Black Light celebrates Black documentary voices in Canada
Black Light: A Celebration of Canadian Filmmakers is a series of six documentaries by leading Black documentary voices in Canada, curated by Hot Docs and Doc Instiute, in celebration of Black History Month.
The program features the work of Black filmmakers from many corners of the country, from the prairies to the Maritimes, providing a more inclusive and robust representation of the Black Canadian experience.
The films will be available to stream for free across Canada on HOTDOCS.CA from February 1 – 28, 2022.
Q&As with several of the filmmakers and films’ subjects will be released weekly on Hot Docs at Home.
FINDING SALLY
Tamara Mariam Dawit ǀ Canada ǀ 2020 ǀ 80 mins
Finding Sally tells the incredible story of a 23-year-old woman from an upper-class family who became a communist rebel with the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party. Idealistic and in love, Sally got caught up in her country’s revolutionary fervour, landing on the military government’s most-wanted list. She went underground, and her family never saw her again. Four decades after Sally’s disappearance, filmmaker Tamara Dawit pieces together the mysterious life of her aunt Sally and revisits the Ethiopian “Red Terror”, a period of violence, upheaval and mass killings that nearly wiped out a generation of educated young people in the country.
BLACK MOTHER BLACK DAUGHTER
Sylvia D. Hamilton, Claire Prieto ǀ Canada ǀ 1989 ǀ 30 mins
Black Mother Black Daughter explores the lives and experiences of Black women in Nova Scotia, their contributions to the home, the church and the community and the strengths they passed on to their daughters. Some of the women appearing in the film are Edith Clayton, a basket maker; Pearleen Oliver, a historian; Dr. Marie Hamilton, an educator and community leader; and Daurene Lewis, a weaver and politician. Also appearing is the dynamic female a capella quartet Four the Moment.
JOHN WARE RECLAIMED
Cheryl Foggo ǀ Canada ǀ 2020 ǀ 70 mins
John Ware Reclaimed follows filmmaker Cheryl Foggo on her quest to re-examine the mythology surrounding John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta, Canada, before the turn of the 20th century. Foggo’s research uncovers who this iconic figure might have been, and what his legacy means in terms of anti-Black racism, both past and present.
MIGHTY JEROME
Charles Officer ǀ Canada ǀ 2010 ǀ 83 mins
From acclaimed filmmaker Charles Officer comes the story of the rise, fall and redemption of Harry Jerome, Canada's most record-setting track and field star. Gorgeous monochrome imagery, impassioned interviews and astonishing archival footage are used to tell the triumphant and compelling story of what Harry Jerome's own coach called "the greatest comeback in track and field history."
HARDWOOD
Hubert Davis ǀ Canada ǀ 2004 ǀ 30 mins
Hardwood is a personal journey by director Hubert Davis, the son of former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis, who explores how his father's decisions affected his life and those of his extended family. Elegantly structured into three chapters entitled "love," "recollection" and "redemption," Davis uses personal interviews, archival footage and home movies to delve into his father's past in the hope of finding a new direction for his own. At its core, Hardwood is about the power of redemption and the healing of the bonds between fathers and sons.
COMING TO VOICE
Glace Lawrence, Anthony Brown ǀ Canada ǀ 1999 ǀ 51 mins
Coming To Voice is a dynamic, visually stylistic documentary exploring the emergence of Black film and video makers in Canada. Featuring Black filmmakers from Atlantic to Pacific Canada, we experience the journey taken by director Clement Virgo and his producers Karen King and Damon D'Oliveira in the making of the feature film RUDE. A journey that takes us behind-the-scenes from financing the feature, through production, to the world premiere at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, RUDE'S theatrical release and the aftermath.
