All About Love Film Series: Shorts

Directed by Vernon Jordan III
The lesson is love: when Les and his Pop-Pop play jazz, they summon six queer spirits and tumble through their memories.
Duration: 8 min.

Directed by Abena Taylor-Smith
Amma spends the day getting braids at her local salon. Inside, she is greeted like an old friend. But when the conversation suddenly turns homophobic, she has a difficult decision to make: stay silent or stick up for herself.
Duration: 9 min.

Directed by Felicia Pride
A 40-something single mother gets her groove back with a little assistance from her teenage daughter.
Duration: 12 min.

Directed by Tourmaline
Mary of Ill Fame shapes a fictional story around Mary Jones, a Black trans woman and sex worker who was incarcerated in the 1830s for stealing a man’s wallet. The film imagines Jones in Seneca Village, an autonomous New York community of free Blacks and Irish immigrants located on the land occupied today by Central Park. Cutting between images of Jones in brutal confinement and in her picturesque Seneca Village home, the film builds a fantasy space of power, freedom, and pleasure that the actual Jones deserved.
Duration: 17 min.

Directed by Mickalene Thomas
The acclaimed artist's first film, Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman, is a celebration of her mother and muse, Sandra Bush, who passed away in 2012. Thomas explores her mother’s memories and dreams, life experiences, and hopes for the present and future. On her inspiration for the film, Thomas said, “I want to continue to use her in my work as a way to investigate and grasp the understanding of beauty, success, and failure. She was six-one and modeled for most of her life. I want my work to represent her in the reality of who she was, but I also want to capture her strength and beauty.”
Duration: 23 min.

Directed by Dream Hampton
Music video for THEESatisfaction’s “QueenS.”
Duration: 4 min.