Every Tuesday this August, the Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library will host a film series for Black August facilitated by cinéSPEAK.

Learn a little bit about the curators below, and see what films they chose:

Ingrid Raphaël is a filmmaker, educator, and multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores image making, oscillations between alienation and belonging, folktale as memory, and dance codes as containers for – and manifestations of — Black-futures-making.  They co-founded the nomadic microcinema, NO EVIL EYE CINEMA, and co-designed its alternative film school FILM FUTURA. As a documentary filmmaker, they co-directed They Won’t Call It Murder: available on Vimeo’s Shorts Staff Picks, and other short video essays like MOVING BODY, Grief, and An Ode to Cbus, Ohio.

Film Choices: I Am Somebody (1970) and Fannie’s Film (1979)

Screening Date: Tuesday, August 6 at 5:30 p.m.

Tshay is a Jamaican-American filmmaker and artist from Amityville, NY. She is a writer, director, producer, shooter, and editor who uses filmmaking to imagine a world where Black people have full creative agency over their lives. Working in close collaboration with loved ones, Tshay creates films across documentary, fiction, and hybrid forms, namely her debut narrative short film, gales., which screened at BlackStar Film Festival, American Black Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, and a number of universities and organizations worldwide. She is the recipient of awards from Art Works, Sachs Arts, and Independence Public Media Foundation, and holds degrees from both the University of Pennsylvania and University College London. She is currently developing her debut animated film, TELL ME WHEN YOU GET HOME., through her production company Studio Tshay.

Film Choice: Mangrove (2020)

Screening Date: Tuesday, August 13 at 5:30 p.m.

angel shanel edwards is a Blackqueerandtrans first-generation Jamaican and Philly-rooted artist. They utilize the creative modalities of movement, poetics, filmmaking, and photography to witness and remember Blackness as it moves through daily life, love, intimacy, and transitions [*gendered and otherwise]. angel is being moved and led by the beautiful cartographies of Black life.

Film Choice: Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2023)

Screening Date: Tuesday, August 20 at 5:30 p.m.

Denise Campbell is currently president of the Friends of Lucien Blackwell Library. She is also the co-founder of the Toni Cade Bambara Film and Culture Club. Over the past five years she has curated film series and screenings for both groups. Her selection of Black Power Mixtape for this Black August film series pays homage to freedom fighters who dedicated their lives to Black liberation and a better world. Some of whom remain imprisoned to this very day. #FreeThemAll.

Film Choice: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)

Screening Date: Tuesday, August 27 at 5:30 p.m.

This program is made possible through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Miriam Spector Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Other Black August events at the Free Library:

• COINTELPRO: A Black August Discussion with Dr. Kelly Harris - Wednesday, August 7 at 6:00 p.m. → Parkway Central Library
• Black August Resource Fair - Monday, August 19 at 4:00 p.m. → Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library