"Eli, there’s a thought, a recollection, something somebody remembers. We carry these memories inside of we. Do you believe that those hundreds and hundreds of Africans brought here on this other side would forget everything they once knew? We don’t know where the recollections come from; sometimes we dream um but we carry these memories inside a we.

Eli I’m tryna learn you how to touch your own spirit. I’m fighting for your life and I’m fighting for yours. Look at my face. I’m trying to give you something to take north with you along with all your great, big dreams. Call on those old Africans, Eli. They come to you when you least expect ‘em. They hug you up quick and soft as the warm sweet wind. Let the old souls come into your heart, Eli. Let ‘em touch you with the hand of time. Let em feed your head with wisdom that ain’t from this day and time, because when you leave this island, Eli Peazant, you ain’t going to no land of   milk and honey. Eli, I’m putting my trust in you to keep the family togedda up North. That’s the challenge wha face all our negro people whare free. Celebrate our ways."

Nana

Daughters of the Dust (1992)

Dir. Julie Dash

As a complement to the Black Magic: AfroPasts/AfroFutures exhibition, Honfleur Gallery and Niama Safia Sandy present the Black Magic Shorts Festival on Sunday, August 20 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m at Black Box Theater at the Anacostia Arts Center.

Featuring work by filmmakers from all over the Black Diaspora, the films in the Black Magic Shorts Festival are a collection of ancient and immediate questions and wisdoms made graphic and fluid. These films seek to remind us of who we are, where we have been and who we can become when we reclaim, reimagine and reexamine stories of our collective past

Films (in alpha order):

A Land So Far (2010)

Dir.: Zak Ové

The Cleanse (2017)

Dir: Adama Delphine Fawundu

An Ecstatic Experience  (2015)

Dir: Ja'Tovia Gary

The Raft of Medusa (2016) 

Dir. Alexis Peskine

Swimming In Your Skin Again (2015)

Dir: Terence X Nance

Time & Judgement (1988)

Dir: Menelik Shabazz

This Ain’t A Eulogy: A Ritual for Re-Membering (2017)

Dir. Taja Lindley & Ellen Maynard

Black Magic: AfroPasts/AfroFutures will remain on view through Saturday, October 7.

Upcoming events:

Artist Talk - Saturday, September 16 5:00-7:00 p.m.