Community Screenings

Community Film Screenings & Viewings at the Crenshaw Dairy Mart

The Crenshaw Dairy Mart had the incredible honor of hosting an advanced screening of Neptune Frost, an Afrofuturist musical directed by visionaries Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman, right here in our Inglewood sanctuary of care and creativity with our dear community. The evening began with a screening of the illuminating, historical short documentary film, “The Beauty President,” directed by Whitney Skauge, and ended with a powerful panel discussion with Neptune Frost directors Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman, alongside Inglewood-based artists/creators and curators Autumn Breon, co-curator of CDM’s inaugural exhibition “Yes on R: Archives and Legal Conceptions”, and juice wood, co-founder of the Inglewood Community Fridge at CDM. Their conversations around the abolitionist frameworks in this powerful film, and the tenets of abolition, Black Radical Imagination, community care, and mutual aid, have left much of us all so rejuvenated and inspired for more. As Autumn reminded the audience and the filmmakers of the earliest funding rounds for their film, we all are reminded, “Let’s fuck shit up. With Beauty”.

THE CRENSHAW DAIRY MART PRESENTS 'FIFTEEN HOURS,' A NEW WORK BY FOREMOST. 'FIFTEEN HOURS' IS A DIGITAL VIDEO THAT FEATURES TWO (2) BLACK BEINGS, ARTIST DIONNA NDLOVU AND FOREMOST, AS THEY EXPLORE BLACK LIBERATION THROUGH IMAGINATIVE PLAY IN VARIOUS OUTDOOR RURAL SPACES AND PRIVATE PROPERTY AROUND HUMBOLDT COUNTY CALIFORNIA. THE PLAY OCCURS FOR THREE (3) DAYS TOTALING FIFTEEN HOURS. THEY APPROACH PLAY WITHOUT RULES, NOR SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS, WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO RELY SOLELY ON PHYSICAL COMMUNICATION FROM THE MATERIALITY OF THE “PLAYGROUND” AND THE JOY OF EACH OTHER’S MOVEMENTS. SUCH “PLAYGROUNDS” ARE THE SETTING FOR DREAM SPACES FOR BLACK PEOPLE AND OTHER MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES, PLACES WHERE THEY CAN FEEL SAFE TO PLAY, MOVE, EXPRESS, AND EXIST. HOW CAN WE PLAY WITH EVERYDAY SPACES TO LESSEN THEIR CONTRADICTION WITH OUR WILDEST DREAMS? IN THIS DREAM-LIKE VISION, CREATIVE PLAY BECOMES A REAL-LIFE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL MANIFESTATION OF FREEDOM, AND “PLAYGROUNDS” ARE UP FOR PERPETUAL CHANGE. FOREMOST IS AN ARTIST, EDUCATOR, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVIST BASED IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. HE HOLDS A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN ART HISTORY, A MASTER’S DEGREE IN EDUCATION, ALONG WITH A MULTI-SUBJECT TEACHING CREDENTIAL AND IS CURRENTLY PURSUING AN M.F.A AT CALARTS. HIS ARTFORMS INCLUDE VIDEO, DRAWINGS, AND COLLAGE. HIS ART USES EVERYDAY MATERIALS AND SPACES TO THINK ABOUT THEIR USES, HOW THOSE USES ARE FLUID, AND HOW THAT DRIVES HIS IMAGINATION TO SPECULATE AND APPROPRIATE NEW “PLAYGROUNDS” AS WELL AS RECLAIM “PLAYGROUNDS” FOR THE BLACK BEING. HE IS ENGAGED IN A PLAY PRACTICE AIMED AT DISRUPTING AND SUBVERTING THE NORMAL STATE OF AFFAIRS AND SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION. SIMULTANEOUSLY, HE STAYS WITHIN A DREAM SPACE, A REAL SPACE FOR EVOKING EPHEMERAL LAUGHTER, PLEASURE, AND ENJOYMENT BUT PERMANENTLY REVEALING SOCIO-POLITICAL CONVENTIONS AND BIASES.

THE CRENSHAW DAIRY MART PRESENTS 'FIFTEEN HOURS,' A NEW WORK BY FOREMOST.

