S T O R Y
We believe that each person is an expert of their own life experience. As such, we believe there is profound wisdom in personal storytelling and archiving the daily lives of Black TGNCI* people in our community.
We have been creating and curating media content that makes clear the importance of Black Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people in our society. Among our robust body of work is an archive of over 190 hours of Black TGNCI* film/footage, 17 impact short films by Black TGNCI* creators made to primarily center a Black TGNCI* audience, and a 19 part street style interview series called On Being Black and Trans in the South.
We see our work as not just creators but keepers of a culture that has been under attack for centuries.
SIGN UP TO BE A PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Each of our film sets invests in creating pathways for Black Trans, Gender-Non-Conforming, and Intersex folks to get their start in the film industry. We reserve two paid ($30/hour) PA roles per film set for Black TGNCI* aspiring filmmakers to learn and build experience through apprenticing on a Comfrey Films work-in-progress film. No prior film experience is necessary.
If you’re interested in being a PA on one of our sets, please complete the PA Waitlist form below. The PA Waitlist is reviewed on a rolling basis throughout the year as each film “rolls” into its respective production phase. Therefore you may be contacted at any point during the year as Directors for each film select their own PA’s from the PA Waitlist.
Work in Progress Films
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Untitled #1
Directed by Joie Lou Shakur
Production Phase: Production Active
In a world marred by homophobia, transphobia, and violence, Black queer and trans nightlife in the Durham community inhabits inspiring avenues to reclaim joy, make meaningful connections, and assert our presence unapologetically. Through this film, we uncover how Black trans and queer people find home in our bodies and the ways drag shows and queer bar and nightlife culture becomes a pillar to a community.
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Under False Colors
Created & Directed by Mickaela ‘Micky B’ Bradford
Production Phase: Development
After surviving the Memphis Massacre of 1866, Frances, a black trans woman, is confident that the US government will hear her testimony and seek justice for her and her community but everything changes after she does everything in her powers to share her story but gets interrogated and belittled by the U.S. Congressional Committee sent to record her testimony.
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Abandon
Written & Directed by Joie Lou Shakur
Production Phase: Distribution
In the midst of Jamaica’s brain-drain and forced migration era of the 1990s, JJ, a seven year old Jamaican child struggles to make sense of and heal parental abandonment wounds.
REIMAGINE:
a framework for community-accountable media-making
As a media-making organization working with marginalized communities to tell stories that impact our planet, we aim to be in a practice of equitable and community-accountable storytelling. To help bring these practices to life in our work, we partnered with the Detroit Narrative Agency and engaged their Reimagine Legal Framework process for community-accountable media-making. This framework includes a Level Set process at the beginning of each collaboration to set intentions and expectations between community based storytellers or organizations and Comfrey Films regarding decision making for every key area of the filmmaking process, from development to distribution.
Being present throughout this process pushed us to grow our ability to protect the rights of our Black Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex storytellers to own and retain the power to make final decisions about their stories and the culture generating media that they create. Since participating in the Reimagine program with DNA’s justice oriented legal team, we’ve added this Level Set process to the beginning of each community collaborative project and introduced a legal team and legal education to each of our community collaborative films.