IN CINEMA

Saturday, May 10th at 7PM

CYCLES

Zeinabu irene Davis, 1989, 17 min  

COMPENSATION

Zeinabu irene Davis, 1999, 95 minutes

CYCLES: Rasheeda Allen is waiting for her period, a state of anticipation familiar to all women. Drawing on Caribbean folklore, this exuberant experimental drama uses animation and live action to discover a film language unique to African American women. The multilayered soundtrack combines a chorus of women's voices with the music of Africa and the diaspora-including Miriam Makeba, acappella singers from Haiti and trumpetiste Clora Bryant.

COMPENSATION: A landmark of independent cinema, COMPENSATION is Zeinabu irene Davis’s moving, ambitious portrait of the struggles of Deaf African Americans and the complexities of loving relationships at the bookends of the twentieth century. In extraordinary dual performances, Michelle A. Banks and John Earl Jelks play Malindy and Arthur, a couple in 1910 Chicago, as well as Malaika and Nico, a couple living in the same city almost eighty years later. Their stories are deftly interwoven through the creative use of archival photography, an original score featuring ragtime and African percussion, and an editing style both lyrical and tender. Malindy, an industrious, intelligent dressmaker, falls for Arthur, an illiterate migrant from Mississippi, along the shore of Lake Michigan. On the same beach in the present, Malaika, an inspired and resilient graphic artist, softens before a brash yet endearing children’s librarian, Nico. Each pair faces the obstacles of their time as Black Americans, including structural racism and emerging pandemics. COMPENSATION remains a groundbreaking story of inclusion and visibility that bears witness to the social forces and prejudices that stand in the way of love.

+ Post screening discussion with director Zeinabu irene Davis

$15 General Admission / $7 Reduced Price