'FIFTEEN HOURS' IS A DIGITAL VIDEO THAT FEATURES TWO (2) BLACK BEINGS, ARTIST DIONNA NDLOVU AND FOREMOST, AS THEY EXPLORE BLACK LIBERATION THROUGH IMAGINATIVE PLAY IN VARIOUS OUTDOOR RURAL SPACES AND PRIVATE PROPERTY AROUND HUMBOLDT COUNTY CALIFORNIA. THE PLAY OCCURS FOR THREE (3) DAYS TOTALING FIFTEEN HOURS. THEY APPROACH PLAY WITHOUT RULES, NOR SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS, WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO RELY SOLELY ON PHYSICAL COMMUNICATION FROM THE MATERIALITY OF THE “PLAYGROUND” AND THE JOY OF EACH OTHER’S MOVEMENTS. SUCH “PLAYGROUNDS” ARE THE SETTING FOR DREAM SPACES FOR BLACK PEOPLE AND OTHER MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES, PLACES WHERE THEY CAN FEEL SAFE TO PLAY, MOVE, EXPRESS, AND EXIST. HOW CAN WE PLAY WITH EVERYDAY SPACES TO LESSEN THEIR CONTRADICTION WITH OUR WILDEST DREAMS? IN THIS DREAM-LIKE VISION, CREATIVE PLAY BECOMES A REAL-LIFE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL MANIFESTATION OF FREEDOM, AND “PLAYGROUNDS” ARE UP FOR PERPETUAL CHANGE.

FOREMOST IS AN ARTIST, EDUCATOR, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVIST BASED IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. HE HOLDS A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN ART HISTORY, A MASTER’S DEGREE IN EDUCATION, ALONG WITH A MULTI-SUBJECT TEACHING CREDENTIAL AND IS CURRENTLY PURSUING AN M.F.A AT CALARTS. HIS ARTFORMS INCLUDE VIDEO, DRAWINGS, AND COLLAGE. HIS ART USES EVERYDAY MATERIALS AND SPACES TO THINK ABOUT THEIR USES, HOW THOSE USES ARE FLUID, AND HOW THAT DRIVES HIS IMAGINATION TO SPECULATE AND APPROPRIATE NEW “PLAYGROUNDS” AS WELL AS RECLAIM “PLAYGROUNDS” FOR THE BLACK BEING. HE IS ENGAGED IN A PLAY PRACTICE AIMED AT DISRUPTING AND SUBVERTING THE NORMAL STATE OF AFFAIRS AND SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION. SIMULTANEOUSLY, HE STAYS WITHIN A DREAM SPACE, A REAL SPACE FOR EVOKING EPHEMERAL LAUGHTER, PLEASURE, AND ENJOYMENT BUT PERMANENTLY REVEALING SOCIO-POLITICAL CONVENTIONS AND BIASES.

WHISPERS: PRAY FOR LA IS PATRISSE CULLORS’ LATEST WORK DEVELOPED AMIDST AN UNPRECEDENTED SURGE IN COVID-19 CASES IN LOS ANGELES THIS PAST WINTER. AS PART OF A LARGER ONGOING PROJECT ENTITLED ‘PRAY FOR LA’ LAUNCHED BY HER ARTIST COLLECTIVE THE CRENSHAW DAIRY MART AT THE BEGINNING OF 2021, THE INITIATIVE AND FORTHCOMING WORKS ARE AN OFFERING TO THE THOUSANDS OF ANGELENOS AND THEIR FAMILIES SUFFERING FROM THE INTERSECTIONS OF COVID-19, RACISM AND THE ULTIMATE NEGLECT OF A COUNTY, STATE AND COUNTRY THAT HAS DELIBERATELY FOCUSED ON PROFIT OVER PEOPLE.

CULLORS’ WHISPERS SPECIFICALLY CALLS US TO THE OCEAN TO OFFER UP OUR HEARTS, OUR GRIEF AND OUR FIGHT TO SEE THE DEATH AND SICKNESS THAT SURROUNDS LOS ANGELES COUNTY AS IT FIGHTS TO KEEP AFLOAT AMONGST THE TERROR OF COVID-19.

WHISPERS ASKS ALL OF US TO CALL FOR A WORLD WHERE EVERY FAMILY HAS ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE, TO FOOD, TO SHELTER.

WHISPERS ASKS US TO DREAM AND PRACTICE THIS VISION THROUGH ABOLITION.

THIS VIDEO PROJECT WAS COMMISSIONED BY TILT WEST, A DENVER-BASED ARTS NONPROFIT. IT WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE THIRD VOLUME OF THE TILT WEST JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO THE TOPIC OF ART AND LABOR, SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 2, 2021. YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE SECOND VOLUME OF THE TILT WEST JOURNAL, ON ART AND COMMUNITY HERE.

DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY: PATRISSE CULLORS 

EDITED BY: GIOVANNI SOLIS

SCORED BY: MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO