Community Screening: Black Feminist Film School Opening Weekend

Join Black Feminist Film School Summer Session for our opening screening at Center for Documentary Studies!  This screening is open to our entire community and will give you an opportunity to to meet the Black Feminist Film School 2014 Summer Fellows, see some of Black Feminist Film School's films in process and celebrate the legacy and livelihood of Black Feminist Film practices.  We look forward to your feedback on our films in process and your warm welcome of our Summer Fellows.

We will be screening:

No Legacy Let Go

No Legacy Let Go is an experimental short film that is part of the Mobile Homecoming experiential archive.  Based on our interview with Black lesbian elder Imani Rashid and our imaginings of a blues counterstory of queer Harlem, this film features original music and a reimagined and reclaimed history.  Versions of this film have been shown at the National Queer Arts Festival,  MIXMIX LGBTQ Film Festival in NYC and on multiple stops on the Mobile Homecoming national tour.     Our Durham community will get the chance to see the newest cut of the film and to offer feedback.

Combahee Pilgrimage

Combahee Pilgrimage is a documentary in process about the life-changing journey of 21 Black feminists to the Combahee River to commemorate both the 150th anniversary of Harriet Tubman's 1863 uprising during which at least 750 enslaved people in South Carolina burned down 35 plantation buildings, flooded the rice fields and stole themselves to freedom and the origin story of the 1974 founding of the Black lesbian socialist feminist Combahee River Collective.

Tradition Returned

Ile Ori: Tradition Returned (working title) is a film about a unique Ifa community in the United States. Building on African traditions in the new world diaspora and a sankofa (go back and fetch it; looking back to move forward) approach to Yoruba culture and spirituality, this inclusive community travels the ecstatic and challenging terrain of initiating new Priests into the mysteries, medicine and power of Orisha.

This film introduces some of the concepts of Ifa, tells the story of this Ile's first 10 years and tells the story of some of the challenges and stigmas that a same gender loving, transgender and racially inclusive Ifa community faces. Through it all, the power of this community to support one another through transformation is mesmerizing.
My People

My People is an audio performance piece based on a poetic protest narrative by Alexis Pauline Gumbs and a soundscape created by Julia Roxanne Wallace aka Sangodare.   The piece was created in response to the unjust arrest of two queer and trans activists of color by the NYPD and successfully helped to mobilize global support for their release.  The piece has been installed around the United States and as far away as Berlin.  This will be its Durham premiere.

See you there!

My People Are Free: Black Feminist Breathing Chorus Meditation #5 (Harriet Tubman)

My People Are Free

Harriet Tubman

Today Harriet Tubman teaches us how to speak our dreams in the present tense.   May we continue to breathe in the presence of our freedom.  Special thanks to the 21 Black feminists who came to last year’s Combahee Pilgrimage who join the chorus of our love on this track!

Click below or here to listen.

Shapeshift.  For Harriet Tubman.  By Alexis Pauline Gumbs. 

If you are not already on the email list to receive the emails daily in your inbox during our 3 week experience join on in here. 

In order to keep the air moving and the energy gathering each meditation is available for three days after it is posted.  If you would like to get eternal access to the meditations streaming and downloaded to use for your personal upliftment or to share with your organization or students you can become a monthly sustainer of the Eternal Summer of Black Feminist Mind at a level that feels generously sustainable to you.

Or if you want to move the meditation magic forward you can make a donation towards the scholarship fund for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat (see more below).  Donations of $25-100 give you eternal access to the streaming meditations on the site and donations of 101 or more give you access to streaming AND downloads of the meditations as audio files. 

If breathing in chorus through this virtual experience feels great, imagine what it would feel like to breathe together in person!!!  On July 4th weekend 2014 we will be gathering for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat in Magnolia, Mississippi at the Flowering Lotus Meditation Center. 

Here is a video that includes some of the power of our breathing together at last year’s Combahee Pilgrimage Retreat:  

Combahee Pilgrimage Trailer from J. Roxanne on Vimeo.

We hope to see you this Summer!!!!

Love, 

 Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind

Audit Black Feminist Film School: Registration is Open NOW!

from http://blackfeministfilmschool.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/registration-now-open-to-audit-black-feminist-film-school-summer-session/

"She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it." -Baby Suggs Holy in Beloved by Toni Morrison

Black Feminist Film School is a clearing space where we remember how to make the world we deserve visible, tangible and compelling.   Clear space in your summer for y/our vision!

Black Feminist Film School Summer Session 2014 (bffs-SS’14) is now open for up to 18 auditors. This will include access to course materials, described below, and will consist of what we call a virtual audit. This is an ideal option for people interested in building their skills, community and context for a Black Feminist Film approach but who are not able to attend our rigorous combination of in-person intensives and online classes this summer and would benefit from a flexible curriculum.  A vast amount of information, conversations and other resources will be made available to all auditors as the course progresses.

Auditors will have access to:

• Living bibliography

• Syllabus for bffs - Summer Session ‘14

• Course Packet

• Audio and/or Video of course lectures and presentations

• Outlines for lectures and presentations

• Handouts

• Production Notebook blank documents/forms and example documents/forms

• Tutorials and learning modules including program files when relevant

• Access to SS ‘14 restricted area of the bffs website

• Audio and/or Video interviews and conversations with bffs advisors and elders

• Audio, Effects, Graphic and other media files

Registration is now OPEN!

Register to audit for Summer Session 2014 here.  Auditing is open to everyone who is interested in and inspired by the legacy and possibility of Black Feminist Filmmaking regardless of background, training or identity.

