Join us for a special sharing of three films; Fireburn, Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved and You Can’t Stop the Spirit, honour revolutionary women who have fought to make the world a better place for their communities.
The film shorts will be followed by a conversation led by Dr Lisa Amanda Palmer, Deputy Director of the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre at De Montfort University, Leicester. Her research focuses on Black feminism, Black cultural politics and the intersection of race, racism, gender and sexuality. Her writing covers a broad spectrum of fields including the gendered politics of lovers’ rock music, the production of local community archives and knowledge production, and the misogynoir faced by Black women in British public life.
This event is part of Unearthed: Forgotten Histories.
Fireburn: The Documentary
Director Joel Fendelman, Producer Angela Golden Bryan, US Virgin Islands, 2020, 21 minutes
The labour revolt of 1878, known as the Fireburn, is but one life-altering event that helped shape people’s lives, as well as the economy of the Danish West Indies, current day US Virgin Islands. The Fireburn documentary explores the inhumane conditions that existed prior to the revolt and looks at the women who were called “Queens” due to their leadership. The documentary interviews historians, cultural ambassadors and educators and looks at the folklore, art and history surrounding the Fireburn. Although the Fireburn took place in the 1800s, and on an island in the Caribbean, it is globally relevant today. Fireburn addresses the heart of humanity and shows us what happens when people are robbed of their inalienable rights.
Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved
Director Alicia Díaz, Puerto Rico, 2020, 17 minutes
Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved is a dance film that links interrelated histories of racism and colonial capitalism in Virginia and Puerto Rico. Filmed in a former American Tobacco Company warehouse, the film honours the spirit of resistance and liberation of Black female tobacco stemmers who worked in segregated facilities in Richmond and invokes Puerto Rican tobacco factory readers and radical activists Dominga de La Cruz Becerril (1909-1981) and Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922), as inspiration for the present.
You Can’t Stop the Spirit
Director Vashni Korin, USA, 2021, 16 minutes
You Can’t Stop Spirit centres on the Baby Doll Mardi Gras masking tradition. Mardi Gras is the only day where social rank is abolished and everyone is equal. Against this backdrop, Black women experience a new freedom; one in which they are able to participate in nontraditional behaviors and practices without fear of critique. The Baby Dolls fearlessly pull a thread throughout time to reclaim culture, tradition and freedom while challenging society’s perception of how Black women are to act and exist in the world.