A Litany for Survival: the Life and Work of Audre Lorde
- Audio description in-person & online
- Closed captions online
- Open captions in-person
Screenings
An epic portrait of the eloquent, award-winning Black lesbian poet, mother, teacher and activist Audre Lorde, whose writings — spanning five decades — articulated some of the most important social and political visions of the century. From Lorde’s childhood roots in Harlem to her battle with breast cancer, this moving film explores a life and a body of work that embodied the connections between the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and the struggle for lesbian and gay rights.
Thank you to our screening partners: Harriett’s Bookshop and Making Worlds Cooperative Bookstore & Social Center and Mighty Writers
Directors Spotlight
Ada Gay Griffin
Director
The executive director of Third World Newsreel from 1988 to 1998, Ada Gay Griffin directed the award-winning documentary film, A Litany for Survival: the Life and Work of Audre Lorde with Michelle Parkerson for Third World Newsreel. The full-length documentary film was released in 1995 with exclusive interviews of the warrior poet, and her contemporaries, revealing one of the most powerful voices for the inclusion of LGBT liberation in the self-determination goals of Africa’s diaspora.
Michelle Parkerson
Director
Writer, filmmaker and educator Michelle Parkerson is from Washington, DC. Her creative career gained impetus in the late 1970s and early 80s, when she became a major contributor to a new Black gay and lesbian renaissance of artists, musicians, activists, writers and dramatists in the city – among them, her close friend, poet Essex Hemphill.
- Runtime 90 minutes
- Country United States
- Language English
- Director Ada Gay Griffin, Michelle Parkerson
- Cast Larry Banks, John Bentham, Michael Chin, Christine Choy, John Donnelly, Vilma Gregoropoulos, Crystal Griffith, Arthur Jafa, Herman Lew, Alfred Santana, Irene Sosa
- Screenwriter Ada Gay Griffin
- Cinematographer Larry Banks, John Bentham, Michael Chin, Christine Choy, John Donnelly, Vilma Gregoropoulos, Crystal Griffith, Arthur Jafa, Herman Lew, Alfred Santana, Irene Sosa
- Producer Ada Gay Griffin
- Premiere None
