Octavia McBride-Ahebee: 10 Must-Watch Films About Identity & Survival

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

10 Must-Watch Films About Identity & Survival

by Sojourner Ahebee

"A film, in its most simple form, is a story. And stories are not only a powerful mode of witness, but most importantly they are a means of showing viewers everywhere that they are not alone. Some of our most intimate and personal self-discoveries are lying in the depths of a film. As a young person who is attempting to navigate this world, themes of identity are constantly taking up space in my own life. Who am I? Who am I becoming? What is in my way and how am I to respond to these obstacles?Identity is almost becoming synonymous with survival. How are we to fight for our sense of self each day? The 10 films I have listed below respond to various intersections of identity and survival. Through watching these pieces, I hope we can all look into our own lives as a means of self-reflection… I hope we can look into our own worlds and love each other a little more. "
Read on ....

http://theodysseyonline.com/stanford/10-films-about-identity-survival/159454

1 comment:

SusanSeptember 10, 2015 at 9:00 AM
Thank you for this list. I have only seen 5 of these. I'm most excited to hear about
"Strolling" (English Title). Where have I been to miss this series? Thank you!
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"You and I" by Malak Mattar

One of Philadelphia’s brightest culinary treasures, the Southeast Asian Market at FDR Park

June 19, 2024 Collage as a Form of Resistance-At the Bok Bar /Philadelphia Celebrates Juneteenth

During this workshop, we will experiment with visuals to help curate our ideologies around pride, Black history, culture, and music. Through discussion and art making students will leave this course confident in the methods of collaging as a form of resistance. All materials will be provided but feel free to bring any of your own collaging materials as well (mats, exacto knives, scrap materials, photos, etc...) This class will be hosted by Doriana Diaz. Doriana Diaz is a multidimensional artist, archivist, and memory worker rooted in Philadelphia's soulful rhythms. She has hosted a wide array of collage and bookmaking workshops around the city in spaces like The African American Museum, Brandywine Museum of Art, United States Botanical Gardens, Mural Arts, and Fleisher Art Memorial, a variety of schools including Penn Charter, Delaware Valley Friends School, and Green Street Friends, along with places such as Express Newark, Ipade, and Bok Bar. Her work explores loss, memory, fantasy, utopia, formation, and identity through the archival documentation of visual imagery. Click the image to register for this event.

Now until July 14, 2024 /Joyce J. Scott-50-Year Retrospective at BAM

Don’t miss the Baltimore Museum of Art ‘s(BMA) 50-year career retrospective of artist Joyce J. Scott (b. 1948, Baltimore, MD), encompassing the full range and depth of her prolific and genre-defying practice. Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams features nearly 140 works from the 1970s to the present—including sculpture, jewelry, textiles, artwear garments, performance compilations, prints, mixed-media installations, and a new large-scale commission. The exhibition closes July 14, 2024. Click image to learn more.

A 106-year-old from the Philippines is Vogue's oldest ever cover model

Still Dancing by Johnathan Labillois

Mr. Labillois' Artist Statement: I donated this to the Montreal Native Women's Shelter to raise awareness of missing and murdered Native women in Canada. I hoped sharing it with others would bring this issue to the minds of many people, and hope that many of our sisters, mothers, aunts or daughters will never be forgotten. The idea for the title came from my little sister who said, "Dancers dance for those who cannot, the sick, the elders, and those who are gone. It's like all those women are still dancing thru her." * 2020 Collective vision.us - Postcards for Political Action; Click image to learn more.

March 9, 2020 7:30 p.m./ Maira Kalman | The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Illustrated

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Wed, March 11, 2020 7:30 p.m.- James McBride Free Library/Central Branch

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Wed, March 11, 2020 6:00 p.m. One Book, Many Voices Community Dinner

Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek Library Gather for a family-style dinner of dishes from the Americas. Hear thoughts from the contributing chefs on Indigenous food traditions, as participants put text on the table and discuss passages from There There by Tommy Orange. Everyone will get to know their neighbors during this special evening, and explore together what identity and community-building mean in Lenapehoking past, present, and future. Join the party for a family-style dinner with dishes from across the Americas, in partnership with One Book, One Philadelphia. Participating restaurants include: El Merkury, Poi Dog Philly, South Philly Barbacoa and Chef Chris Paul. Registration for this FREE event is encouraged but not required; seating is first-come, first-served. Click image for more information.

