THE PERISCOPIC GAZE

Directors:

Writers:

Kalima Young

Producers:

Kalima Young

Run Time:

0:21:34

Awarded for the following Category(s):

Awarded Category(s)

An intimate documentary short exploring the ancestral survival strategies Black women use to navigate and fully live in a world that is hostile to Black female life.

Submitter Statement

I am a Black lesbian filmmaker living in Baltimore and an American studies scholar investigating the impact of Black pain, wounding, and death imagery on the formation of Black identity and Black art. My work as a filmmaker and scholar is personal and political. At the core of my creative and scholarly practice is a desire to tell stories that reify and validate how Black people show up in the world. I believe all research should be interventional and accessible to a greater community outside of academia. The Periscopic Gaze expands my research and storytelling in new ways.

Dr. Kalima Young is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronic Media and Film at Towson University. She received her PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland College Park. Her research explores the impact of race and gender-based trauma on Black identity, media, and cultural production. A Baltimore native, videographer, and activist, Dr. Young is also a member of Rooted, a Black LGBTQ healing collective. Her most recent work includes The Periscopic Gaze, a speculative documentary exploring Black women’s ancestral survival strategies, and Damn Y’all Fine, a journey into Black queer aesthetics in Baltimore. She is a 2022 Saul Zaents Innovation Fund Fellow and a 2023 Docs in Progress Legacy Fellow. Her manuscript, Mediated Misogynoir: The Erasure of Black Women’s and Girls’ Innocence the Public Imagination was released by Rowman and Littlefield’s Lexington Books in 2022.

Key Cast

Josie Young, Patricia Williams, Francine Housier, Blair Franklin

Other Credits

Editor: Julia Golonka

Music Composition/Sound Design: Adam Schwartz

Director of Photography: Dezimond Fisher

Clay on Glass Animator: Lynn Tomlinson

2D Animation: Tynesha Foreman