Directed by Chivas DeVinck • Documentary • 2018 • 99 minutes
Syl Cheney-Coker (author of The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize) and Niyi Osundare (recipient of the Nigerian National Merit Award, Nigeria’s highest recognition for distinguished academic and creative achievement) are two of Africa’s most respected writers. In this film, they discuss the personal and professional friendship that has nurtured their lives and careers for more than 35 years.
THE POETS accompanies CheneyCoker and Osundare over three weeks, as they return to the landscapes and places that formed their early influences, shaping their writing for decades to come. Whether speaking to admiring high school students, standing in a traditional Nigerian market and comparing it to the alienating experience of shopping in America, or talking politics and censorship in a cab, Osundare and Cheney-Coker are fascinating companions.
“Wonderful! Viewers will be held captive by the passionate, vivid accounts of the bold, trailblazing poets.” —Tambay A. Obenson, Shadow and Act
Up Next in Black Lives
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Quest
Directed by Jonathan Olshefski • Documentary • 2017 • 105 minutes
Filmed with vérité intimacy for nearly a decade, Quest is the moving portrait of the Rainey family living in North Philadelphia.
Beginning at the dawn of the Obama presidency, Christopher “Quest” Rainey and his wife Christine’a ...
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Multiracial Identity
Directed by Brian Chinhema • Documentary • 2011 • 77 minutes
Multiracial people are the fastest growing demographic in America, yet there is no official political recognition for mixed-race people. MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY explores the social, political, and religious impact of the multiracial movem...
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If This Ain't Heaven
Directed by Roberta Cantow • Documentary • With Jacob Gaymon and Africa, his cat. • 1983 • 28 minutes
If This Ain't Heaven offers a portrait of an African American man that may very well challenge any number of sterotypes and assumptions about masculinity and African American men. The film shows...
