Black Bodies (film) explained

Black Bodies
Director:Kelly Fyffe-Marshall
Producer:Tamar Bird
Sasha Leigh Henry
Starring:Donisha Prendergast
Komi-Oluwa Olafimihan
Cinematography:Jordan Oram
Studio:Sunflower Studios
Runtime:5 minutes
Country:Canada
Language:English

Black Bodies is a 2020 Canadian short film, directed by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, and produced by Tamar Bird and Sasha Leigh Henry.[1] Inspired by a real-life incident when Fyffe-Marshall, Komi Olaf and Donisha Prendergast were travelling in California, and a woman in the neighbourhood called the police on them because she wrongly believed they were burglarizing their Airbnb rental, the film features Olaf and Prendergast performing spoken word pieces about the trauma of being victimized by anti-Black racism.[2]

The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival,[3] where Fyffe-Marshall was named the winner of the inaugural Changemaker Award.[4]

The film was named to TIFF's year-end Canada's Top Ten list for short films.[5] Fyffe-Marshall was subsequently awarded the Jay Scott Prize by the Toronto Film Critics Association.[6]

The film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards.[7]

The film has been released to digital platforms as a bonus feature accompanying Charles Officer's feature film Akilla's Escape.[8]

Cast

Notes and References

  1. Andrew Parker, "A Look at Short Cuts Programme 02 | TIFF 2020". TheGATE.ca, September 11, 2020.
  2. Marivel Taruc, "Toronto filmmaker creates account of what it means to be Black in 2020". CBC News, September 11, 2020.
  3. Jeremy Kay, "TIFF adds special events including new edition of Planet Africa, live talks series". Screen Daily, August 25, 2020.
  4. Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 20, 2020.
  5. Victoria Ahearn, "Toronto International Film Festival releases Top Ten lists for 2020" . Squamish Chief, December 9, 2020.
  6. Etan Vlessing, "Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' Named Best Picture by Toronto Film Critics Association". The Hollywood Reporter, February 7, 2021.
  7. Naman Ramachandran, "‘Schitt’s Creek,’ ‘Blood Quantum’ Triumph at Canadian Screen Awards". Variety, May 21, 2021.
  8. Victoria Ahearn, "‘Black Bodies’ director Kelly Fyffe-Marshall making ‘ripples’ in Canadian film and TV". Toronto Star, July 7, 2021.