Indie Memphis Film Festival is pleased to announce some very exciting new additions to its 2022 slate. This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Indie Memphis Film Festival, and it’s bigger than ever with these cutting edge new indies. The festival will run from October 19th through 24th on the ground in Memphis, as well as virtually. BLAC has identifies some of the Black actors, directors and screenwriters presenting this year.
These new additions include this year’s Centerpiece Presentation, Elegance Bratton’s THE INSPECTION, fresh from its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film stars Jeremy Pope in a breakout performance as a gay black Marine has been cast out by his mother (Gabrielle Union). Other Black films to consider are as follows:
“The ‘Vous,” Directed by: Jack Porter Lofton & Jeff Dailey
Celebrating its 70th year, the world-famous Memphis BBQ Institution and celebrity attraction The Rendezvous faces unprecedented change as the legendary waiters retire and the “family” business moves into a third generation. The film explores the culture, politics, music, and societal struggles that embody Memphis’ rich history.
“Don’t Deserve This,” By Yasmina Directed by: Reece Daniels & Jivensley Alexis
In a music video for her new single, ‘Don’t Deserve This,’ Yasmina, feeling often unheard in her relationship, starts her own one woman show.
“Ladies Night” By Daz Rinko Directed by: McKenzii Denise Webster & Damonte Brown
The “Ladies Night” music video is the second in a series of videos or episodes, rather, that Daz is releasing alongside his “Sweet Jeezy” EP. In this episode, we fast forward a month after Daz’s car is stolen to he and his friend seeing one of the girls that drove off in the SUV at a late night diner. They decide to take matters into their own hands.
“Change the Name,” Directed by: Cai Thomas
Student activists and educators from Village Leadership Academy campaign to change the name of a park from a slaveholder to abolitionists Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood.
“Cxffeeblack to Africa,” Directed by: Andrew Puccio
A teacher turned hip hop artist is on a mission to reclaim a stolen fruit, coffee, from his motherland of Africa. The only thing standing in his way is a 2 billion dollar industry that has profited off of the backs of his ancestors through the slave trade . When Bartholomew Jones is given the chance to travel to Ethiopia and learn about one of the most important commodities of the 21st century, he packs his bags and returns home.
“F^¢K €M R!GHT B@¢K,” Directed by: Harris Doran
A queer Black aspiring Baltimore rapper must outwit his vengeful day-job boss in order to avoid getting fired after accidentally eating an edible.
“Facing Down Storms: Memphis and the Making of Ida B. Wells,” Directed by: Daphene R. McFerren
Facing Down Storms explores the early life and hardships of Ida B. Wells’ (1861-1932), that includes the death of her parents from Yellow Fever; racial and gender discrimination Wells’ experienced; and the lynching in 1892 of three African American men in 1892 – Thomas Moss, Will Stewart and Calvin McDowell – in Memphis, Tennessee. This lynching launched Wells’ international crusade for justice. Posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for her investigative journalism, Wells extensive reports and writings condemned whites for their racism and the atrocious practice of lynching of African Americans.
“Homeboys Haunted 2,” Directed by: Caleb Suggs
Two brothers pull up to a low-key lake house party, unaware of a dangerous force from the waters that could end their very lives. The homeboys are back in Studio Suggs’s first film — a hilarious horror-comedy & direct sequel to 2020’s “Homeboys Haunted”.
“The Inspection,” Directed by: Elegance Bratton
Ellis French is a young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside. But even as he battles deep-seated prejudice and the grueling routines of basic training, he finds unexpected camaraderie, strength, and support in this new community, giving him a hard-earned sense of belonging that will shape his identity and forever change his life.
“Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” Directed by: Elvis Mitchell
American film critic Elvis Mitchell’s kaleidoscopic documentary creates a definitive narrative of the Black revolution in 1970s cinema, from genre films to social realism, from the making of new superstars to the craft of rising auteurs.
With Is That Black Enough for You?!? (the title referencing a recurring line from Ossie Davis’s 1970 benchmark Cotton Comes to Harlem), Mitchell takes a personal and panoramic approach, expressing his own experiences as a viewer while detailing the cinematic and political histories that led to this extraordinary flowering of a newly ascendant Black heroism.
Featuring interviews with Margaret Avery, Harry Belafonte, Charles Burnett, Laurence Fishburne, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Suzanne de Passe, Glynn Turman, Billy Dee Williams, Zendaya, and more.
“Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues,” Directed by: Sacha Jenkins
An intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations. This definitive documentary honors Armstrong’s legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the first internationally known and beloved stars, and a cultural ambassador of the United States.
“Nanny,” Directed by: Nikyatu Jusu
Aisha, an undocumented immigrant, lands a job as a nanny for a wealthy Manhattan couple. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, a violent presence begins to invade both her dreams and her reality, threatening to destroy the American Dream she is painstakingly piecing together.
“Spin,” Directed by: Brandi Nicole & Jen West
A happy-go-lucky baker is thrown for a loop when an unexpected run-in leads her to a startling realization.
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