Detroit artists are focus of 2 of Freep Film Festival's short documentaries
Two popular Black artists from Detroit will have their stories told at this year’s Freep Film Festival through short documentaries.
The films are among a series of shorts focusing on art and artists that's showing at this year's fest.
Painters Sydney G. James and Senghor Reid are the subjects of works in “Shorts Program #1: Creative Types,” which screens Saturday at the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
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A healing journey
“Senghor Reid: Make Way For Tomorrow” is a revealing look into the soul of a gifted man who finds purpose and rebirth through the element of water and draws inspiration from his mother, legendary Detroit artist Shirley Woodson. Directors Desmond Love and Eden Sabolboro balance vulnerability and inspiration beautifully, and Thaad Sabolboro’s gorgeous cinematography makes Reid’s Detroit world look like a fantasy come to life.
“What really gravitated us toward Senghor’s work was the importance of healing,” said Eden Sabolboro. “Whenever I look at his work, it invites me to go into a healing place. His work is different from a lot of his contemporaries in that that’s intentional. Senghor went through some rough personal times mentally and emotionally during the pandemic, as a lot of us did. And so, when we creatively talked about this project, we knew it had to come from a very intimate, very personal, very calm sort of space. Sort of like a visual counterpart to Senghor’s work.”
Reid, an artist-in-residence at the Cranbrook schools, recently completed a major project as part of the ongoing Michigan Central Station development, applying his work to three large water cisterns at the Bagley Mobility Hub. This summer, he’ll do additional work there.
“To be a creator in this time is really special,” Reid said, “in that myself and several other artists who are my peers —we are the children of artists and teachers and community organizers and people who have been working and living in Detroit for many, many years continuing to build a legacy and tradition of Black excellence and being a part of that lineage.
“And to be able to impact the lives of young people who I know are going to come after me and soar to even greater heights is truly a blessing and a privilege. That’s something that’s been heavily weighing on my mind in a good way in recent months, and I’m just appreciative to be a part of it.”
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'Screaming to be seen'
“Our existence as Black, female creators is activism, and that's kind of crazy to me,” says James at one point in “Sydney G. James: How We See Us.”
The short examines the life and work of the painter and beloved Detroit muralist, as well as how deeply and personally her work is intertwined with social justice. Director Juanita Anderson craftily finds a framing device for her story in James’ careful canvas re-creation of a decades-old family photo and unfolds that snapshot of Black joy into the pieces that make up James.
“It goes back to why I wanted to do this film,” said Anderson. “It was the way that Sydney addressed the issue of invisibility. And for me, it came at a time where I, as a Detroit native, see Black people broadly being erased visibly from the landscape of Detroit. Sydney’s work really resonated with me personally because you look at her work and you say, ‘We’re still here!’”
In the film, James states that she is “screaming to be seen.”
“You know all of the negative connotations that (exist) about Black women — we’re loud, all things that aren’t necessarily good. They’re not bad words, but when projected on us, they become bad or negative words. I do all those things. I paint big and loud. I do the extra things. I show Detroit Black women in specific because we’re loud, we’re bold, and we are extra … but beyond that, we get it done. We put in the work.”
James, whose latest exhibition opened last week at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, is hard at work in her second year as a co-founder of Detroit’s BLKOUT Walls Festival, a sprawling mural event to be held in September.
“I hope people feel full after watching (the documentary),” she said. “I hope they feel seen, no matter the color, no matter the gender. I hope people take away that they can do anything if they put in the work. I hope people take away what community really is and feels like because the film wouldn’t have been made if it wasn’t for my community.”
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National attention
Both short films, each running about 15 minutes, were selected to air nationally during the second season of PBS’s “American Masters: In the Making.” Reid’s segment aired this week; both are archived on PBS.org.
"No one becomes an ‘American Master’ overnight, and of the idea behind ‘In the Making’ is to take a behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes of artists who are on their way to becoming masters in their field,” said Michael Kantor, executive producer for the series.
Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.
Freep Film Festival 'Shorts Program #1: Creative Types'
2 p.m. Sat.
Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 John R, Detroit
$15, $12 virtual tickets
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Freep Film Festival shorts explores lives, work of 2 Detroit artists
