For all you filmmakers and enthusiasts in the Houston area, there is an exciting Black film event happening during the next few months courtesy of Our Image Film and Arts. They are doing an "exhibit" at Project Row Houses (in which art projects are presented in historic shotgun houses on Holman St. in Houston’s Third Ward) where they have their own house that will be "open to audiences" through June with special short film screenings this Saturday, April 14.
Dubbed The Cultural Portal: Reclaiming Our Image, these series of events invites the public to become an active participant in the process of reclaiming positivity in media images of people of color. Our Image Film and Arts is a non-profit organization that curates positive, non-stereotypical, honest, cutting-edge, thought-provoking depictions of Black and other underrepresented racial and ethnic groups of the world. They have regular series of film screenings and arts events in Houston that include past screenings of films we've covered here including The Strange Demise of Jim Crow, The Prep School Negro, Russell Costanzo’s The Tested, Pumzi, Nurse.Fighter.Boy, dream Hampton’s Black August, and Shadow & Act Filmmaker Challenge winner Ka'ramuu Kush’s Dear Me, to name a few. See their Cultural Portal special event schedule below.
This house at 2507 Holman Street is transformed into a "mini-theatre" complete with vintage and modern movie posters, a working popcorn machine, screen, and more where they are hosting events, guest lectures, screenings on certain Saturdays and then during "open exhibit time" have movie trivia games for visitors to play and posters on the wall for them to write their movie reviews on.
According to Our Image’s Monica Henderson, “We are also going to host an open audience discussion on re-claiming our image from mainstream media – defining effective and workable solutions to bring back positive images of people of color to mainstream media." On days that are staffed, they will also have a laptop and movie collection that visitors can watch.
The Cultural Portal: Reclaiming Our Image Schedule
April 14: Short films presented by Our Image Film and Arts
May 5: Artist Lauren Kelley will present a short film and performance on the unfortunate power of negative imagery and media stereotypes, followed by an artist talk and discussion.
May 12: DJ Flash Gordon Parks will lead a discussion on Houston’s role in the music industry world-wide.
June 2: Our Image founders Monie Henderson and Marc Newsome will lead a town hall meeting, “Reclaiming Our Image” in which they invite audience discussion about the best methods and practices for working with the media to ensure non-stereotypical, honest, cutting-edge, thought-provoking depictions of Black and other ethnic communities.
June 23: Artist Lisa Harris will present a short film and performance, followed by an artist talk and discussion about gentrification.
**All events start at 2pm @ The Project Row Houses main office – 2521 Holman St., Houston, TX**
See more info about The Cultural Portal: Reclaiming Our Image at www.OurImageFest.com and on their various social media platforms