FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW
Screening Details
Date: SUnday - October 20, 2024
Time: 4:00 PM​
Duration: 53 MINS
Venue: Plainfield High School
950 Park Ave, Plainfield, NJ 07060
Block Description
What if history took a different turn? This collection of films invites us to explore alternate realities that challenge our understanding of the past and offer new perspectives on the present. Witness a man’s brave return to an America ready to make amends and a woman’s struggle to bridge deep-seated divides between families and communities marked by generational pain and unhealed wounds. By reimagining history, these filmmakers not only redefine what was but also inspire us to consider what still could be, reminding us that the power to reshape the future lies in our willingness to question the past.
Dir. Hlly Charles Pearson / 32 minutes
In the alternate history short film If They Took Us Back, the U.S. government mandated the return of all formerly enslaved people back to Africa in 1863. More than a century later, a descendant of the ‘Black Returns’(DANIEL) decides to break the 160-year exile and return to the U.S. in exchange for overdue reparations from a remorseful, sympathetic and Black-obsessed America.
Dir. Twawan Bazemore / 21 minutes
In a reimagined America where slavery and the Jim Crow South never existed, Olufemi Adisa (Crystal Porter-Bazemore) is burdened with her dying mother's last request—to find Carol Anne Cole (Jennifer Althen Beacham) and deliver a cherished family recipe. This recipe, intended to fulfill a promise Olufemi's father made but never completed, symbolizes a chance at healing and forgiveness. However, the path to reconciliation is obstructed by a violent shared history, including a murder that occurred 22 years earlier.