Screening & DIscussion: Bless My Journey
Screening and Discussion: Bless My Journey
Friday, December 11, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Michelson Theater, 721 Broadway, 6th floor
Bless My Journey centers around a screening of Thomas Allen Harris' short experimental film Heaven, Earth, and Hell that premiered at the Whitney Biennial in 1995. Heaven, Earth, and Hell touches on the themes of queer erotics, African mythology, and the HIV/AIDS crisis. The screening will be followed by a presentation of videos created by students in response to the themes of the film, ranging from a filmed reading of a poem to an original dance. Then a discussion between the filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris, Tavia Nyong'o, Afi Venessa Appiah, Marguerite Hemmings, and Alex Belluck.
This is an in-person event, open to the public. Prior registration is required. Non-NYU attendees will receive emailed instructions for building access and may be asked to present a government-issued photo ID upon arrival. NYU attendees must present their NYU ID.
About the Participants
Thomas Allen Harris is an award-winning filmmaker and artist whose work across film, video, photography, and performance work explores desire, ambivalence and the construction of diasporic identity through a critical engagement with questions of blackness, sexuality and the body. In addition to Heaven, Earth and Hell, their films include Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People, É Minha Cara/That’s My Face, and Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela. They are a Professor in the Practice in Film and Media Studies & Black Studies at Yale University.
Tavia Nyong’o is a Professor of Theater & Performance Studies, Professor of American Studies, and Professor of African-American Studies at Yale University. Their research interests span black queer cultural and performance studies, contemporary art and aesthetic theory, speculative genres, afrofuturism, and black sound studies.
Afi Venessa Appiah is a theorist, editor, and publisher specializing in African Studies, Film Studies, and Visual Culture. Currently pursuing a PhD in Cinema Studies at NYU Tisch, she holds a Master of Arts in Film Studies with a specialization in African Studies.
Alex Belluck is a writer, critic, and performance artist. She recently completed the master’s program in Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts and received a B.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Yale University.
Marguerite Hemmings is a Jamaican-American artist who specializes in emergent social movement styles and technologies, researching the subversive role of dance and music throughout the African Diaspora. They are currently completing her MFA in Tisch’s Dance and Interdisciplinary Research