Afro Sistahs AT KINO Sydney
Director Hawanatu Bangura with Actor Ebube Uba. Image Credits: Christina Mishell
Afro Sistahs visited KINO Sydney’s spooktastic screening session last week with a crowd of other eager film makers and viewers for a Halloween special. KINO is a short film event—a safe space banding together filmmakers of all abilities, genres and styles for a monthly dose of short, independently curated cinema. This event in particular was tagged with a spooky theme, however, the KINO crew were more than happy to show off the work our Sistahs have been hustling on lately.
After helping ourselves to a generous grazing table filled with Halloween themed sweets, bread sticks and cheeses, ( gotta show love to the hors d’ouvres!) we had the opportunity to catch up with Mell, a Law grad and lover of all things new and exciting. Mell isn’t a film maker herself but was thrilled by the shorts we produced. She shared with the Sistahs that the characters briefly introduced in our shorts were “eye opening”, admitting that she’d rarely been “exposed to a lot of African perspectives” and “it’s most certainly the kind of content I want to engage with now and in the future”. Mell continued to marvel at the world of Aussie Black girl magic she never knew she needed.
It’s most certainly the kind of content I want to engage with now and in the future.
We also met with chef, budding film maker, actor and YouTube blogger; Takashi Hara, who found his way to film making through a desire to challenge his artistry by documenting new food, life experiences and people. Takashi expressed his excitement in Afro Sistahs taking on the challenge of developing fresh and exciting content for an Australian audience. He further encouraged the Sistahs and emerging film makers present, to continue the circulation of narratives often hidden from mainstream media, stating that “this is what we should be watching. It’s a very beautiful film [and] I’m very impressed”.
This reason alone rung true as we were reminded of why we chose to develop and share our stories. We saw a need to diversify the single narrative of Afro-Australians in mainstream media and so here we are. The shower of support we received over the course of the night; from the Q&A to the hangout at grazing table and even the parking lot, was immensely heart-warming.
If you’d like to attend future KINO events or potentially screen that short film you’ve been hiding away on your dusty old hard drive, stay in the loop via their Facebook page and we’ll hopefully catch you at the next screening.
Kino Sydney takes place every month and definitely worth checking out! Much thanks to Kino Sydney and @anikichef for the love and support.