This collection of experimental shorts traces the systemic, oft-unseen echoes of history left through generational trauma, grief, colonialism, urban redevelopment, redlining, and displacement, and pays tribute to the individuals and communities that maintain and resist. Following the screening, artists Cameron A. Granger, Shala Miller, and Jard Lerebours will be present for an in-person discussion.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 – 7:30PM FT Q&A
COCONUT
Dir. Jard Lerebours, 2022.
Jamaica, United States. 3 minutes.
In English.
To his mother’s homeland of Jamaica, a young man returns to pay last respects to the grandmother he called Two Mommy. COCONUT is a self-proclaimed “public declaration of love,” an experimental documentary and poetic remembrance of a matriarch and caretaker.
BEFORE I LET GO
Dir. Cameron A. Granger, 2023.
United States. 23 minutes.
In English.
Set in the fictional town of Bad City, 5 years after a giant monster attack leveled the city’s east side neighborhood, BEFORE I LET GO follows a documentary filmmaker’s experience covering the community’s recovery efforts. Awarded Best Experimental Film and Audience Award at the 2023 Blackstar Film Festival.
THE ECHO
Dir. Shala Miller, 2017.
United States. 8 minutes.
In English.
An ethnographic study of the relationship between Shala Miller and their mother (Ruby Clyde), specifically focused on the idea of trauma being passed in the blood.
HERE AND THERE ALONG THE ECHO
Dir. Cameron A. Granger, 2024.
United States. 27 minutes.
In English.
HERE AND THERE ALONG THE ECHO finds Granger and his community coming together once again to document and study the mysterious black holes plaguing Bad City, in hopes of finding a missing friend. Currently installed as part of Granger’s multidisciplinary exhibition, 9999, at Queens Museum, this screening will mark the film’s in-cinema premiere.
Cameron A. Granger is Sandra’s son & came up in Cleveland, Ohio. Inspired by the rigorous archival & homemaking practices of his grandmother, Pearl, Granger uses his work as a means to quilt his communal and familial histories, into new, not just potential, but inevitable futures. He’s an alumni of Euclid public schools, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, and the Studio Museum in Harlem AIR program. He is currently an In Situ Artist Fellow at the Queens Museum.
Jard Lerebours (He/They) is a queer community oriented Jamaican-Haitian filmmaker, writer and curator who creates exploratory pieces in service of venerating his ancestors and putting image to theory. He is an active member of the Meerkat Media Artist Collective. Jard’s practice straddles the worlds of cinema and video art. He approaches filmmaking as a conversation between friends and family guided by their loving West Indian upbringing in Long Island.
Shala Miller, also known as Freddie June when they sing, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio by two southerners named Al and Ruby. At around the age of 10 or 11, Miller discovered quietude, the kind you’re sort of pushed into, and then was fooled into thinking that this is where they should stay put. Since then, Miller has been trying to find their way out, and find their way into an understanding of themself and their history, using photography, video, film, writing and singing as an aid in this process.