Status
Completed
Type
Cinereach-Supported Production
Year
2018
Production
Key Cast
Director
Khalik Allah
Producers
Khalik Allah, Leah Giblin
Khalik Allah is a New York-based photographer and filmmaker who practices Camera Ministry with an eye as open as his heart. The resulting work has been described as "street opera" and noted for its beautifully visceral humanity. After a number of short films that reflect relationships formed through portraiture, Allah advanced his artistry with the feature length documentary Field Niggas (2015), shot at nighttime on the corner of Harlem's 125th St. and Lexington Avenue. This corner also served as the basis for his first photography book Souls Against the Concrete, published by University of Texas Press in 2017. Allah continued with Black Mother (2018), an ecstatic expression of reverences and realities across Jamaica. This award winning film has been seen in festivals, museums and schools around the world; further released in the UK and the US through distributors Dogwoof and Grasshopper Film.
Khalik Allah is a New York-based photographer and filmmaker who practices Camera Ministry with an eye as open as his heart. The resulting work has been described as "street opera" and noted for its beautifully visceral humanity. After a number of short films that reflect relationships formed through portraiture, Allah advanced his artistry with the feature length documentary Field Niggas (2015), shot at nighttime on the corner of Harlem's 125th St. and Lexington Avenue. This corner also served as the basis for his first photography book Souls Against the Concrete, published by University of Texas Press in 2017. Allah continued with Black Mother (2018), an ecstatic expression of reverences and realities across Jamaica. This award winning film has been seen in festivals, museums and schools around the world; further released in the UK and the US through distributors Dogwoof and Grasshopper Film.
Part film, part baptism, director Khalik Allah cast his lens between the prostitutes and churches of Jamaica, the result is a nuanced polyphonic symphony, heightened by a level of intimacy and complete immersion in spirit. A timely respite from the bad news and a response thereto, - a film punctuated by prayers, scored with laughter and fortified with hope. Allah introduces us to a succession of vibrant, idiosyncratic souls who call this island home. Their candid testimonies provide a penetrating glimpse into this misunderstood corner of the world and also a radical outlook on survival. Part film, part baptism, in Black Mother director Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual journey through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and tranquil countryside, Allah introduces us to a succession of vividly rendered souls who call this island home. Their candid testimonies create a polyphonic symphony, set against a visual prayer of indelible portraiture. Thoroughly immersed between the sacred and profane, Black Mother channels rebellion and reverence into a deeply personal ode informed by Jamaica's turbulent history but existing in the urgent present.
Black Mother is a Cinereach grant-supported production.
.jpeg)
