“Blue Journey”

Blue Journey is a short film that explores the journey of generational healing. It is a love letter to the children of the diaspora who carry the traumas of our ancestors. What does it mean to heal yourself? What does it mean to heal your bloodline? How does nature support our return to self? How does our past inform our future? How do our ancestors guide us along the way? These are the questions Blue Journey asks.

Chisom Chieke is a multi-hyphenated filmmaker who’s had a passion for storytelling for as long as she can remember. As a Black woman, an intersectionalproduct of the Black diaspora, she writes, directs, and produces stories that explorethe past, present, and future of radicallove, acceptance, andgrowth within diasporiccommunities. She is fueled by art, nature, andcollaboration. Chisom is a second rounder for the SundanceTV Development Track (2021), Official Selection award recipient at the Sabira Cole Film Festival, and a member of “Insecure” producer, Amy Aniobi’s 2021 TRIBEmentorship program. Chisom createsfrom the point of view of underdogs, outcasts, and misfits, bringing a new perspectiveandincisive wit toBlack storytelling. Shecurrentlyproducesat Maestro Filmworks, an Emmy winning production company in Philadelphia, PA.

A young queer person gains confidence through the artform of drag.

Dircted By: Ileana Lam

Ileana Lam is a MexicanChinese lesbian artist based out of Los Angeles, CA. She creates illustrations and films that explore identity and how the internal emotional world translates to physical expression.

“What If Black Boys Were Butterflies?”

WhatIfBlackBoysWere Butterflies? ,wascreated because the director foundthat whileother boys can enjoy a childhoodof freedom, for many reasons,“Black boyhood” is a brief, complicated existence.WhatIfBlackBoysWere Butterflies?isan urgent social document. For Blackboys, freedom isa luxury.Throughouthistory,this hasbeen foundto be true. Thisfilm exploresthat idea. Showingyoung Black men enjoyingtheir youth and seekingliberation from these complexities,alongsidetheintimate off-screen conversation between two Black men,provides a closer look intothisAmerican reality.

Directed by: DaeQuan Collier

DaeQuan Collierisafilmmaker,born and raisedin Bronx, New York.As an artist of color, DaeQuan believesthat hisidentityis an indisputablepart of his artistry that cannot be avoidedin his work, andhe strivesto create work that properly illustratestheirhumanity. Growingup in the Bronxallowedhimto come across people andcommunities that often go untold.He believesthat theirstories are complex, beautiful,and important, and heworks to tell them. More at @daequan.

Freedom Hill is a documentary that explores the environmental racism that is washing away the town Princeville. Explored through the lens of Marquetta Dickens, a native who recently moved back to help save her hometown Princeville, a main character itself, is brought to life through several vignettes. This film uncovers the continuing legacy of racism in the U.S. and how the refusal to reckon with its own history still impacts and extends into the lives and lands of Black Americans today. The documentary uses Princeville, its residents and Marquetta’s journey back home as vehicles to examine what that responsibility, and lack thereof, lookslike

Directed by: Resita Cox

Resita isa North Carolina-born,Chicagobased independentfilmmakerandartist. Resita launchedhercareer in journalismat WTVD-TV in Raleigh,NC and WCTI-TV in New Bern, NC as a multimediajournalistand newsreporter. Resitatransitionedfrom newsmedia to documentary filmin 2018 & holdsan MFA from Northwestern University in Documentary Film.Her film'Freedom Hill,' a documentary about the environmental racism that iswashingawaythe firsttown chartered by Black people in the nation, will screen duringourprogram