Drop in to the Starr Cinema for a free display of short films inspired by four artists featured in the Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power exhibition. Each filmmaker responds in their own stylistic way to the content and narrative explored in the subject’s art. The looped display is followed by a special screening of Process, a Sampha film directed by Kahlil Joseph.
Zawe Ashton Meeting Lorraine 2017, film still. Courtesy the artist
Andy Mundy Castle William T. Williams – A Diamond In A Box 2017, film still. Courtesy the artist
Programme
18.00–21.00
Looped film display
Kahlil Joseph Black Mary United Kingdom / United States 2017, digital, colour, sound, 6 min
This new short film from LA-based filmmaker Kahlil Joseph is inspired by the photography of Roy DeCarava and features the powerful and haunting vocals of Alice Smith.
Roy DeCarava (1919–2009) has twenty-one photographs included in the Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power exhibition.
Zawe Ashton Meeting Lorraine United Kingdom / United States 2017, digital, colour, sound, 9 min
British actress and filmmaker Zawe Ashton visits conceptual artist Lorraine O’Grady in New York City to learn more about her work’s exploration of black female subjectivity.
Lorraine O'Grady (b.1934) is a New York-based artist and critic. Photographic documentation of her 1983 performance Art Is… is on view in the exhibition.
Cecile Emeke The Ancestors Came United Kingdom / United States 2017, digital, colour, sound, 6 min
British filmmaker Cecile Emeke’s film celebrates the life of artist and writer Faith Ringgold and the influence of her childhood in Harlem on her work.
Faith Ringgold’s (b.1930) two-panelled oil painting American People Series #20: Die 1967 is currently on display in the exhibition, as well as the posters All Power to the People 1970 and United States of Attica 1971-2.
Andy Mundy-Castle William T. Williams – A Diamond in a Box United Kingdom / United States 2017, digital, colour, sound, 6 min
British filmmaker Andy Mundy-Castle’s film profiles abstract painter William T. Williams with a sneak peak into his Manhattan and Connecticut studios.
William T. Williams (b.1942) has two canvases on display in the exhibition: Trane 1969 and Nu Nile 1973.
All films commissioned by Tate with the support of the Ford Foundation
21.00–21.40
Screening
Kahlil Joseph Process United Kingdom 2017, digital, colour, sound, 37 min
A companion to Sampha’s album of the same name, Process features performances by the artist, ghostly spiritual surfer guides and crop circle dance formations. The film is dedicated to Sampha’s late mother, and shot in his hometown of Morden, southwest London, as well as in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where his family originally hail from.