This event begins at 12:30 PM CT on Nov 21 and will be available in our platform after it streams live until Nov 22.
"What could Black philosophy look like if given the space to manifest visually? What is the Black thing? How does it feel?" -Aria Dean. This panel is a look into Arthur Jafa's concept of Black Visual Intonation - what Black cinema has always already been, as well as what it can be in the present and in the future if it is nurtured and cared for. Hear from creatives forging a new creative language, or utilizing old ones that have been dismissed. Featuring Keisha Rae Witherspoon (T), Tayler Montague (In Sudden Darkness), and alea adigweme ([untitled]). Moderated by Chloe Walters-Wallace of Firelight Media. This live panel will be followed by a brief Q&A open to virtual audience members.
Chloe Walters-Wallace (moderator)
Chloe Walters-Wallace is a Jamaican creative with a passion for travel, anthropology, dancehall and installation art. Currently, she manages Firelight Media’s artist programs, including the Firelight Documentary Lab a fellowship that provides mentorship, funding, and access to first and second time filmmakers from under-represented communities, and the Groundwork Regional Lab a new initiative which expands the pipeline of early career independent diverse makers from the South, Midwest & US Territories. Previously, Chloe was Program Director of the New Orleans Film Society's Emerging Voices Mentorship Program, which establishes meaningful connections between industry leaders and Louisiana based filmmakers of color. In 2018, she designed and launched the Southern Producers Lab, a regional program for emerging producers from across the American South. Chloe has served on juries including the National Endowment for the Arts, Create Louisiana, the Doc Society’s New Perspectives Fund, CAAM, PBS Online Film Festival, Reel South, Cucalorus Works-In-Progress Lab & the TFI If/Then Short Documentary Program and many more. She lives between New York and New Orleans and is on the board of Third Horizon & Femme Frontera.
Keisha Rae Witherspoon
Keisha Rae Witherspoon is an independent filmmaker currently based in Miami. Her work is driven by interests in science, speculative fiction and fantasy, as well as documenting the unseen and unheralded nuances of Diasporic peoples. Her most recent film T is currently touring festivals, and she’s currently writing her first feature film.
Tayler Montague
Tayler Montague (Director/Writer) is a filmmaker born and raised in Mount Vernon, NY. A graduate of SUNY Purchase with a degree in Communications, Montague seeks to tell stories that place Black people front and center, building upon the legacy of Black storytelling she grew up with. Her foray into the film industry began with her background in cultural criticism and programming. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Film Comment, The Fader, and Reverse Shot. She has cut her teeth as a curator, programming at various institutions such as BAM & Alamo Drafthouse. In the interim, she also worked in the curatorial departments at many of the city’s beloved cultural centers such as MoMA, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In Sudden Darkness is Tayler’s debut film, after years of dreaming about the opportunity to step behind the camera, it is now a reality. It’s part of her mission to honor Black figures, showcase Black love, and build community through shared viewing experiences.
alea adigweme
alea adigweme is a multidisciplinary Igbo-Vincentian-U.S.ian cultural worker active in the mediums of creative writing, book arts, performance, installation, and visual media. Her creative and critical labors are undergirded by interests in archives, the politics of pleasure, the (hyper/in)visibility of Blackness, and the lived experiences and cultural work of femmes of perceivable African descent, all of which have influenced her extensive public-facing work as an interviewer, moderator, panelist, and educator.
After earning a BA in Russian literature at Reed College, adigweme earned an MFA in nonfiction writing, an MA in media studies, and a graduate certificate in gender, women's, and sexuality studies from the University of Iowa. She is currently a second-year MFA student in interdisciplinary studio art at UCLA and lives in Tovaangar, the unceded Tongva land commonly called Los Angeles. [untitled] is her first short film.
This event begins at 12:30 PM CT on Nov 21 and will be available in our platform after it streams live until Nov 22.
"What could Black philosophy look like if given the space to manifest visually? What is the Black thing? How does it feel?" -Aria Dean. This panel is a look into Arthur Jafa's concept of Black Visual Intonation - what Black cinema has always already been, as well as what it can be in the present and in the future if it is nurtured and cared for. Hear from creatives forging a new creative language, or utilizing old ones that have been dismissed. Featuring Keisha Rae Witherspoon (T), Tayler Montague (In Sudden Darkness), and alea adigweme ([untitled]). Moderated by Chloe Walters-Wallace of Firelight Media. This live panel will be followed by a brief Q&A open to virtual audience members.
Chloe Walters-Wallace (moderator)
Chloe Walters-Wallace is a Jamaican creative with a passion for travel, anthropology, dancehall and installation art. Currently, she manages Firelight Media’s artist programs, including the Firelight Documentary Lab a fellowship that provides mentorship, funding, and access to first and second time filmmakers from under-represented communities, and the Groundwork Regional Lab a new initiative which expands the pipeline of early career independent diverse makers from the South, Midwest & US Territories. Previously, Chloe was Program Director of the New Orleans Film Society's Emerging Voices Mentorship Program, which establishes meaningful connections between industry leaders and Louisiana based filmmakers of color. In 2018, she designed and launched the Southern Producers Lab, a regional program for emerging producers from across the American South. Chloe has served on juries including the National Endowment for the Arts, Create Louisiana, the Doc Society’s New Perspectives Fund, CAAM, PBS Online Film Festival, Reel South, Cucalorus Works-In-Progress Lab & the TFI If/Then Short Documentary Program and many more. She lives between New York and New Orleans and is on the board of Third Horizon & Femme Frontera.
Keisha Rae Witherspoon
Keisha Rae Witherspoon is an independent filmmaker currently based in Miami. Her work is driven by interests in science, speculative fiction and fantasy, as well as documenting the unseen and unheralded nuances of Diasporic peoples. Her most recent film T is currently touring festivals, and she’s currently writing her first feature film.
Tayler Montague
Tayler Montague (Director/Writer) is a filmmaker born and raised in Mount Vernon, NY. A graduate of SUNY Purchase with a degree in Communications, Montague seeks to tell stories that place Black people front and center, building upon the legacy of Black storytelling she grew up with. Her foray into the film industry began with her background in cultural criticism and programming. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Film Comment, The Fader, and Reverse Shot. She has cut her teeth as a curator, programming at various institutions such as BAM & Alamo Drafthouse. In the interim, she also worked in the curatorial departments at many of the city’s beloved cultural centers such as MoMA, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In Sudden Darkness is Tayler’s debut film, after years of dreaming about the opportunity to step behind the camera, it is now a reality. It’s part of her mission to honor Black figures, showcase Black love, and build community through shared viewing experiences.
alea adigweme
alea adigweme is a multidisciplinary Igbo-Vincentian-U.S.ian cultural worker active in the mediums of creative writing, book arts, performance, installation, and visual media. Her creative and critical labors are undergirded by interests in archives, the politics of pleasure, the (hyper/in)visibility of Blackness, and the lived experiences and cultural work of femmes of perceivable African descent, all of which have influenced her extensive public-facing work as an interviewer, moderator, panelist, and educator.
After earning a BA in Russian literature at Reed College, adigweme earned an MFA in nonfiction writing, an MA in media studies, and a graduate certificate in gender, women's, and sexuality studies from the University of Iowa. She is currently a second-year MFA student in interdisciplinary studio art at UCLA and lives in Tovaangar, the unceded Tongva land commonly called Los Angeles. [untitled] is her first short film.