The Familiar Unknown: Mysticism in the Present Future
Shades of Shadows
Los Angeles Filmforum at MOCA presents
The Familiar Unknown: Mysticism in the Present Future
Thursday, March 8, 2018, 7:00 pm
At MOCA Grand Ave Ahmanson Theatre, 250 S. Grand Ave.
Filmmaker Amir George in person! LA premieres!
The exhibition Lauren Halsey: we still here, there, sees the Los Angeles-based artist continuing her practice of community-based myth-making by regularly changing an immersive space that will serve as a visionary archive reflecting the diversity of everyday Black cultural experiences in South Central L.A. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition, this program features experimental films and videos that engage with the mysterious, mystical, and absurd as a way to create possibility from within the constraints and restrictions of everyday life. These works by Amir George, Mike Henderson, and dana washington powerfully meditate on the power of culture in relation to the self and community. Through the use of archival footage, experimental narrative elements, and musically-infused rituals of transformation and transcendence, they collectively enunciate knowledge about the inner, sociopolitical aspirations of Black people and communities while utilizing unconventional approaches to history, collective memory, and the filmmaking process. Through an engagement with the mystical and mysterious, these films attempt to create possibility from within the constraints and restrictions of everyday life. Curated by Jheanelle Brown and Darol Kae.
INFO 213/621-1745 or education@moca.org
TICKETS $15 general admission, $8 students with ID, available in advance at MOCA
FREE for MOCA & Los Angeles Filmforum members; must present current membership card to claim free tickets.
Optimum Continuum
Optimum Continuum
By Amir George (2018, digital, color, sound, 9 min.)
Los Angeles premiere!
An on-going barrage of blackness always in progress. Abrupt patterns, part of and as a whole.
Down Hear
Down Hear
By Mike Henderson (1972, 16mm transferred to digital, B/W, sound, 12 min.)
Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
A powerful meditation on slavery and oppression set in a kitchen and featuring a slave- trading reenactment by Mike Henderson in white face, along with his brother Raymond, all paced by a slow and haunting blues track played by Mike. – Jeremy Rossen
Shades of Shadows
Shades of Shadows
By Amir George (2015, digital, color, sound, 6 min.)
Los Angeles premiere!
Commissioned by Chicago Film Archives. Shades of Shadows is a collaboration with psychedelic soul band The O’Mys, that delves into spiritual mysticism and ritual sacrifice. Created with all archival footage, the characters in the film seek to manifest a better self.
Black Gold
Black Gold
By Amir George (2016, Super 8mm transferred to digital, color, sound, 2 min.)
Black Gold is an 8mm treasure hunt, a traditional song of black beauty.
The Encompassed Wisdom of the Inevitable Manifestation
The Encompassed Wisdom of the Inevitable Manifestation
By Amir George (2016, digital, color, sound, 2 min.)
Los Angeles premiere!
A spell casting of images guided by a voice in the night.
Decadent Asylum
Decadent Asylum
By Amir George (2017, digital, color, sound - 17 minutes)
Los Angeles premiere!
Decadent Asylum is a folkloric narrative of a soul searching being told in three parts. The pupil become the practitioner, and the practitioner becomes the alchemist.
Black Chains
Black Chains
By Amir George (2017, 16mm transferred to digital, color, sound, 3 min.)
Los Angeles premiere!
Found footage music video for the rap artist Cornell Sanaa. Images convey perseverance
through poverty and misfortune.
Liberated Zones
Liberated Zones
By dana washington (2018, digital, color, sound, 6 min.)
Los Angeles premiere!
Liberated Zones is a two-part audio-visual mapping of which to address ways of handling pain, loss, or exclusion. Acting as a conceptual utopia that is part-manifesto and participatory activity, it attempts to provide practical methods for acknowledgement, processing, and healing.
Liberated Zones is comprised of narration by dana Washington, filmed footage by dana Washington and A Film By Black Daughters, as well as sourced digital materials by Outkast “Hold On, Be Strong,” Flying Lotus “Coronus, The Terminator,” Kahlil Joseph “mAAd city,” Weeksville Heritage Center, Frances Bodomo “Boneshaker,” Untitled bitmap image, Interwebsvideovault “Protest in Times Square,” Terence Nance “Jimi Could Have Fallen From The Sky,” and Nueinfo “Real Beating Heart.” Part two is “Heart Burn,” performed by artist and activist, Noni Limar, as a dedication to the labors of motherhood and the late Erica Garner, featuring actress Zula Azailee Star Hunter.