SFBFF - SATURDAY - MATINEE BLOCK - *MUSIC ROOM

CONFIRMATION | 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM
Maame is a God-fearing mother who wants nothing but the best for her son, Kojo. But when he befriends an out and proud, expressive young man in their church, Maame must confront her fear of accepting Kojo’s burgeoning sexual identity or risk losing him.
Director Biography - Nana Duffuor
Nana Duffuor is a filmmaker of Ghanaian descent based in New York City. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting & Directing at Columbia University. Her short films have screened at the New York African Film Festival, the Micheaux Film Festival, the AccraIndie Film Festival, the International Queer Women of Color Film Festival, the People’s Film Festival, the Newark Short Film Awards, and received the award for Best Actress in a Short Film at the Newark International Film Festival. Nana is a recipient of the 2022 New York Women in Film & Television Scholarship and the Bobby Kashif Cox Memorial Scholarship. She wrote and directed her most recent short film, Confirmation, in Ghana in June 2022. Nana is passionate about collaborating with fellow dreamers and disruptors to tell unforgettable stories that offer nuanced portrayals of the human condition.

KULTUR | 11:15 AM - 11:35 AM
A well respected white therapist suggests a social media therapy app, called KULTUR, for two of her patients, both young and Black. One Trans/non-binary, the other Cisgender femme. Both accompanied by their concerned parents who are conflicted and severely out of touch with the mental health space.

Disguised as a self-help resource, KULTUR is in-fact a ploy to conduct a market study without the users’ consent. The app is programmed to manipulate and spawn toxic influences that prey on its users’ insecurities. KULTUR explores notions of colourism, gender identity, body dysmorphia and the grasp that white supremacy has on vulnerable Black psyches.
Director Biography - Asari Aibangbee
Identifying as a queer Nigerian femme Asari is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on filmmaking and art curation from Los Angeles. She directs, produces, and manages projects that reflect the life of Black Queer folks all over the African diaspora.

With an education rooted in media studies, Asari was able to gain a deeper understanding of unique storytelling, from unique storytellers, as a studio intern for BAYCAT, a non-profit San Francisco based media company. She later transitioned into marketing as an Apprentice at Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners. Her experience collaborating and coordinating across departments has taught her the importance of short form storytelling outside of brand campaigns.

Asari is an A24 x Made in her Image Beyond the Screen Fellow and continues to direct and produce projects. Collaborating with the Promise Workshops at the Academy Museum, She Made Workshops curated by Everyday Dreamer, Critical Juncture through the Queer Women of Color Film Festival and the 10A X ZÉZÉ visual media program.

YAYE | 11:35 AM - 11:50 AM
A young girl must answer to her ancestors in the spirit realm as she faces her upcoming abortion to make peace with her right to choose.

Yaye is a short film that paints a heartfelt and intimate story of the right to choose. Told from the perspective of a young Black girl's experience, an underrepresented voice in this topic, we witness our protagonist Aaliyah navigate a fragile health system. As Aaliyah's life uproots due to her youth pregnancy, the larger world around her ignites in chaos. Aaliyah's interracial relationship with her white boyfriend gets put to the test as they decide to end their pregnancy. As Aaliyah journeys on her path to abortion, fantastical events occur as a symbol of her grief and emerging womanhood: from spiritual encounters to accessing the magic of her ancestors through butterflies. Yaye gives Black Girl Magic a whole new meaning.

This film was a recipient of the Harold Greenberg Fund: BC Shorts Program and was created in collaboration with Uhuru Productions and Studio 104 Entertainment.
Director Biography - Mariam Barry
Mariam Barry is an actor, writer, director and producer based in Vancouver, Canada. Mariam is a two-time recipient of the Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices Fellowship and is an alumni of the VIFF Catalyst program for up and coming filmmakers. She has written and co-directed a slate of shorts and docs and is now developing a short form series and a feature. Mariam is also tapped for the Black Screen Office's Black Women Directors Accelerator Program in collaboration with the Directors Guild of Canada.

NANY (NAH-NEE) | 11:50 AM - 12:05 PM
It is the story of a young woman who struggles to free herself from a home filled with mankind’s most legendary evil force.
Director Biography - BERVICK J. DECULUS II
Hailing in Los Angeles, CA, where his parents fulfilled professional careers and were charged with an entrepreneurial spirit motivated Bervick to channel his energy into organized sports and education.

Bervick grew fond to film directing, writing, and producing during his high school tenure and never looked back. Bervick, an award-winning filmmaker, amassed 10,000 plus hours of accumulative production experience and 1,000 pages of scripting and development have proven; Bervick is battle-tested to handle film/television production of any size while facing setbacks and constraints. Bervick has developed and created film/television projects with well-known celebrities such as Vanessa Bell Calloway (Shameless), Wood Harris (The Wire), and Doug E. Fresh (Hip Hop Legend). Bervick has directed, produced, written, and/or camera operated over 750 hours of content, including NBC's Online NFL Pre-Game Segments, Gladys Knight & The Pips LIVE in Las Vegas, Me Iz Manimal, an official short film selection at San Diego Black Film Festival (2010), Friend Box, a top finalist for the Hollywood Hills Screenplay Competition (2015), Mouthful, an award-winning web series (2016), Paradise Inn, an official short film selection at several film festivals including, Hollywood Black Film Festival (2017), Indie Night Film Festival (2017), Houston Black Film Festival (2017), and Akil: The Fugitive Hunter, A&E Networks (2017). Bervick naturally possesses an eye of a director and has acquired a comprehensive understanding of production aspects and conventional storytelling.

Rasaki's Drums and the rich rhythms of Nigeria's Yorubá | 12:05 PM - 12:35 PM
Rhythm and drums for the Yorubá ethnic group of Nigeria are vitally important - for community life, for traditional religious practice, for cultural identity ... AND for entertainment. Rasaki Aladokun, former drummer with the group of King Sunny Adé ("King of Juju Music") - and a man with an infectious smile - demonstrates the drums and explains how they are used. Not just Yorubá rhythms but also Yorubá culture has reached beyond West Africa and into the Americas (see candomblé, santería, etc.), adding relevance to Rasaki's charming explanations and skillful demonstrations. (A NOTE: We will be doing a little more clean-up on the sound but since my sound person is busy for the next month and I wanted to submit for this year, I hope you'll forgive a couple of small defects near the opening.)
Director Biography - Eve A. Ma
A filmmaker since 2004, like many other independent filmmakers, Ma is essentially self-taught. Her work has screened and been in festivals in eight countries on four continents, and several have been broadcast over national PBS (including her recently completed documentary, "Flamenco: the Land Is Still Fertile"). She produces and directs in both English and Spanish, and in certain respects considers herself an international version of Les Blank. Her passions are music, dance, and cross-cultural understanding; and she tries to combine each of these elements in her work, whether documentary, narrative, or experimental. Her earlier careers (history professor, lawyer, and non-profit administrator) also have a significant effect on her filmmaking.

Host or Publisher San Francisco Black Film Festival