Marc Arthur Chéry

Luz, a Filipina interpreter, takes a call from Dr. Femi Balogun to discuss the end-of-life options for Remedios, an elderly Filipina woman in the hospital ICU during the early months of the COVID pandemic.

As a woman anxiously awaits her overdue period, she performs African-based rituals of purification. She cleans house and body, and calls on the spirits (Orishas in the Yoruba tradition), receiving much needed inspiration and assurance in a dream. The film combines beautifully intimate still and moving images of the woman’s body and home space, along with playful stop-motion sequences. —Jacqueline Stewart, UCLA Film and Television Archive

The life of a deaf African American woman in the early 1900s parallels with another living in the 1990s.

The life of a deaf African American woman in the early 1900s parallels with another living in the 1990s.

Luz, a Filipina interpreter, takes a call from Dr. Femi Balogun to discuss the end-of-life options for Remedios, an elderly Filipina woman in the hospital ICU during the early months of the COVID pandemic.

This innovative drama, set in Ohio, traces an African American couple's search for intimacy and friendship. The spirited, African-identified Yasmine Allen is a writer and single mother who has been dating saxophone teacher Craig Watkins for a month. Wishing to end her self-imposed celibacy following her son's birth, Yasmine has reached a turning point in the relationship-but Craig, the Big Lug, wants to take it slow. Sage advice from friends and family members remind them, "sex is a powerful thang." Like her highly acclaimed CYCLES, Davis's film incorporates animation as well as Afro-Haitian dance in a rich exploration of the lives of African Americans.

In this poignant story set in the 1850s, a young slave girl befriends a magical woman in the woods called Mother of the River. Through their friendship the young girl learns about independence, honor, humility and respect for others. MOTHER OF THE RIVER is a rare portrayal of slavery from a young woman's perspective.