Ritual. Presence. Portals.

These are the words that first come to mind when I think about my conversations with three filmmakers during “Sawubona: The Tale of Two Souths” in September 2023. As part of the 8th Annual Afrikana Independent Film Festival, Sawubona delved into the connected cultural histories South Africa and the U.S. South share in food, music, art, political movement, and resistance. After speaking with Imani Dennison, I kept thinking about portals. Bone Black: Midwives vs. the South demonstrates portal jumping through the wombs of Black women as newborns transition into the human, Earthly realm. Viewers are transported through the bowels of sacred knowledge systems and intergenerational life-giving practices developed by Black midwives throughout the U.S. South. A second film, No Mas: Irreversible Entanglements, serves as a bright beam breaking into a multitude of flights, a portal where Blackness moves with possibility, imagination, and limitless being beyond any volatile condition.

After talking with Milisuthando Bongela about her personal essay documentary, Milisuthando, which also screened at Sundance, I was left thinking about ritual. She treads precisely in the dank and funky places of discomfort to ask memory and nostalgia about what can be trusted or not. She wades into the intimacy of herself, a best friendship with a white woman, her beloved grandmother and aunties' stories and songs about the old country to pull apart the complications of apartheid, identity, family, and history.

My discussion with Sifiso Khanyile left me with the word presence. I thought of his presence at the festival, taking a 15+ hour flight each way from JoBurg to Richmond to participate. I Want to See for Myself offers a view of how the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in Soweto (established by Ashe in 1976 during the height of apartheid) is creating space for new tennis stars to emerge like Amukelani Mokone. Uprize! connects the dots between global Black consciousness and art movements in South Africa (SASO) and the U.S. (Black Panther Party) as imperative for understanding the stories of those who experienced the Soweto Uprising and Soweto 11 trial firsthand. This documentary provides greater visibility to those names and persons who were a part of one of the most significant moments in South African and global history. SHOUT OUT to Enjoli Moon and the incredible team at the Afrikana Independent Film Festival for the expansive hearth you provide to Black filmmakers sharing their stories out loud.