PROJECTS
ARCHIVE
PROJECTS
ARCHIVE
PROJECTS
ARCHIVE
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For Edition IX – Bodies and Technologies (2021-23) Black Speaks Back was invited by If I Can't Dance I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution to create a new film and research project, which has taken the title Zwarte Ibis: The Spirit of Black Intimacies. Built upon an interview-based creative methodology called the ‘Kitchen Table Talk’ method, the project tackles issues of intergenerational trauma, cultural fragmentation and collective remembrance among Black communities in the Netherlands.
The result is an immersive short film that portrays a young Black woman’s quest for intimacy in a world where the boundaries between the individual and the collective, the political and the personal, the past and the present, become ever blurrier. This poetic reverie is an afro-surrealistic imagination of contemporary notions of relationships with oneself and with an imagined community, questioning historically and culturally imposed views on Black people’s intimate lives in the diaspora. ​​
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A film by BLACK SPEAKS BACK in association with IF I CAN’T DANCE, I DON’T WANT TO BE PART OF YOUR REVOLUTION Starring HENRIETTE “AELIA SAPPH” VALIES, JUNADRY LEOCARIA, RODAE VALENTIJN and SHANTI MONKOU Music by CHRIS “CI” RICKETS Text by MATHIEU CHARLES Narration by BURNICE HIWAT Talking Drum by AMINU GONGON Sacred Sounds by HOUSE OF VIBRATION Edited by CHRIS TJONG AYONG Visual effects by ROBERT-JONATHAN KOEYERS Director of photography HENCK PENGEL Co-produced by LA FAM PRODUCTIONS Written by NOHELY KOEYERS, EMMA-LEE AMPONSAH, CHRIS “CI” RICKETS and ALEXINE GABRIELA Directed by EMMA-LEE AMPONSAH
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Special thanks to our project coordinator and production supervisor Megan Hoetger.
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EUphoria (2018)
Directed by Robert-Jonathan Koeyers
Written by Nohely Koeyers and Robert-Jonathan Koeyers, based on the collective exploration and input of all participants
Musical Directing by Wanlov the Kubolor
Cinematography by Bouba Dola
Production by Emma-Lee Amponsah and Christopher Daley
Film poster and illustration by ANSO
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With the support of: BOZAR, Growfunding, Zinnema, Pianofabriek & Destelheide.
In 2016/2017 Black Speaks Back brought together a group of fifteen young Afro-European artists to imagine a future of Europe, together with Ghanian-Romanian artist Wanlov the Kubolor. Participants shared their experiences and their work, learned about Afrofuturism and started sketching the futures they imagined. Each artist contributed something of their own: a storyline, dance, song, rap, a scene, costumes, images, puppets and so on.
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The power of this collective creation of fifteen artists was tremendous and resulted in a bold and absolutely unique Afrofuturistic opera. The film had its international premiere at the legendary Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles. It has already been the genesis of multiple new creations and surely will inspire many more.
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