Revelation Film Fest announce Black Voices Matter retrospective

Revelation Film Festival have announced a retrospective focus on films that tell Black stories and raise up Black voices from around the world.

The Black Voices Matter program will be included as part of Revelation’s inaugural virtual festival Couched, featuring four titles that focus on justice and racial equality.

1978’s Killer of Sheep, and 1983’s My Brother’s Wedding, both from director Charles Burnett, tell tales of every day life in Black communities in the USA. Killer of Sheep has been lauded as one of the greatest achievement of African-American cinema, as well as cinema at large, by critics as Cinematical, while My Brother’s Wedding presents an eye-opening revelation, recently restored and digitally re-edited by Burnett.

The retrospective also presents George T. Nierenberg’s 1982 documentary Say Amen, Somebody to Australian audiences. The joyous and deeply emotional celebration of African-American culture was one of the most critically acclaimed documentary films of its time, telling the story of the father of Gospel, Thomas A. Dorsey, Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, and the world of Gospel music.

The program’s final film brings audiences home, with the singular musical One Night The Moon. Directed by Arrente and Kalkadoon woman Rachel Perkins and Kevin Lucas, stars Kaarin Fairfax and Paul Kelly relive the true story Aboriginal Tracker Riley, and a young girl lost in the outback in 1932.

Festival Director Richard Sowada says that events in the US, combined with the destruction of Indigenous sites in WA’s Pilbara undertaken in utter disregard to culture and country, point directly to the enormous inequities rooted deeply in our culture.

“As a cultural event, one of our primary tools is context, so if we can bring some form of context to that discussion, it’s incumbent on us to do just that. In some small way, we hope this retrospective of defining and potent voices in cinema of social justice can contribute to that discussion.”

Revelation’s online festival Couched will present 30+ feature narrative and documentary films plus a selection of short films, Q+As, special events and panel discussions.

Films will be available for rent for a 24 hour period through the festival and passes are on sale now. Festival Director Richard Sowada and Programmer Jack Sargeant will also be available for discussions on titles via the Festival’s online hub throughout the entire event.

Couched runs from 9th – 19th July. For further information please visit the Revelation website.

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