When David Weathersby’s Thee Debauchery Ball premiered at the Black Harvest Film Festival last year, it was followed by a party—a house music party, one that was a fitting reception for the documentary about Black music, community, art, and sexuality.
“I always say that I don’t feel like I’m a filmmaker without Black Harvest,” he says. “They were the first festival I ever submitted anything to and got a response . . . The first project that I did, it changed everything for me: It showed me how to interact and it gave me a whole new world of people to kind of talk to, a community.”
“This year, we noticed that certainly that there’s a concern among many filmmakers to address some of the burning questions of our time having to do with activism, with racism,” Scharres says. “All of those films in different ways—whether satirically or very seriously—addressed some of those questions, and I think it’s a really provocative program, because you get so many different perspectives on those questions within this one compact, short film program.”
The Black Harvest Community Council plays a critical role in supporting the festival’s programming and is comprised of filmmakers, artists, actors, producers, and more advocates of film and the arts.
“If you want to change community, you want to change spaces, show up and support women, and most specifically, Black women,” she says.
11/6-11/30, siskelfilmcenter.org/bhff2020, $100 all-access pass, $50 festival pass for seven films or short-film programs, $10 individual screening, discounts for members.
