Black Pearl
ABOUT
Black Pearl is a collage-based portrait about rituals of communion and congregation in coastal towns and cities of Georgia, New Orleans, and Salvador Bahia, Brazil. The ocean, alive and without boundaries, is also one of the critical means through which culture has historically been disseminated. All three regions border the Atlantic and are united by varying iterations of a common nature-based system of knowledge and spirituality first practiced in West Africa.
Inspired by Jorge Amado’s book Mar Morto (Dead Sea), the film pays homage to the coastal people of these regions as they celebrate that which has always sustained them. The reference to death as it relates to the film is twofold: it points to the cycle of death and rebirth that all life faces and portends an inevitable end to life both for most coastal cultures and humanity if radical action is not taken.
Iyabo is a filmmaker whose career spans from serving as director of photography for fiction films, to director or co cinematographer for award winning documentaries such as the Visions du Réel premiered Practice and the Locarno premiered Palenque, to directing and editing archival experimental films that leverage minstrel imagery and NASA footage to articulate personal trauma and catharsis. She has spoken about her art at prestigious forums like the Black Women's Film Conference, and her work has been exhibited around the world at such venues as the Museum of the Moving Image and has been recognized by entities such as BAFTA. She earned an MFA in Film Production (a dual track of Cinematography and Directing) from UCLA, where her student film Macarrã o was shortlisted for a Student Academy Award, and she earned an MFA in Documentary Media from Northwestern University and the post film festival streaming debut of her film Practice premiered on Criterion in July of 2021. Her most recent short BY WATER is currently on the festival circuit including having had screenings at BlackStar Film Festival, Sundance, and New Orleans as well as Upcoming screenings including SILFF, and Hot Docs and Goma International Film Festival. That film will be featured on POV's America Reframed after its festival run. Iyabo currently teaches filmmaking at Dartmouth College.
Shaka Jamal is a culturally innovative artist and filmmaker from Oakland, California. He is the founder of Olu8 Film & Culture and Olu8 Records; creative spaces for the production of dynamic sound, story and visuals. His passion for film and music grew through travel and while living in South Africa. Partnering with community members, non-profits and corporations, ShakaJamal’s work reveals the inspiring achievements of change makers—whose stories often go untold. He is the camera operator for the Emmy Award winning documentary We AreThe Dream: The Kids of the Martin Luther King Oratorical Fest, produced by HBO and Mahershala Ali. He is also the first filmmaker from Oakland, CA to receive the Game Changers Fellowship which led him to premiere a series of short documentaries in New York at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. His work has premiered both nationally and internationally, on television, and in numerous film festivals. In addition, ShakaJamal is a 200 Hour Certified Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher and CFO (Chief Flexibility Officer) of Namaste Ready; a co-op that provides yoga and self care healing practices designed to activate and support the healing powers of the Black Community. He is a graduate of Tuskegee University and earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in Cinema from San Francisco State University.
