Athena Film Festival - The Revival Movie
This documentary chronicles the creation of an international salon-styled tour led and supported by women. It tells the story of how Jade Foster recruited a group of five dynamic poets and musicians to become stewards of a movement that builds community among queer women of color, upholds literary arts excellence, and occupies living rooms across the country.
Interview with Director Sekiya Dorsett
Watch The Revival Movie on Kanopy
Why did you make your film?
I wanted to preserve the history of black woman making art and living as artists. I had been in New York only a few years and when I met Yaani Supreme fka Jade Foster it was such a rich environment of black female artistry that I wanted to share it with others. Once I documented the tour, all these important discussions on policing black women, gender representation in the queer community and family sprouted and grew.Also, I realized that there was a lost history of women of color artists that also needed to be highlighted. What we ended up creating was a rich tapestry which really provides a contemporary and historical look at what it means to be black queer woman today.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The universal theme is family. As queer individuals, family is something that we create, recreate and learn to foster despite having to confront those who may oppose our humanity. In this film, we get to really analyze and understand how the term family serves us. The characters also start to have honest discussions about what it means to live in a black queer female body and that has so many personal implications. It means standing in your truth, confronting oppressors, learning to love yourself and it is joy.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
We didn’t have a script. It was very organic in how all the stories unfolded. We didn’t know one of our main characters would get to see their mother and confront her with the honest subject matter in her poetry. We didn’t know that the troupe would be confronted by a white supremacist. We just let the camera roll and made sure to tell the most honest story possible.
What type of feedback have you received so far?/Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
When individuals see The Revival Movie, they usually feel that they are a part of the trip. A lot of people say that they are living with the women and that didn’t surprise me but rather made me feel accomplished that I was able to take this story and really bring it to a new understanding.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
As a filmmaker, our audience is important and so I want as many people as possible to learn about us, tell others about us and support us. Follow us on instagram.com/therevivalmovie and follow our journey. We can only keep telling the untold stories if people show up. We have to keep on showing up to see ourselves and I will keep making stories to amplify the voices of my people.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We have a distributor Women Make Movies and we are working to explore more community screenings across the country. Please contact them to bring The Revival Movie to your campaign.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would love people to see this film and feel like they are encouraged to be themselves no matter what and pursue their passions!
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film? What does it look like to be a black queer woman in America and how does that inform our choices?
Can art heal us alone? What are the next steps for us to reframe ourselves as women and as black people?
There is a big debate about where we are as black women right now and what we need to do so that we may continue moving forward in the face of everything.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working on a short dramedy called Ice Cold about a bride who has locked herself in the bathroom. Also a feature documentary about the history of black women in burlesque.
Interview: February 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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The Revival Movie
This documentary chronicles the creation of an international salon-styled tour led and supported by women. It tells the story of how Jade Foster recruited a group of five dynamic poets and musicians to become stewards of a movement that builds community among queer women of color, upholds literary arts excellence, and occupies living rooms across the country.
