Los Angeles Premiere
Blackness is Everything is an experimental/performative short film that celebrates the diversity of the Black diaspora in The Bay Area.
Director: Alba Roland Mejia
Producer: Amasha Lyons-Clarke
Writer: Donte Clark
Cast: Rhandi Purnell, Diontae Burden, Sarah Stewart, Vincent Stewart, Julie "Jewelz" Williams, Kadia Bah, Josh Sanders, Lance "Space" Selleaze, Brandon Davis, Sabaa Zareena
Cinematographer: Jon Warfield Harrison
Editor: Arash Malekzadeh
Black history is not confined to a month. Black experiences are not limited to a singular narrative. Blackness has many faces, bodies, cultures and identities. Blackness is Everything, an experimental/performative short film, celebrates exactly what the title implies — the diversity of the Black diaspora thriving across The Bay Area.
This film is a collaboration between BAYCAT Studio, an anti-racist non-profit fighting to ‘end racism and sexism through storytelling,’ and a BIPOC crew of local filmmakers with a Black woman director at the helm.
As director, Alba Roland Mejia sourced community talent to bring the authenticity of their experiences to the screen. This film makes space to focus on the texture of Black identity, reflected in the rawness of the 16mm film, through the words of masterful poet Donte Clark and the emotive score of renowned jazz trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire.
For too long Black stories have been told by others, from the outside in. Blackness is Everything cuts through performative hashtags and disrupts the media landscape by prioritizing Black storytellers and the beauty, prowess and weight of the stories they represent.
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