Freedom Forward Film Series: Sementes

The Freedom Forward film series is a virtual series which brings together social impact storytellers, social justice practitioners, and artists dedicated to imagining a world with freedom, justice, and well-being for all people. Featuring films which highlight different themes and issues across the social justice landscape, Freedom Forward offers a space for reflection on histories of collective struggle, the hope that drives them, and freedom on the horizon. The series is intended to serve as a political education space which nourishes and inspires future action, solidarity, and creativity as we build a more just and equitable world. All film screenings are free and open to the public.

The Freedom Forward Film Series is brought to you by The Action lab in collaboration with the Urban Democracy Lab at NYU Gallatin, the Initiative for Community Power at NYU Law School, Make the Road NY, and The Forge.

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About SEMENTES: Mulheres Pretas no Poder (SEEDS: Black Women in Power):

In response to the execution of Marielle Franco, the 2018 elections turned into the biggest political uprising led by black women Brazil has ever seen, with candidates running in every state. In Rio de Janeiro, Mônica Francisco, Rose Cipriano, Renata Souza, Jaqueline de Jesus, Tainá de Paula and Talíria Petrone ran for state or federal deputy. The documentary accompanied these women in their campaigns, showing that a new way of doing politics in Brazil is possible, transforming mourning into (political) struggle.

About the Film Directors, Ethel Oliveira & Julia Mariano:

Éthel Oliveira is a documentary filmmaker, film club member, and editor. She is coproducer of Sementes: Mulheres Pretas no Poder (Seeds: Black Women in Power, 2020). She studied social sciences at Fluminense Federal University, researching the Guaraní indigenous people in Rio and Mato Grosso do Sul through the Ethnographic Film Laboratory and spent ten years producing human rights media projects in Pernambuco. Her previous works are Terceira Diaspora (Third Diaspora) and Vinte de Novembro (November 20, 2011), Arremate (The End, 2017), and the Baobá African Cinema Showcase in Recife (2018).

Terceira Diaspora (2011)

Vinte de Novembro (2011)

Arremate (2017)

Seeds: Black Women in Power (2020)

Júlia Mariano is a director, screenwriter, and producer. She graduated from Cuba’s School of Cinema and Television of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV). In 2014, Júlia directed Ameaçados (The Threatened People), which won awards at Rio de Janeiro’s Short Film Festival, São Paulo’s Kinoforum Festival, and Maranhão’s Guarnicê Film Festival. In 2015 she directed Do Corpo da Terra (From the Body of the Land) produced in partnership with the Movimento dos Sem Terra (Landless Movement). In 2017 she founded NOIX CULTURA and directed the documentary series Desde Junho (Since June).

Ameaçados (2014)

Do Corpo da Terra (2016)

Desde Junho (2017)

Seeds: Black Women in Power (2020)