Length: 80 mins
Director: Sekiya Dorsett
Producer: Jade Foster ( Yaani Supreme)
About the writer, director and producer:
THE DIRECTOR Born in Nassau, Bahamas, Sekiya Dorsett is a queer filmmaker giving voice to issues of equality. In 2008, her first film, Wisdom and Understanding, a short experimental film, made its debut at NewFest Film Festival and the Oakland Black LGBT Festival. In 2009, her short, Sisters, a story about a lesbian woman struggling to reconcile with her mother, was screened at the Austin LGBT Film Festival.Through online media, her project, The Rainbow Collective, merged race, gender, religion, and pop culture. By day she is a Writer/Producer/Editor, where she has created work for LOGO TV and NBC Universal. To see more of Sekiya's work, check out visit sekiyadorsett.com
THE PRODUCER As founder of salon-styled poetry tour, THE REVIVAL, Jade Foster has connected over 2,000 queer women across the U.S. and abroad. Frustrated with the lack of outlets for poets who were neither totally academic or solely "spoken word," THE REVIVAL tribe engages audiences on a new literary stage. The Brooklyn-based creative catalyst aims to redefine the American Literary Arts, and continues to present creative innovations through her writings and productions. To stay connect with Jade visit cereusarts.com
Key cast:
Yaani Supreme, t'ai freedom ford, Jonquille Rice, BeSteadwell, Elizah Turner
Yaani Supreme fka Jade Foster is the founder of salon-styled poetry tour, THE REVIVAL which has connected over 2,000 queer women across the U.S. and abroad. Frustrated with the lack of outlets for poets who were neither totally academic or solely "spoken word," THE REVIVAL tribe engages audiences on a new literary stage. The Brooklyn-based creative catalyst aims to redefine the American Literary Arts, and continues to present creative innovations through her writings and productions. To stay connect with Yaani visit her new initiative Chloe Society A SANCTUARY FOR BOOKS + PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM, chloesociety.com
Be Steadwell is a songwriter from Washington DC. Redefining the love song in a modern context-Be's lyrics focus on love and resistance between women. With roots in jazz vocals, acapella and folk-Be composes a soulful blend of genres in what she calls queerpop. In her live performances, she utilizes loop pedal vocal layering and beat boxing to compose her songs on stage. Be has performed at Strathmore's AMP (2015), The Apollo Music Cafe (2014), toured internationally with the Revival tours (2013 and 2014), performed at Toshi Reagon's "Word Rock & Sword Festival" (2013-2014) and composed music for the feature film "Stud Life" (2013). For Be Steadwell tour dates, visit besteadwell.com
t’ai freedom ford is a New York City high school English teacher, Cave Canem Fellow and Pushcart Prize nominee. She received her MFA in Fiction from Brooklyn College. Her fiction has appeared inBlack Ivy, The Brooklyn Review and Bronx Biannual. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Drunken Boat, Sinister Wisdom, No, Dear, The African American Review, Vinyl, Poetry and others. Her work has also been featured in several anthologies including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. In 2012 and 2013, she completed two multi-city tours as a part of a queer women of color literary salon, The Revival. She was the winner of The Feminist Wire’s inaugural poetry contest judged by Evie Shockley and is a 2015 Center for Fiction Fellow. t’ai lives and loves in Brooklyn, but hangs out digitally at: shesaidword.com To bring t'ai to your city visit shesaidword.com
Jonquille Rice aka Solsis was born on August 4th and has been a Washingtonian ever since. Her love of music and expression stems deep to her childhood days of Casio keyboard compositions and singing in the church choir. A graduate of Bowie State University, Solsis is the host of Washington D.C.’s only Queer Women of Color open mic, Lyrics & Lace (L&L).
She is also the lead vocalist of all-girl Rock & Soul band, The CooLots, and as a poet in her own right, she’s performed with organizations like Human Rights Campaign, WOW Theatre Cafe’s Rivers of Honey, and Baltimore’s Hexagon Space. Her influences include Nikki Giovanni and Me’Shell N’Degeocello while her own infectious energy has been compared to the likes of Hanifah Walidah. An emerging community icon, Jonquille has also modeled for masculine of center women of color collective, bklyn boihood, as their December 2012 Calendar Boi. Continuously bridging the gap between artists and audience, and giving voice to the marginalized through her own creative spirit.
Elizah Turner is a Dallas born, Atlanta based visual artist in the fields of photography, design, and video. With a background in journalism, her personal work reflects the themes of social justice, self-awareness and human revolution. She works with clients to bring their vision from idea to life. With a focus on collaboration, she is a big fan of independent artists and start up businesses. Check out Elizah's photography elizahturner.com
Featured Feminist Voices
Farah Tanis, Black Women's Blueprint
Alexis deVeaux, author yabo
Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, professor
Nikki Finney, professor, poet & author
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Funders: Kickster Community
Made in association with:
Where can I see it in the next month?
Athena Film Festival
http://athenafilmfestival.com/film/revival-women-word/