Compensation
Posted by | Amy Beste | Posted on | February 25, 2021
February 25–March 3
Gene Siskel Film Center Virtual Cinema
Open captions and ASL
Zeinabu irene Davis’s celebrated and formally adventurous 1999 film depicts Black Deaf lives at the start and end of the 20th century.
Zeinabu irene Davis, Compensation, 1999. Courtesy of the artist and Women Make Movies
Renowned for its depiction of Black Deaf lives and expansive reimagining of the cinematic form, Zeinabu irene Davis’s exquisite 1999 film stars Michelle Banks, founder of Onyx Theatre Company in New York City, the first Deaf theatre company for actors of color. The film tells the stories of two Black couples—each, a deaf woman and a hearing man—falling in love at the start and end of the 20th century. As both couples draw closer, they must also navigate the intertwined—and enduring—forces of racism, ableism, and economic disparity. Using title cards, photographic montages, and reenactments of early Black silent films, Davis charts a new path for the future of narrative film, one that embodies an ethos of accessibility by embracing the endless aesthetic possibilities of cinema itself.
Zeinabu irene Davis, 1999, USA, 95 minutes, ASL, open captions
This program is part of This Set of Actions is a Mirror, a multipart program exploring expressions of disability culture and politics in artists’ moving images curated by Liza Sylvestre and Minh Nguyen.
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RELATED EVENT
Panel discussion with Dustin Gibson, Robert McRuer, and Liza Sylvestre, moderated by Minh Nguyen
Thursday, February 25, 7:00 pm CT
Gene Siskel Film Center Virtual Cinema
Live captions and ASL interpretation available.
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New Channels of Access
February 22–28
Gene Siskel Film Center Virtual Cinema
Open Captions
Tags: Disability Culture > Michelle Banks > Onyx Theatre Company > Zeinabu irene Davis
About
Conversations at the Edge is a weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
CATE is organized by SAIC's Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and SAIC's Video Data Bank.
Programs take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State / Chicago, IL / 312.846.2600), unless otherwise noted.
