Strolling - connecting the untold stories of the Black diaspora

We are very happy to welcome British filmmaker Cecile Emeke to the Berlin Feminist Film Week 2017 for a screening of her feature version of Strolling and a conversation around giving young Black people a voice and re-telling their narratives. This screening is organized in cooperation with and made possible thanks to Top Rank Magazine.

Cecile Emeke is a contemporary filmmaker based in London. Through her lens, Cecile Emeke has created her own unique platform by connecting the complex voices and realities from the Black diaspora-s. Cecile is widely known for the global online documentary series Strolling and the short film turned sitcom, Ackee & Saltfish — most recently commissioned for BBC Three’s Comedy Feed. Her work is a critical success and has been featured in the press worldwide from the New York Times to the BBC.

Strolling / Cecile Emeke / 2016 / United Kingdom / 50 min / English

Strolling is a presentation of documentary shorts in which young Black people voice their worlds while strolling about their cities. The first installment of Strolling was filmed in London and followed up with corresponding series like Flâner (France), Wandelen (Netherlands) and Passeggiando (Italy). Subjects addressed in these meandering dialogues include art, history, neocolonialism, mental health, misogynoir, day jobs, dialects, and more. Strolling is both a visually enticing work of documentary art and an effort to preserve and disseminate young Black thought on subjects both mundane and groundbreaking. Cecile’s close-up cinematography and the space she gives her subjects to say whatever is on their minds create the intimacy of a conversation between friends that allows the trivial to turn transformative.

Q&A with Cecile Emeke and Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor chaired by Aïcha Diallo. The conversation will focus on Emeke’s practice and the role her digital projects have in opening dialogue and bringing in an intersectional framing.

Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor is a theater practitioner and organizer for social justice. Her practice revolves around performance, text, dialogue, dance and community building for People of Color. Currently, Taylor hosts and moderates the monthly discursive salon style series Black in Berlin.

Aïcha Diallo is associate editor at Contemporary And, a platform for international art from African perspectives.

More about Emeke here: www.cecileemeke.com

More about Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylore: thejessicastudy.com