Film Screening: Long Time Comin’

 

October 23, 7:30pm @ Kitchener Market & Online

Join us for a screening of Long Time Comin’ at The Kitchener Market, 7pm, on Oct 23rd. In order to attend in person or online, you must register at the ticket link. All in-person events will require proof of vaccination. Virtual ticket holders will be given access to the film for 24 hours online, same day as in-person viewing. 

Doors 7pm, film starts at 7:30pm. Hot drinks and popcorn available. This event takes place outside, under the overhang, at The Kitchener Market, off Eby St N. Overhead heaters will be turned on. 

This screening is in partnership with QTPOC KW. QTPOC KW hosts events for people who identify as LGBTQI+ and BIPOC with the goal of building and nurturing a more resilient community. Follow in FB and Insta @qtpoc.kw 

Long Time Comin’ | Dionne Brand | 52 min | 1993

The original NFB synopsis for Long Time Comin’ (dir. Dionne Brand) reads: “There is a cultural revolution going on in Canada, and Faith Nolan and Grace Channer are on the leading edge. These two African-Canadian lesbian artists give back to art its most urgent meanings–commitment and passion. Grace Channer’s large and sensuous canvasses and musician Faith Nolan’s gritty and joyous blues propel this documentary into the spheres of poetry and dance. Long Time Comin’ captures their work, their urgency, and their friendship in intimate conversations with both artists.”

Missing from this synopsis, however, is the way Nolan and Channer candidly discuss race, social justice, gender and sexuality as being at the heart of their work. Perhaps this would have been seen as “too edgy” for the National Film Board at the time. But it’s absence seems very dated, especially given that the way these two women discuss these subjects feels very contemporary. As much as the World has changed since the film’s release in 1993, the fact that these conversations still feel so familiar pushes us to question if the “cultural revolution” promised in the original synopsis of the film really did ever materialize.

Nolan and Channer make very dynamic subjects, no doubt helped by Brand’s undeniable sense of rhythm and language. While the promised cultural revolution might have not yet arrived (or maybe it is still ongoing), this film and the ideas it breathes life into are still very potent. Long Time Comin’ is a love letter to queer black femininity, art-activism, and social justice, and not to be missed.

CW: outing, mention of homophobia, racism, domestic abuse, drug use, police violence, violence, signs mentioning sexual violence (Take Back the Night march)

Marvoulous Grounds | ILL NANA/DIVERSECITY DANCE COMPANY and Min Sook Lee | 3 min

Marvellous Grounds worked with Min Sook Lee in early 2016 to create this film with the concept of performance and dance as a means of dialoguing with space, contesting/occupying, creating and creatively reinterpreting space. We invited Ill Nana/DiverseCity Dance Company to dance at public sites on Church Street as a key visual narrative. The film features voiceovers from interviews with Monica Forrester, Richard Fung, Aemilius Ramirez, and Rebeka Tabobondung, talking about early organizing in the 80s, street corner activism by trans sex workers, and the walkout from Crews and Tangos.

(613) Queens | Rowan O'Brien | 8 min

A short documentary that explores the Ottawa drag scene with a focus on the drag mother/daughter duo, Jasmine and Kimmy Dymond.

Shea | Effy Adar and NASRA Adem | 3 min

A family displaced by greed searches for a new home in a foreign place. As they explore they discover pieces of themselves; old and new. ""Shea"" celebrates what has always remained in Black/African peoples, an innate sense of home, luxury and interconnectedness."

Our COVID-19 Protocols:

  • proof of vaccination required to attend in-person

  • registration through the ticket link is mandatory (contact tracing)

  • a mask must be worn while moving around the space and only removed when sitting to consume food/drink

  • while performing, performers will be on stage without a mask, at least 4 meters from closest audience members

  • all surfaces will be sanitized before the event

  • chairs will be spaced six feet/two metres apart from other groups

  • sanitizer will be available at entrance/exits and outside the bathroom

  • stay home and join us online if you are sick, have been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 while you were not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), or have travelled in the last 14 days

  • for contact tracing purposes we will ask for your name and contact info (FB or #) upon arrival

For online virtual screening tickets: You will receive an email with a 24-hour code to view this film online from the start time of the in-person screening.

If you have any questions, please send us an email at rainbowreelsfilm@gmail.com

Huge thank you to the Kitchener Market for making this event possible!

Funders: City of Waterloo, City of Kitchener Tier 2, RofW Arts Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Downtown Kitchener BIA