Curtis Institute of Music Student Recitals-Mon., Wed., & Thu/Free

The Student Recital Series provides a platform for exceptional young musicians—and more than 100 free opportunities for audiences to indulge in a season-long showcase of artistry. Since Curtis was founded in 1924, some of history’s most important musicians have appeared on the stage of Field Concert Hall, and today the Student Recital Series continues this celebrated legacy. Students perform solo and chamber works on most Mondays at 6 p.m., and Wednesday and Friday evenings at 8 p.m. Additional dates and times are added throughout the year. Student Recitals are free and open to the public. Seating is general admission and first-come, first-served. Most recitals are about two hours long, with one intermission. Click image to learn more.

U-M anthropologist uses toe tags to highlight crisis at US-Mexico border

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The Robert and Eileen Kennedy Heim Center for Cultural and Civic Engagement First Floor | 7,200 square feet An active gathering space for diverse programs and civic engagement. Marie and Joseph Field Teen Center Ground Floor | 4,000 square feet Special programming and a gaming area–exclusively for teens. Business Resource and Innovation Center Ground Floor | 8,200 square feet A new hub for Philadelphia's entrepreneurs, inventors, nonprofits, and job seekers./ Click image to learn more.

Open Archive: The Poetics of Anti-Slavery Protest- New York

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Raquel Salas Rivera

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20 Amazing Writing Residencies You Should Apply for This Year

Leeway Foundation

The Leeway Foundation's grantmaking programs honor women and trans* artists for their ability to create social change through their artistic and cultural work. The Art and Change Grants and the Leeway Transformation Awards fund women and trans artists (including those identifying as transgender, transsexual, and/or genderqueer) living in the Delaware Valley region of Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, who engage in art and social change work and have financial need. To learn more, click image.

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The American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship

The American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship was created in 2013 to nurture and sustain a heritage as old as the Library itself – deepening French-American understanding. The Visiting Fellowship offer writers and researchers an opportunity to pursue a creative project in Paris for a month or longer while participating actively in the life of the American Library. The project may be a book (fiction or non-fiction), long-form journalism, film or music. The Fellowship award, a stipend of $5,000 is intended to cover travel and housing costs for the Visiting Fellow. He or she will be expected to present the work-in-progress to the public in a weekday evening talk at the Library, and to conduct one or two workshops for Library members on a subject of common interest. Click Image to learn more..

Ride a train across country and write a book. Welcome to the Amtrak Writer's Residency:

What began as a line in Alexander Chee's interview in PEN Ten and was fueled by Twitter, is now an official Amtrak program. As many of you may know by now, our test-run for Amtrak Residency was done by Manhattan-based writer Jessica Gross, whose piece, Writing The Lakeshore Limited was published in February by The Paris Review. What followed was overwhelming support on Twitter and in the media with #AmtrakResidency being featured in The Wire, The New Yorker, and Huffington Post among others. Today we are happy to announce that #AmtrakResidency will allow for up to 24 writers to take long-distance trains to work on their projects. Each writer's round-trip journey will include accommodations on board a sleeper car equipped with a bed, a desk and outlets. We hope this experience will inspire creativity and most importantly fuel your sense of adventure! Are you excited about #AmtrakResidency? Want to learn more and apply? Head over to our official entry form and good luck! Click image.

Where My Birthmark Dances is now available on Amazon

What's being said about Where My Birthmark Dances ?

The Ancient Romans used to call a person's creative spirit her "genius," and recognized the labor of setting it free as one of love and sacrifice. Octavia McBride-Ahebee's latest collection is just such a labor. Her poems depict human longing, love and dignity in the context of global inequality with fierce, uncompromising grace. As her characters speak, she creates indelible sensory images of loveliness and affection, profound misery and anger, letting each co-exist on the page. The resulting complexity of tone makes space for nuanced and compelling human voices that might otherwise be categorized as "victims" or "villains" of oppression. It takes the full use of genius to notice and capture these contradictions, and a deep social conscience to care so passionately about writing them down. This collection is one of McBride-Ahebee's "bighearted magnolia trees," its trunk scarred by the fire of sacrifice, its blossoms and branches so beautiful you don't want to leave their shade.

-Lillian Dunn, Editor of Apiary Literary Journal

Octavia McBride-Ahebee

Words without Borders; The Home of International Literature

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

10 Must-Watch Films About Identity & Survival

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