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Acclaimed independent filmmaker Haile Gerima visits URI, Mar. 2

Legendary director will be joined by Oklahoma elder Kirbie Greene to share and discuss his documentary-in-progress on maroon communities in the United States

Haile Gerima
Award-winning independent filmmaker Haile Gerima will screen portions of his documentary-in-progress at URI on March 2. (photo courtesy Haile Gerima)

KINGSTON, R.I. – February 22, 2022 – The University of Rhode Island will host internationally renowned writer, producer and director Haile Gerima on its Kingston Campus, Wednesday, March 2. Gerima will hold a master class on “African American Counter Cinema” and separately screen selections from his latest project, a documentary on maroons in the United States. The larger project follows a trail of escape, guerrilla warfare and flight from Florida to Oklahoma, Texas and Mexico. Maroonage refers to the history of formerly enslaved Africans who escaped during the period of slavery and created their own communities.

Oklahoma elder Kirbie Green will join filmmaker Gerima in a discussion on his documentary. (photo courtesy Kirbie Green)

A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and a leader in the L.A. Rebellion film movement, Gerima is perhaps best known for his award-winning classic 1993 film, “Sankofa,” the story of an African American model on a film shoot in Ghana who is transported back in time, forced into the transatlantic slave trade, and ultimately takes part in a slave rebellion on a southern plantation. The film has recently been given new life through a partnership with director Ava DuVernay’s distribution company ARRAY, which has restored and rereleased Gerima’s “Sankofa” and “Ashes and Embers” in theatres and via Netflix.

Among other things, Gerima’s new documentary, “The Maroons of the United States: 370 Years of Guerilla Warfare During and After Slavery,” explores the complex history of Black Oklahoma. A “Cultural Evening, Documentary Screening and Discussion with Filmmaker Haile Gerima and Oklahoma Elder Kirbie Greene,” will take place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Swan Hall’s Agnes Doody Auditorium, 60 Upper College Road. Kirbie Green is an elder from Oklahoma who is a descendant of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen and was interviewed by Gerima as part of the documentary.

In addition to screening portions of the documentary, Gerima and Green will participate in a discussion with Africana Studies Professor and Department Chair Catherine John-Camara and Professor of History Marcus Nevius on the breadth and challenges of the maroon project, as well as the intersections with the history of Black Oklahoma. There will also be an opportunity for questions from the audience. This event is free and open to the public. There is also a virtual viewing option.

Gerima was recently bestowed by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with the inaugural Vantage Award honoring an artist or scholar who has helped to contextualize and challenge dominant narratives around cinema. He is a believer that cinematic expression should counter the stereotypes common in traditional Hollywood films and has used this as a guide in his own evolution. In fact, many of his films have been made and/or distributed utilizing community support, institutions supporting independent cinema or sources outside the United States.

No stranger to college campuses, Gerima taught filmmaking at Howard University for over 40 years and will share his passion for storytelling and challenging convention in “A Master Class with Haile Gerima – African American Counter Cinema.” This event is open to the University community and will take place from 10 a.m. to noon in the Multicultural Student Services Center, Hardge Forum, 74 Lower College Road. Due to space being limited, advance registration is required. A virtual viewing option is also available. 

For more information on registration or virtual viewing, contact Ellen Kelley, Department of Africana Studies, at (401) 874-2536 or via email at ellen_kelley@uri.edu.