SIFTMedia 215 LIVE! Launches June 11th

This screening series is a counter-narrative of Black and Latinx life in Philadelphia. During these challenging times of COVID19 and social reckoning, SIFTMedia 215 Live! provides a space for people from throughout the Philadelphia region to share, discuss, and debate how we all can better serve our beloved communities.

The series is funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Humanities and the Independence Public Media Foundation. The series is curated by Nikki Harmon.

Sign up here for this week’s screening celebrating Juneteenth!

Thursday, June 18, 2020, 8:00 pm A Juneteenth Offering 

And They Jumped Into The Water Some… (2017, 9 min) dir. by Lois Moses  

While trekking through “The Middle Passage”, enslaved Africans are confronted with a perplexing choice, demonstrating some freedoms require great sacrifice.

Presentation of a reading of Moses’ new work-in-progress, EPISTLES OF LOVE: The Gospels according to Edgar & Clara. This short will be based on a series of love letters exchanged between Edgar Wilson and Clara Moses-Wilson from 1936 to 1939. Through their exchange, we bear witness to the complex intersections of race, health, economics, and the impact that WWI, the Spanish Flu Pandemic, the Great Depression, and the Great Migration had on the lives, love, and marriage of African Americans. Live performance by well-known Philadelphian actors, Kala Moses-Baxter and Brian A. Wilson.

The presentation will be followed by a Q & A and talkback with Lois Moses, the actors, and Bryce Payne from And They Jumped in the Water, Some ….

Sign up here for part 3 Expanding Sancturary

Thursday, June 25, 2020, 8:00 pm 

Expanding Sanctuary dir. by Kristal Sotomayor, (2020, 26 min)

For the past four years, Philadelphia has been a leader in the sanctuary city movement. Juntos, a Latinx immigrant rights organization, has learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been using the Philadelphia Police’s Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS) database to gather deportation orders. To stop the collaboration, the Latinx immigrant community must now organize to pass historic immigrant and human rights policies to protect their community. Currently in post-production.

There will be a filmmaker Q & A followed by a discussion about the effect of Covid-19 on the immigrant population with a current member of Juntos.

Sign up for part 4 What is a Black Man?

Thursday, July 2, 2020, 8:00 pm

What is a Black Man? dir. by Nunera Amun (2020, 30 min)

Capturing intimate and personal moments of four young black conscious hip-hop artists from marginalized communities in Philadelphia, “What is a Black Man?”, chronicles Michael, Uriah, Alex, and Clinton, aspiring socially conscious hip-hop artists, as they work mindfully to create definitions of who they are and will become amidst controversial portrayals of black men. Along the journey of filming these tenacious and bold young men, emerging filmmaker, Nunera Amun, is compelled to make confessions on camera and address her fractured relationship with black men.

There will be a Q & A with the filmmaker and the subjects of the film, Clinton “CJ da Prodigy” Mills, Alex “Xander Crxtical” Brown, Michael “Shemar” Collins, and Uriah “Yung Rye” Garrett. 

(Previous Programs: Thursday, June 11, 2020, 8:00 pm)

Finding Elijah (2019, 25 min) by Yolonda Johnson-Young

Told from a mother’s perspective, Finding Elijah follows a young man’s journey from home into mental illness, to homelessness, and ultimately to suicide. It shows how a mother’s search for answers leads her to action.

There will be a filmmaker Q & A followed by a discussion about Mental Health, Black Men and Surviving 2020 with Phillip J. Roundtree, MSW, MS, Mental Wellness Advocate, Founder of Quadefy, LLC