by the young Black girl in her care requesting help with her homework. In the process of helping her, the babysitter discovers the little Black girl’s bizarre understanding of race and how it differs from that of adults.

Train to Qinling
Producer/Director: Shir Baron
Producer: Ringling College of Art & Design
Animation, 2:30 min.
A Middle-Eastern traveler gets lost on a train in China with no one else but a panda! She must learn to communicate with him in order to find the adventure she was looking for, in an unexpected way.
Afro
Director/Writer: Jenn Shaw
Producer: Jenn Shaw YJ Meira
Narrative, 11:22 min.
After multiple encounters with her bully and a little academic inspiration, an African-American teen girl finally stand up for herself against classmates who question her cultural identity.
waltz
Producer/Director/Writer: Mari Miyazawa
Animation: 14 min.
The story is set in a world where foods that are made from wheat live. The many varieties are hostile to each other. However, when beings made from things other than wheat appear, such as those made from meat and cream, they all work together to oppose them.
miss boundless
Director/Writer: Qiyu Zhou
Producer: Siyi Ren
Narrative, 15 min.
An ambitious girl born into a noble family, desperately wants to become as powerful as her father. After Zhang’s father names her male cousin as the next heir to their influential house, Zhang struggles to prove that she is the better successor. Zhang discovers that sometimes in order to gain power, one must take it.
roots and wings: yara gilbueno
Director/Writer: Lisa Yadao
Producer: Lisa Yadao, Michelle Sampior, and Irene Yadao
Documentary, 5:28 min.
Nomadic chef Yana Gilbuena discusses growing up in Iloilo, Philippines, and how she got her start as a chef in the pop-up space and left her day job to spread the Filipino food gospel to all 50 U.S. states, and the future of Filipino cuisine.
