Clockwise from L to R: Naima Ramos-Chapman, Jon Mallow, Kuye Youngblood, Racquel Gates, Kweighbaye Kotee
As the uses of short film and video continue to expand into advertising, music, and other artistic spaces, this screening and conversation will explore the many places short films call home, and how filmmakers (including writers, directors, and producers) find their voice. From ideation to distribution and the festival circuit, panelists Naima Ramos-Chapman, Jon Mallow, Kuye Youngblood, and Kweighbaye Kotee will share their wisdom and experiences of navigating this complex territory. Moderated by Racquel Gates.
Bios:
Naima Ramos-Chapman is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York. She tells stories of transformation and understated bravery that stem from true accounts, incorporate magical realism, and use choreographed gestural movement to render psycho-spiritual realities. She investigates victimhood ontology through the female gaze by complicating the archetype of the imperiled or victimized woman in order to envision hope, healing and agency. Her first short, AND NOTHING HAPPENED, premiered at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival. It also screened at the L.A. Film Festival and BAMcinemafest, among several others, and won Best Director at the Tacoma Film Festival. It is now a Vimeo Staff Pick. Currently, Ramos-Chapman is in post-production for her second short, PIU PIU and in 2017, received a fellowship from the Sundance Institute for Screenwriting Intensive for her first feature-length script SAD SONGS IN LANGUAGES I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Previously, Ramos-Chapman was a journalist exploring the intersections of race, gender, pop culture, and economics on Colorlines, Saint Heron, Postbourgie, The Nation, and Huffington Post to name a few.
Jon Mallow is a producer, director and digital strategist who founded Mallow Projects in 2018 to tell meaningful stories that inspire change and connect with audiences across all video screens. Mallow was previously Senior Vice President of Connected Content at VH1 and Logo, supervising production, editorial and strategy for platforms including web, mobile, apps and social media. He also ran the digital department at World of Wonder, the production company responsible for RuPaul's Drag Race and the WOWPresents YouTube Channel. Mallow is currently a Senior Advisor to Swing Left, a national grassroots organization working to take back the House of Representatives for Democrats in the 2018 elections. He serves on the Board of Directors of GMHC, the world’s first and leading provider of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy. Mallow has received numerous awards including: GLAAD Media (2016, 2018 nomination), Cynopsis Social Good (2016 and 2017), CableFax (2017), Webby (2012). He has a BA in Literature from Yale University and an MA in Performance Studies from New York University.
Kuye Youngblood is an Emmy award-winning producer with experience in scripted and documentary series. She is currently the Head of Development & Production at BRIC TV. Her responsibilities include creative development of new series and managing a team of dynamic media makers. At BRIC TV she worked on official selections for major festivals including Tribeca Film, Sundance, New Voices in Black Cinema, Hot Docs, ABFF, and the Bentonville Film. Recent selections include The Show About The Show with Caveh Zahedi, Brooklynification, Dinette, and The Great Pretender. She was also Series Producer for Neighborhood Beat, a show about Brooklyn’s dynamic neighborhoods. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Kuye currently still lives, works, and occasionally whips-up gluten-free treats there!
Kweighbaye Kotee is the Founder and Director of two Brooklyn-based organizations—Media Culture and Communications Group (MCCG) and Bushwick Film Festival (BFF). MCCG works in tandem with companies and rapidly changing neighborhoods to support artistic and cultural sustainability. Now in its tenth year, BFF is hailed as one of Brooklyn’s most celebrated events and recognized for its contribution to the borough’s artistic and economic growth. Passionate about community and arts, Kotee is a Bushwick Community Board member serving on the Arts & Culture Committee and the Housing & Land Use Committee. Born in Liberia, she and her family immigrated to the U.S. at the brink of the Liberian Civil War. She attended public school in Newark, NJ, was awarded a scholarship to attend Blair Academy for high school, and moved on to receive her B.S in Media, Culture and Communications from New York University.
Racquel Gates is an Assistant Professor at the College of Staten Island, CUNY. Her research focuses on blackness and popular culture, with special attention to discourses of taste and quality. She has written numerous essays on film and media, with some of her work appearing in Film Quarterly, Television & New Media, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. Her book, Double Negative: The Black Image and Popular Culture, will be published by Duke University Press in August 2018.
BRIC’s Stoop Series welcomes you in for dynamic conversations that connect art, performance, media and other creative fields with big ideas that are important to Brooklynites. This season’s Stoop Series tackles the reclamation of culture, of healing, of voices, and of living. Join us on the Stoop—there’s something different every week!
Venue Information:
The Stoop at BRIC House is a public cultural gathering space featuring free, drop-in programming, and offering a place to sit, observe, and participate in multi-disciplinary work.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2022, attendees of any BRIC House programming will no longer have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter the building. Masks are encouraged but not required in all BRIC operated spaces. If you have questions regarding this protocol, please email Safety@bricartsmedia.org