Precisely This: Place and The Black Imagination

Blanc Gallery presents Precisely This: Place and The Black Imagination, an evening of six films inspired by James Baldwin’s vision of the artist as one who “reveals the beloved to himself,” thus making freedom tangible. Through nuanced observation and imagination, these films capture a range of Black experiences, each one offering a window into the resilience, tenderness, and complexity of Black life.

As the films unfold, a landscape emerges where Black life continues to blossom despite systemic violence, disregard, and racism. Each work confronts the world around it directly, weaving together shared struggles and distinct perspectives in ways both unflinching and deeply resonant. Join us for an exploration that speaks to the lived experiences of Black individuals and communities, foregrounding their resilience, vision, and presence amid longstanding adversity.

From a tender and unexpected ghost story about grief to a diaristic reflection on navigating a US legal system intent on maintaining the disenfranchisement of Black communities, these films are open and revealing, compassionate and precise. 

Join us from 4.30-6pm on Sunday, November 10 to watch, reflect and engage with a powerful line-up of films made by artists we’re truly excited to be platforming at the gallery.

Anndi Jinelle Liggett is a filmmaker based in NYC, born and raised in Virginia. Her work depicts the world through kaleidoscope glasses, finding the magic in the mundane. Her short film, Jelly, narrated by André Holland, won the Oscar-qualifying HBO Short Film Award at the 2023 American Black Film Festival, received a Student Filmmaker Award by the Directors Guild of America and was nominated for a 2024 Humanitas Prize for Best Short Screenplay. She premiered her most recent short film, Tender Thoughts, at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. The film, starring Deneé Benton (The Gilded Age), was made as a part of Indeed’s Rising Voices program, a co-production between Lena’s Waithe’s Hillman Grad and 271 Films. 

Anndi received her MFA in Directing from NYU Tisch’s film program. She obtained her bachelors from Florida State University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She is currently represented by 3 Arts Entertainment.

Jelly is a magical realist coming-of-age about a young, Black girl processing grief through imagination. Much like my younger self, Jelly has her head planted firmly in the clouds, making sense of an adult world with child-like sensibilities. When you’re a child, death doesn’t feel so final. It’s otherworldly. It’s vague. It’s as real as a ghost story. I’m interested in exploring what happens when that ghost story is taken literally.

I made this film so that a young, Black girl could be the hero of her own adventure. Inspired by old-school children’s films such as Matilda, Harriet the Spy, and Goonies, it struck me how rare it is to see Black kids at the helm of these stories. I was adamant about incorporating narration, beautifully voiced by actor André Holland, due to my love of children’s books. I wanted the film to have a literary quality, giving Black kids in Brooklyn their “once upon a time”, too. My primary hope for Jelly is that it not only entertains but also inspires people to access the childlike parts of themselves that still dare to dream and find solace in the unimaginable.

Ian Damont Martin (he/they/she) is a Black and Queer creative multi-hyphenate based in Chicago, IL. Their artistic practice spans writing, directing, producing, and performing, with a focus on exploring the intersections of identity and belonging, particularly through Black and queer narratives. As Founder/CEO of Hoodbutch Studios, Ian seeks to amplify marginalized voices through story and performance.

Ian’s generative work often involves exercises in personal narrative and worldbuilding, delving into the frameworks and intersections of realism, surrealism, romanticism, and speculative fiction. With a focus on genre experimentation, Ian’s work pushes boundaries, challenging conventional perceptions and inviting audiences to confront the complexities of humanity and identity.

In their projects, Ian asks: What makes a story revelatory? What makes a performance truly captivating? These questions fuel their work as they craft art that resonates with emotional depth and innovation.

Selected credits include: Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest; an adaptation of The Ridiculous Darkness by Wolfram Lotz for Sideshow Theatre; The Toilet by Amiri Baraka for Haven Chicago; a reading of The America Play by Susan Lori-Parks for Goodman Theatre.

Ian's debut short film, "Save Face," represents the culmination of their creative journey. The film invites audiences to reflect on the intricacy of identity, the complexity of personal authenticity, and the power of shedding the mask to embrace one's true self.

