Marlon Riggs Shorts

Affirmations (1990) is an exploration of Black gay male desires and dreams, starting with an affectionate, humorous confessional and moving on to a wish for empowerment and incorporation.

Anthem (1991) is Marlon Riggs’ experimental music video politicizing the homoeroticism of African-American men. With images–sensual, sexual and defiant–and words intended to provoke, Anthem reasserts the “self-evident right” to life and liberty in an era of pervasive anti-gay, anti-Black backlash and hysterical cultural repression.

Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regret) (1993) features a series of interviews with HIV-positive black men. Through music, poetry and quiet – at times chilling – self-disclosure, five seropositive black, gay men speak of their individual confrontations with AIDS, illuminating the difficult journey African-American men make in coping with the personal and social devastation of the epidemic.

This screening will be introduced by Conal McStravick, a London-based artist with a research interest in AIDS crisis video and video activism.