SPONSOR
U-M North Quad Programming
EDUCATION PARTNER
U-M Department of Afroamerican and African Studies
COMMUNITY PARTNER
African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County
DONOR
Morgan McCormick & Justin Bonfiglio
The Romare Marquee is a short film program featuring moving image works from Amir George that situates each film in contrast to the art of visual artist Romare Bearden. Bearden’s collage work represents the undertones and Black aesthetic themes that George inserts into his films. Archives explored on canvas, layered and assembled. The title is inspired by an experience George had when encountering Bearden’s work during a trip to Michigan.
Shades of Shadows
Chicago, IL | 2015 | 6 | 16mm on Video
Shades of Shadows is a collaboration with psychedelic soul band The O’My’s.
Moments of Intention
Chicago, IL | 2016 | 7 | Video
The movement is the voice in the mirror. Moments of Intention is a vibration migrating from winter. Spirits working in tandem as a force of creativity.
Optimum Continuum 3.1
Glasgow & London, UK / Miami, FL | 2017–2019 | 13 | Video
An ongoing barrage of Blackness always in progress, abrupt editing rhythms that play off Black visual intonation aesthetics.
Impepho
Chicago, IL | 2019 | 3 | 4K Video
Music video for Angel Bat Dawid.
a strange bitter
Chicago, IL | 2021 | 16 | Video
Multifaceted artist Avery R. Young crafts a blues album inspired by a chance encounter with a concertgoer.
Man of The People
Chicago, IL | 2019 | 17 | 16mm / 8mm on Video
Man of the People is a political thriller centered on the legacy of the first Black mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington. A complex unfolding of his two campaign runs and the moments leading to his sudden and mysterious death during his second term.
Silence of Clarity
Chicago, IL | 2022 | 20 | Video
Silence of Clarity is an immersion into the experiences and imaginations of people living with stutters. Individuals convene at a utopian therapy center to seek out their higher selves.
Amir George is an award-winning filmmaker based in Chicago and the artistic director of Kartemquin Films. As an artist, George creates spiritual stories, juxtaposing sound and image into an experience of non-linear perception. George’s films have screened at institutions and film festivals including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), Anthology Film Archives (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the BlackStar Film Festival (Philadelphia) among others.