LOGLINE : Micah’s hiding in plain sight. Until today. A Black boy who must navigate personal and political revolution when he is suddenly exposed in an alternate world that presumes him extinct.

cai thomas is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer based in Chicago telling intimate stories at the intersection of location, self determination, and identity about Black youth and elders. She grew up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood and is deeply interested in stories rooted in place. Her filmmaking exhibits how Black folks are agitating and organizing for the world they want, whether that’s a journalist investigating police misconduct (Beneath The Surface, 2023) , a disabled lesbian elder fighting for an accessible apartment (Queenie, 2020) or young folks organizing for parks named after folks that look like them (Change The Name Film, 2021). She's currently developing a film about Black lesbians and motherhood.

Queenie is a seventy-three-years-young Black lesbian who has called the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn home since 1988, but she is ready to move to a building that better meets her mobility, safety, and social needs as an aging elder. She applies to Stonewall Residences, New York City’s first affordable housing for LGBT elders, hopeful that she’ll be able to live out her final days in a new place she can call home.

Aquarius Ester Alegria is a film writer, director, dancer and performance artist using her lived experience with mental health diagnoses to create experimental art as a means of trauma recovery. 

Her first film, Ambivert, debuted with OTV in 2017, leading to an academic review and development of audio descriptions at New York's New School in the Disability in Media Arts program. In 2018, she began performing with the Participatory Music Coalition and danced in several live and recorded compositions by Angel Bat Dawid in 2019 and was a featured performer in "ETHOS" by Ayako Kato. In 2020, Aquarius became an OTV Film Fellow. 

In 2021, her script for Second Sunday was accepted into Full Spectrum Features Producers Lab. Also in 2021, Aquarius wrote and directed "New Hire." In 2024, Aquarius completed, New Hire, which went on to win an award for best cinematography at Flex Obscura Festival, and is currently on a nationwide film tour called, Our Right to Gaze, powered by Full Spectrum Features and OTV. In the Summer of 2024, Aquarius completed the Production Lab - Digital Storyteller’s Initiative supported by University of Chicago and the Chicago Film Workshop where she directed her third short film, Second Sunday.

ABOUT HER FILM, NEW HIRE:

A recently deceased Chicagoan starts their first day at a corporation that hires ghosts to perform odd jobs in order to pay off their life's debt.

Asari Aibangbee is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on filmmaking and art curation from Los Angeles, California. They direct, produce, and manage projects that reflect the life of Black Queer folks all over the African diaspora. Those are the realities and narratives that they are interested in sharing with the world. Asari is also an A24 x Made in Her Image Beyond the Screen Fellow, a space where they learned the ins and outs of creating a film from pre production to distribution via a major studio company in the entertainment industry. Asari has also directed and produced a couple of her own personal projects, mostly experimental shorts about the lives of Black Queer Folks! They have been a part of a few film programs. Specifically the Promise Workshops at the Academy Museum, She Made Workshops curated by Everyday Dreamer, Critical Juncture through the Queer Women of Color Film Festival in San Francisco, and DUB Platforms at Sci-Arc and KAOS Leimert Park. These fellowships focus on world building outside of traditional film school and larger institutions.

ABOUT THEIR FILM, OMWAN'EKHUI [PERSON OF DARK SKIN]:

This project is an experimental documentary style short film that exhibits the multifaceted Dark Skin folks who are shaping society with their many talents and spiritual influences. To be a Dark Skin Black person on this Earth means that your humanity is always up for debate in regards to simply existing in peace. This film highlights the different ways these artists exist within their art, and the freedoms that come with being a culture shifter. From sculptors, to Zine crafters, dancers, an ode to our ancestors, testimonies of survival, and much more.

rapper, producer, engineer, director, & visionary behind ciel. clothing brand, residing on the South.Side of the city. In everything I do; whether music or fashion, it’s a must I show the heart & love I got for my people & my city. & it’s a must that I do everything I can make sure you feel that love too. “I believe in Heaven...I don’t believe in dying before I see it though.” I know where I live & understand how real it is for those who resemble me, but until my last breath, I gotta flip that reality for US.

Your heart can be in the right spot, but actions can you set you in the wrong place. In *1.19.22 DOCUMENTARY* LOUIS MARX narrates his real life experience of fighting for his freedom, as a result of going a dream and vision, the wrong way. He carries you through this moment of his life, with his Family, loved ones, dreams & future, on a heavy heart. 

LOGLINE: "learn from the hell you go through...the lessons bring HEAVEN."

Host or Publisher Blanc Gallery