Show & Tell is an exploration of the mental health struggles of black men, particularly of the African Diaspora. In a community which often makes light of mental health, and since early childhood is taught as being a “first world problem.” The film aims to address some of the positive and negative coping mechanisms which exist in order to live with problems which only the self are aware of.

In this generative poem, the term Big Data speaks to the massive collection of personal information communicated online and its processing for commercial purposes. The combination between the massive collection of personal data and its subsequent statistical processing, with an emphasis on inferential statistics to achieve persuasive objectives, will lead to a terrible reality. The poem is not a linear poem, it is a poem that regenerates itself differently each time a program is run. The sequencing of the lines of the poem was developed to always achieve, in each regeneration, appropriate grammatical and semantic structures (in Spanish). Interactive features online here.

This spoken word film, a collaboration between filmmaker Masahiro Sugano and poet Avery R. Young pays homage to the Civil Rights Movement in honor of Emmett Till. Filmmaker Sugano skillfully captures Young’s powerful poetry in all its gut-wrenching glory and soul-soothing rawness. Young brings an entire church with him every time he delivers a poem. It’s a Baptist minister style of performance that links the Black Church’s long-standing ties with social movement. Poets like Avery R. Young have a way of wielding song and stories to help us heal and maybe even lead us to redemption and liberation. This film honors poetry, life and movement building. This is for the poet as much as the people who have come before and who will continue to come after—who speak truth to power and who will always fight on the side of justice, equality and freedom.

A film-poem to the disappeared “63 acres” that were once in downtown Manhattan (and as remarked upon by photographer Danny Lyon who was the only one to capture images when this happened in the late ’60s). The filmmaker goes back to the corners and areas where full streets were obliterated in the name of eminent domain. No public outcry occurred and the historic buildings and in many cases, whole streets, disappeared from Manhattan’s map.

In Black Girl Poem, black women take a surrealist approach in confronting the power dynamic of sexual harassment and catcalling within the African American community. The three women towering above the city act as a chorus, symbolizing a heightened representation of resistance and triumph over sexual objectification. While, the dancer journeys through a city much larger than her, struggling to find her ground with the men that she loves yet feels oppressed by at the same time. Through poetry, dance, and animation, these black girls explore self empowerment, community accountability, and choosing love above all.

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