On Saturday night, people from all over Connecticut came to watch the second annual Black Haven Film Festival. The festival featured five films made by Black Artists to tell their stories.
Salwa Abdussabur, President of Black Haven, moved back to Connecticut from Los Angeles as the pandemic began.
“When I left LA, I thought I was going to go back, but God had different plans,” Abdussabur said.
Abdussabur saw the pandemic as an opportunity to support and fund black film artists to tell their stories through their films.
“This is giving black artists a place in the community,” Narrative Project worker Edwin Studdi said. “Once you have a face for black artists to show their work and not have to worry about having special credentials.”
The first film festival was hosted online for people to sit and watch on their laptops. This year, they went above and beyond by creating a drive-in theater in the parking lot behind 200 Dixwell Avenue. The idea for the drive-in was a way for people to physically come to the event while also social distancing.
During the first hour, cars quickly began to fill the once-empty lot. Festival-goers were able to tune into 92.1 FM radio station to get clear audio of the films, displayed on a 30-foot screen.
The theme for the event was “Blackness is Global,” showing the audience the reality that Black people face. Fifteen people sent their films to Black Haven, and five of them were put on the big screen for all to watch.
The first film was called “Skin,” made by Brennan Maine. It was in the form of a 30-second poem that flashed between black and white film, followed by color.
“Black Joy” made by Kolton Harris was presented second, where Harris created a music video made in a school setting representing black expression.
Using 3D animation, the third film we saw was Jeffery Dobbs‘, portraying a “strong connection” between art and music taking place in a Skatepark
The fourth film was called “Post Pop Live Son,” made by Karl D. Gray Jr. about Gray celebrating his fathers birthday even though he had “transcended into the afterlife.”
Karl D. Gray Jr. shared the celebration for his late father’s birthday in “Post Pop Live Son” through the fourth film.
The film montage ended with “This Day” by Gerald Lovelace, a music video portraying the process of opening “The Lab,” Lovelace’s personal studio.
Each film shared it’s own personal message, sentimental to each respective artist. The atendees were able to share these experiences with the artists in a night of creativity, communion, and love.
After the event, atendees were asked to vote using the Black Haven’s Instagram, or website, for which film they liked the most.
Abdussabur recieved many congratulations, and even more networking opportunities for the future.
“Ideas for next year are bigger and better,” Abdussabur said.
We want to have a full production, we want to be able to fund everyone that we need on set. We want to do a film within a film, we want to have help film these creators stories with quality while also opening larger submissions and more options for more people to be funded.
Abdussabur on future goals for the Black Haven film festival
