BlackTalk Ep 4: "How to Date While Trans" & "Kokomo City"

An intervention toward and challenge of more traditional examples of criticism, BlackTalk is a salon series where Black movies matter. In the great tradition of the Harlem Renaissance, in this space, Black thinkers center Black filmmaking in a kitchen table-style debrief of cultural commentary and critique, ultimately interrogating the film canon.
Led by creator Tre'vell Anderson, critics, artists, and other cultural workers are invited to screen and discourse films made by and/or about Black people. BlackTalk puts the power and purpose of film criticism (back) where it belongs: in the hands of the beloved community.
The films being discussed are Nyala Moon's "How Not to Date While Trans" (2022) and D. Smith's
"Kokomo City" (2023). Salon participants include AJ Girard, Taylor Henderson, Tameka Blakshir, Ryan Mitchell, Tre'vell Anderson, Amber J. Phillips, Beandrea July and Jon Paul Higgins.
For more information about BlackTalk, visit slayzhon.com. Subscribe to our page for more and follow us on Instagram.
BlackTalk is a Slayzhon production created, curated and produced by Tre'vell Anderson. It is supported by Critical Minded, an initiative to invest in cultural critics of color cofounded by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

[@fatimajamall]

Werk, Slayzon! Tre'Vell Slayzhon Anderson, sister, this is brilliant. Thank you for doing your work!

[@Bee-gf8gn]

10:39 “You can’t control who is attracted to you … and you certainly can’t control who is attracted to you and proud of it” - Beandrea 🔥🔥🔥

[@mxxxka]

thank you so much for talking about the final scene. the fact or evidence of black trans* women’s body is so powerful in that scene. it oddly remind me of tongues untied and the black + white treatment Marlon Riggs took with showing the black cis gay man’s body as a way to further articulate an argument for and about humanity. we can debate what an argument invested in proving the humanity of black folk suggests about our intramural investments and if its even successful…but yes! so much so much to say.

[@slayzhon]

Marlon/Tongues Untied is such a good reference! Thanks for connecting that for me.

[@Versai27]

Thank you for introducing me to How Not To Date While Trans.