VIFF Connect launches Black History Month program, February 5 to March 4
Mesmerizing portraits of a musician, a poet, and a politician are among the highlights
Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story
VIFF Connect streams Black History Month films from February 5 to March 4
Nya Lewis, who recently guest-curated the Vancouver Art Gallery show Where do we go from here?, has put together a strong program of genre-spanning, culture-crossing films to mark Black History Month at VIFF Connect.
Available starting today are seven features and a shorts program with compelling films from Canada, Africa, the Caribbean, the U.K., and the U.S., plus a free Vancity Impact Talk.
Among the highlights is Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story, Posy Dixon tells the incredible tale of the title subject’s 1986 album Keyboard Fantasies. Created on an Atari computer, a Yamaha synth, and a Roland drum machine, it sold only 50 cassette tapes— until 2015, when a Japanese record store owner fell in love with the album and asked to buy the remaining copies. The resurgence of interest in the otherworldly folk-electronic album has brought the Black, transgender septuagenarian out of retirement. Unforgettable.
And if you haven’t seen Will Prosper’s documentary on another artist, KENBE LA, Until We Win, now’s your chance. In the film, Prosper follows poet, artist, and activist Alain Philoctète back to his native Haiti, where he works to set up a community permaculture project in partnership even as he battles cancer.
And Softie, a hit at DOXA, is a another fascinating profile of an unforgettable person. Boniface “Softie” Mwangi is a longtime activist and photojournalist who’s running for office in a regional Kenyan election. He’s endlessly optimistic, but he has to face down corruption and death threats.
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