Upcoming Screenings Online/Week of September 6th

 

Top Picks for Art Online Week of September 6th

Of Lies & Liars Study 01-05 (2020) by Tony Cokes 

The Shed/Up Close Screening Online

Last installment September 6, 2020-Ongoing Exhibit/Free 

In a new piece commissioned by The Shed, a behemoth of a performance space that was just beginning to come into its own in NYC before the pandemic made live events a matter of life and death, Tony Cokes has been premiering a new video for the past five weeks. The series wrapped up this weekend but all installments are now available online. The piece takes direct aim at the national response to Covid-19 using his signature on-screen text & music montage; the words in white sweep by in frames of bold red and blue. Seeing facts regarding the pandemic in America splayed out across a screen, a screen I am watching nearly trapped at home while the small city I live in is experiencing a college induced pandemic spike putting us in the top ten cities of rapid case-growth, makes me simmer with rage along with pangs of sadness and fear but there is also a little twinge of hope brought on by the fact that this piece of art exists as a creative piece of resistance. Share this piece widely. 

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Confronting the Colonial Gaze 

Open City Documentary Festival/ Online Discussion

September 9, 2020/17:30 UTC/Free

One of the earliest documentary films was Nanook of the North, Robert Flaherty's manufactured account of an Inuk man named Nanook (actually, his name was Allakariallak, changed for marketing purposes for European & American audiences). So much of nonfiction filmmaking has roots in false narratives, an imbalance of power, a subversion of truth, subjective imagery, and biased ethnography. The history of documentary film is fraught, to say the least. The relationship between colonialism, imperialism and doc film continues to be confronted, called out and actively dismantled. In this panel, a group of artists and filmmakers challenging the legacy of nonfiction filmmaking will discuss ways in which they deal with the "colonial gaze" and the flourishing of post-colonial filmmaking practice. The event will be hosted by Fatimah Tobing Rony and feature panelists Onyeka Igwe, Ephraim Asili & Laura Huertas Millán. 

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White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy: A Panel Discussion on Mothers of Massive Resistance

The University fo Chicago Civic Engagement, Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture/ Zoom Webinar

September 10, 2020/3-4pm CT (?)/ Free w/registration

Calling all Karens! Calling all Beckys! Even though it's a much-shared meme, the grotesque racism of Karens and the like over the past few years is not actually a laughing matter. The complicity of white women in the reinforcement of racism has historical precedence, everyday perpetrators of Jim Crow oppression. Elizabeth Gillespie McRae's book Mothers of Massive Resistance, the book at the center of this event, covers the broader implications of women's central role in crafting white supremacist politics. From teaching segregationist family values to protesting busing practices, this under-looked group was integral in the shaping of the nation's racist ideals, a role so often aligned with white male conservatives. Joining the conversation will be author Elizabeth Gillespie McRae (Associate Professor of History, Western Carolina University), Kathleen Belew (Assistant Professor of History, University of Chicago and author of Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America) and LaToya Jefferson-James (Assistant Professor of Literature, Mississippi Valley State University). 

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Best of TIFF Reunions

Toronto Internation Film Festival/Online events

September 10-20, 2020/Free

I've never been to TIFF in-person but luckily I get to attend digitally this year thanks to one of my employers! Woohoo! Even though passes and tickets co$t big money, there are some free digital events going on, their social media is the best place for updates on this! One (lighter!) event I thought I should highlight is the "Best of TIFF Reunions" series which will focus classic TIFF films from the fest's 43-year-old history, bringing together directors, crew and cast to speak on their filmmaking memories. Films included in this lineup are Full Metal Jacket, Room, Claudia Weill's 1978 influential indie Girlfriends, Requiem for a Dream and LadyBird featuring a Twitter watch party with special guests which will kick off the series on September 8th at 7:30pm EDT. If anyone has any suggestions for things I should see at this year's fest please holler! I have a viewing schedule but I didn't realize how much I rely on marketing to push me into screenings I know nothing about-- maybe digital fests need a digital telephone pole to staple postcards and posters too? 

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Please send recs for upcoming weeks to: donnak3[at]gmail[dot]com