• Civic
  • In Sudden Darkness
  • Several Friends
  • Civic
  • In Sudden Darkness

Black Life: Circling the Archive with Filmmakers Dwayne LeBlanc and Tayler Montague

In Conversation

  • ruth gebreyesus, a writer and producer based in the Bay Area, is currently the cocurator of Black Life. 

Black Life is honored to present Circling the Archive—a dialogue with two contemporary filmmakers, who share their award-winning short films alongside films they have selected, including Charles Burnett’s first short film, Several Friends (1969). A native New Yorker, Tayler Montague forayed into filmmaking via her background in cultural criticism and film programming. Montague tells stories that place Black people front and center, building on the legacy of Black storytelling that she grew up with. Her debut film, In Sudden Darkness, is a portrait of a working-class Bronx family as they experience the Northeast blackout of 2003. Dwayne LeBlanc is a Los Angeles–based, first-generation Caribbean American artist and filmmaker. He is primarily self-taught, and his multimedia practice focuses on themes of migration, visibility, and dual identities. His debut short, Civic, is a meditative work about homecoming that was awarded a production grant from Ghetto Film School and Netflix. LeBlanc is currently in postproduction on two additional films that will form a trilogy with Civic

Films in this Screening

Three music videos

,

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Digital
  • 17 mins

In Sudden Darkness

Tayler Montague, United States, 2020

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 13 mins
source
  • Tayler Montague

Several Friends

Charles Burnett, United States, 1969

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 35mm
  • 21 mins
source
  • UCLA Film & Television Archive
permission
  • Kino Lorber

Civic

Dwayne LeBlanc, United States, 2022

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 20 mins
source
  • Dwayne LeBlanc