BRING IT BLACK – FILMS BY BLACK ARTISTS IN CANADA

The representation of Blackness and the lives of Black people on screen has a long, dynamic and troubled history in Canada. On the one hand, white supremacy has shaped the Canadian film industry, and as such, the cultivation of on-screen Black stories and identities has often been in the hands of non-Black, usually white film professionals.

On the other hand, Black lives, histories and identities have been represented on screen in compelling, diverse and rich ways by talented and dedicated Black filmmakers working in Canada. Trailblazers like Dionne Brand, Sylvia Hamilton, Christene Browne, Alison Duke, Claire Prieto, Jennifer Hodge de Silva and Clement Virgo innovated a fierce creative path that has been taken up by contemporary artists like Martine Chartrand, Charles Officer, Philip Pike, Hubert Davies, Elizabeth St. Philip, Ella Cooper, Cory Bowles and many, many more.

Coupled with this outpouring of cinematic vitality is a groundswell socio-political shift, one led by the Black Lives Matter movement and the scores of anti-racism activist groups across the country fighting against police carding, economic segregation, carceral injustice, poverty and more.

Cinema Politica seeks to recognize, celebrate and foreground the force of Black creativity in the media arts by featuring a special curated program of Black-made political film under the name “Bring it Black: Films By Black Artists in Canada.”

We are seeking films of any length and any genre that engage with socio-political, cultural-political, economic-political or environmental-political issues from a Black perspective, and where the lead creative on the film project identifies as Black or of Afro-heritage.

Bring it Black will launch in February 2020 and will comprise 15-20 works by emerging and established Black filmmakers working in Canada. The program will tour throughout the Cinema Politica Network and artists will be paid screening fees if selected.

The program will be co-curated with Cinema Politica curators and commissioned Black-identifying curators.

SUBMITTING WORK: 

The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2019.

Please send online screener links to: programming@cinemapolitica.org, with BRING IT BLACK written in the subject field. Please include contact information for rights holders in your submission email. You may also submit your film by way of our online form at cinemapolitica.org/submit-a-film.

Cinema Politica pays public performance screening fees for the films we program, and fees vary according to length and screening details. There is no cost to submit your work to Cinema Politica. Our submission guidelines can be found at cinemapolitica.org/submit-a-film