feminist
Silence... Broken
Posted July 19th, 2007 by GretjenWritten, directed and produced by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Poetry by Jourdan Imani Keith, Editor: Nadine Stanley
Silence...Broken is an experimental narrative short about an African American lesbian's refusal to be silent about racism, sexism and homophobia. Featuring the poetry of acclaimed poet Jourdan Keith, this video is dedicated to the memory of self-defined Black Lesbian Feminist Warrior Mother Poet Audre Lorde who died in 1992 after a fourteen-year battle with breast cancer.
Aishah Shahidah Simmons is the founder and president of AfroLez® Productions. She is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian independent filmmaker, international lecturer, and activist based in Philadelphia, PA. Her internationally acclaimed shorts Silence...Broken, In My Father’s House, and NO!, explore the issues of race, gender, homophobia, rape and misogyny. For three years Ms. Simmons was a co-producer of two television programs for WYBE-TV35 in Philadelphia, PA. She has screened her work and lectured on the impact of the intersections of oppressions, on African-American women’s lives, in Spain, Mexico, South Africa, England, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Hungary, and at numerous colleges/universities and conferences across the United States. Her awards include the 1994 Philadelphia Gay Pride Award; the 1995 Atlantic City Black Film Festival Filmmaker Award; the 1998 Audre Lorde Legacy Award of the Union Institute Center for Women, the 1998 NAACP Exemplary Citizen Award, finalist for the 1998 Roy W. Dean Grant, and the 2000 Bread and Roses Community Fund’s Waters Award for Intergenerational Activism.
October 1, 1998 - "A Shaky Market," by Neil Gladstone, Philadelphia City Paper
December 5, 2000 - "Afrolesfemcentric," by An Ngo, Bi-College News
July 2005 - Rome, Italy
April 2005 - Vanderbilt University
March 2005 - University of Massachusetts
November 2002 - Oberlin College
September 2001 - Duke University
October 2000 - Yale University
April 2000 - University of Texas (El Paso, TX)
April 2000 - Earlham College
April 2000 - Yale University
March 2000 - Bowdoin College
March 2000 - Williams College
February 2000 - National Student Assembly of the YWCA
January 1999 - The Westtown School
November 1999 - State University of New York at Oneonta
May 1998 - Black Lesbian & Gay Pride Film Festival
February 1998 - Brown University
May 1997 - Hobart and William Smith Colleges
April 1997 - Antioch University
March 1997 - London Black Lesbian & Gay Centre Film Festival
December 1996 - University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
July 1996 - National Black Arts Festival
June 1996 - Law Admissions Council
December 1995 - University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
June 1995 - University of Michigan
April 1995 - Emerging Young Wo/men Filmmakers: A Spring Film Festival
March 1995 - Villanova University's Womanist Visions Series
March 1995 - Black Nations/Queer Nations? - A Working Conference
March 1995 - Lesbian Film Festivals (Hungary & Croatia)
March 1995 - Central High School (Philadelphia, PA)
January 1995 - CEC Feminist Film and Video Series (Philadelphia, PA)
November 1994 - University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
October 1994 - Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival (Rochester, NY)
July 1994 - Various locales in Capetown, South Africa
June 1994 - San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
June 1994 - "Through the Lens 4," WYBE-TV 35 (Philadelphia, PA)
March 1994 - Central High School (Philadelphia, PA)
March 1994 - CEC Feminist Film and Video Series (Philadelphia, PA)
February 1994 - "On the Q-Tip" exhibit, Painted Bride Arts Center (Philadelphia, PA)
November 1993 - Through Our Eyes Film Festival
November 1993 - Chicago International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
May 1993 - Festival of Independents, Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema
As Speech Flows To Music
Posted July 19th, 2007 by Gretjen
Produced by Anna Crusis Women's Choir & Scribe Video Center
Diane Poitus
The feminist choir featured in this video takes its unusual name from the Greek word "anacrusis," a word used in music to describe an "upbeat" or "feminine" entrance to a phrase. The Anna Crusis Women's Choir finds the phrase fitting for the purpose of defining themselves in relation to music, a philosophy of feminism, and the joy of performing. The choir performs music from classical and renaissance traditions as well as music which is more experimental in nature, including forays into pop, jazz, reggae, folk, gospel, Balkan, and country styles, and in many different languages.
The Anna Crusis Women's Choir , founded in 1975, is the country's oldest feminist choir and has been honored for its community service in the Philadelphia area. The Choir acts as both an agent of social change and a premier performing arts group by empowering its audiences on important issues of the day affecting women, youth and disadvantaged populations.
Noted briefly in August 12, 1999 issue of Chestnut Hill Local as part of upcoming Street Movies screening.
February 16, 1995 - Premiere at International House's Neighborhood Film & Video Project
(Philadelphia, PA)
June 3, 1995 - Part of Anna Crusis 20th Anniversary Concert (Philadelphia, PA)
August 13, 1999 - Part of Street Movies screening at Montessori Genesis School (Philadelphia, PA)
March 2006 - University of Delaware Women's History Month events (Wilmington, DE)
