About the film

This cinematic poem explores the creative virtuosity of Black femme performance figures, while interrogating the histories of those bodies as spaces of forced labour and commodified production. Directed by the Brooklyn-based artist and filmmaker Ja’Tovia Gary, Giverny was shot on location in Harlem and in Claude Monet’s historic gardens in Giverny, France. This innovative film is a technical triumph, combining direct animation on archival 16mm film, found video footage, woman on the street interviews, and montage editing techniques. —Tori Fleming