The Gene Siskel Film Center’s two screens were aglow with numerous feature and short films for the 31st annual Black Harvest Film Festival.
The festival ran from Nov. 7 to Nov. 16, showcasing eight feature films and nine short film programs that totaled 70 premieres representing 14 countries.
Jada-amina, the festival’s curator and a member of the programming team, said the selection process for entry films begins at the start of the year. The submission period remains open until the end of June, and submitted films are reviewed on a rolling basis.
“We are watching from that first submission on, until we can’t no more,” jada-amina said.
After the submission period closes, the priorities shift more to solidifying the festival lineup.
Then, team members research and write about each film for the program book The Gazette, which jada-amina said she enjoys the most.
“It’s very important for me to write and speak to these films, especially because a lot of independent films may not receive write-ups or publications,” jada-amina said.
The festival’s programming team also solicits films that it believes should be shown. Solicited work includes newly released films, those eligible for a theatrical run or contacting distributors for permission to screen certain films.
One of the festival’s solicited films this year was “The Inquisitor,” a documentary about Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman to preside over a legislative body.
The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in the summer, but never had a theatrical release, instead airing on PBS.
When selecting films such as “The Inquisitor,” jada-amina created what she referred to as the “Black Harvest brand.” To jada-amina, films that fit this category are those that are expansive, force audiences to ask questions and aren’t traditionally seen on widespread media platforms.
What drew jada-amina to the film was its departure from the traditional documentary form.
“‘The Inquisitor’ has really cool animation and a really awesome track,” jada-amina said. “It’s still a documentary, but it questions, ‘Can documentaries be fun? Can documentaries include some form of mixed media?’”
Organized by common themes, the festival’s short film programs tackled a range of different topics from migration to horror.
One program, ‘Every Seed Is A Star,’ honed in on the topic of family. It showcased eight shorts from filmmakers across the country and the world. After the screening, there was a Q&A with the filmmakers, who discussed what the filmmaking process meant to them.
Tyquan Morton directed the short film “High Water,” which focuses on a mother and son navigating the flooding impacting their town. Morton drew inspiration from his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina and his Gullah Geechee community.
“When I think of family, I think of kinship — a shared language and a shared thought,” Morton said. “I think that family, in that way, is a sense of resiliency and stewarding the culture.”
Morton’s sentiments echoed outside of the theater and were shared by many others who worked behind the scenes at the festival.
Nick Leffel serves as the festival’s film coordinator, making sure films get to the projection rooms by serving as an overall middleman wherever he’s needed.
Leffel said what he most appreciated about the festival was the spotlight it places on those who often don’t get it. Leffel said that in working at Gene Siskel, he is involved in a variety of media philanthropic work, like the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and the Annual Festival of Films from Iran.
“It’s so important to be able to give laurels to community members who want to make change,” Leffel said. “I think for people working at the festival, no matter where you come from, everybody is there because they are the change that they want to see.”
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