Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival

 

 I have always wanted to visit Martha's Vineyard for some reason. But coming from New York  I never really understood why I would go north to go to the beach. So, when the short film Jump that I was in, was picked to be in the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival. I jumped at the opportunity even though it was a toss up between going to the National Black Theatre week in Winston Salem the prior week. The Vineyard won out because I went to that event the last time. There was some maneuvering to make this trip and I got to stay with the granddaughter of W. Montague Cobb. I drove up with a Sowande who had a film that he had produced in the festival.

We left at 9:30PM and arrived at the ferry at 6AM and got on the island at 7AM. After dropping off our bags at the places that we were staying and freshening  up a bit, we went to breakfast at Linda Jean's. Sowande, who is a Howard University graduate, and I were introduced to Floyd Rance, the husband of the husband and wife team who are the founders of the film festival. Floyd is also a Howard University graduate and this kind of introduction happened throughout the week: it seemed as though everyone I met was a Howard University graduate. The director of the film that I am in Anthony J. Harper (also Howard University Graduate) could not attend and it was thanks to him I got a pass for the week of films and lectures.  We went to see the feature for that day Somewhere in the Middle at the theatre in Edgartown.

The next morning we went to breakfast at Biscuits with more Howard alumni. After breakfast, we went to the MV Airport to pick up Sowande's producing partner Darnley. The rest of the films were showing at the MV Performance Art Center where we picked up our credentials. There were 3 shorts showing and they were all good and informative. One of them was Karen Parsons' animation Dancing in the Light: The Janet Collins Story. Karen was the older sister in the show The Fresh Prince. Sowande and Darnley's film The American LOWS left you wanting more. Another of the films showing that was done by a woman with whom I had done a photo shoot, The Little Light of Mines: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer was great. We left to get some dinner and returned to see the feature Althea. Fantastic film! I never knew she sang and made an album. Then we headed to the night spot Lola's to end the night.

Thursday it was breakfast and back to the Performance Center to see the feature Forgiveness and hear the director speak.

We left to go out to the Wampanoag reservation to see the light house, do some shopping and have lunch. Later, after taking Darnley to the Airport, we went to dinner in town ran into some friends who joined us and relaxed some. Sowande wanted to try the donuts at Backdoor Donuts.

Friday was my day. After breakfast went to the Performance Center where Jump was showing. After it screened and since the director wasn't there, I spoke and answered the questions that I could. The audience seem to enjoy it. 

I talked to a lot of the directors. The two main sponsors of the Festival were HBO and SAATCHI & SAATCHI met and spoke with them. It was a busy week on MV; the President was there with his family. There was going to be a 5k run that Sunday that was just making the ferry schedule crazy. I finally secured a 6AM ferry for Saturday morning, which allowed us to go to the CHI-RAQ discussion with Spike Lee, Nick Cannon, Teyonah Parrish and Father Michael L. Pfleger. It was a full house and, as with everything that I attended at this event, was run very well.

To end the evening, we went back  to Lola's for the Summer White Party  This ended my stay on MV. I got up at 4:30AM and boarded the 6AM ferry and headed home.