You are fully registered after you pay your sliding scale registration fee of $50-75 below:

We look forward to supporting you to create the world we can imagine.

Black Feminist Breathing Chorus Meditation #4: Black Women Are Inherently Valuable

Black Women Are Inherently Valuable

Combahee River Collective

On Memorial Day I am remembering the world-reorganizing truth that Black Women Are Inherently Valuable.  Today’s mantra affirms our breathing.   Today’s collage uses the cover of the Combahee River Collective’s 1979 pamphlet in response to the murder of 12 Black women in Boston in 3 months as a centered element for remembering the urgency of love. 

Click below or here to listen.

Cross My Heart.  For the Combahee River Collective.  By Alexis Pauline Gumbs. 

If you are not already on the email list to receive the emails daily in your inbox during our 3 week experience join on in here. 

In order to keep the air moving and the energy gathering each meditation is available for three days after it is posted.  If you would like to get eternal access to the meditations streaming and downloaded to use for your personal upliftment or to share with your organization or students you can become a monthly sustainer of the Eternal Summer of Black Feminist Mind at a level that feels generously sustainable to you.

Or if you want to move the meditation magic forward you can make a donation towards the scholarship fund for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat (see more below).  Donations of $25-100 give you eternal access to the streaming meditations on the site and donations of 101 or more give you access to streaming AND downloads of the meditations as audio files. 

If breathing in chorus through this virtual experience feels great, imagine what it would feel like to breathe together in person!!!  On July 4th weekend 2014 we will be gathering for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat in Magnolia, Mississippi at the Flowering Lotus Meditation Center. 

Here is a video that includes some of the power of our breathing together at last year’s Combahee Pilgrimage Retreat:  

Combahee Pilgrimage Trailer from J. Roxanne on Vimeo.

We hope to see you this Summer!!!!

Love, 

 Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind

I Have Hopes for Myself: Gwendolyn Brooks

from http://blackfeministbreathing.tumblr.com/

I Have Hopes For Myself

Today Queen Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks offers us what I call an “accessible affirmation.”   Something great is possible.  :)

If you are not on the email list to get these meditations in your inbox, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/ThvM5

In order to keep the air moving and the energy gathering each meditation is available for three days after it is posted.  If you would like to get eternal access to the meditations streaming and downloaded to use for your personal upliftment or to share with your organization or students you can become a monthly sustainer of the Eternal Summer of Black Feminist Mind at a level that feels generously sustainable to you.

Or if you want to move the meditation magic forward you can make a donation towards the scholarship fund for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat (see more below).  Donations of $25-100 give you eternal access to the streaming meditations on the site and donations of 101 or more give you access to streaming AND downloads of the meditations as audio files.

If breathing in chorus through this virtual experience feels great, imagine what it would feel like to breathe together in person!!!  On July 4th weekend 2014 we will be gathering for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat in Magnolia, Mississippi at the Flowering Lotus Meditation Center.

Here is a video that includes some of the power of our breathing together at last year’s Combahee Pilgrimage Retreat:

Combahee Pilgrimage Trailer from J. Roxanne on Vimeo.

If you want to breathe together in person there is still time to sign up for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat:

http://www.alexispauline.com/apgblog/event-view/black-feminist-breathing-retreat-july-4-6th-magnolia-mississippi/

And if you want to pay it forward consider donating to the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat Scholarship Fund so someone else can attend!

http://www.alexispauline.com/apgblog/cause-view/support-black-feminist-breathing/

If you are not already on the email list to receive the emails daily in your inbox during our 3 week experience join on in here. 

Combahee Pilgrimage Trailer from J. Roxanne on Vimeo.

We hope to see you this Summer!!!!

Love,

 Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind

The Wait is Over: Black Feminist Breathing Chorus Meditation #1

We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For

From http://blackfeministbreathing.tumblr.com/

Our first meditation is based on June Jordan’s “Poem for South African Women.”  Remember the multitudes that breathe through you.  (And if you listen to the VERY end you will actually hear June Jordan laugh!)

If you are not on the email list to get these meditations in your inbox, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/ThvM5

In order to keep the air moving and the energy gathering each meditation is available for three days after it is posted.  If you would like to get eternal access to the meditations streaming and downloaded to use for your personal upliftment or to share with your organization or students you can become a monthly sustainer of the Eternal Summer of Black Feminist Mind at a level that feels generously sustainable to you.

Or if you want to move the meditation magic forward you can make a donation towards the scholarship fund for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat (see more below).  Donations of $25-100 give you eternal access to the streaming meditations on the site and donations of 101 or more give you access to streaming AND downloads of the meditations as audio files.

If breathing in chorus through this virtual experience feels great, imagine what it would feel like to breathe together in person!!!  On July 4th weekend 2014 we will be gathering for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat in Magnolia, Mississippi at the Flowering Lotus Meditation Center.

Here is a video that includes some of the power of our breathing together at last year’s Combahee Pilgrimage Retreat:

Combahee Pilgrimage Trailer from J. Roxanne on Vimeo.

If you want to breathe together in person there is still time to sign up for the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat:

http://www.alexispauline.com/apgblog/event-view/black-feminist-breathing-retreat-july-4-6th-magnolia-mississippi/

And if you want to pay it forward consider donating to the Black Feminist Breathing Retreat Scholarship Fund so someone else can attend!

http://www.alexispauline.com/apgblog/cause-view/support-black-feminist-breathing/

If you are not already on the email list to receive the emails daily in your inbox during our 3 week experience join on in here. 

Combahee Pilgrimage Trailer from J. Roxanne on Vimeo.

We hope to see you this Summer!!!!

Love,

 Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind