New York restoration premiere of SPIRIT TO SPIRIT: NIKKI GIOVANNI at To Save and Project The 20th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation

On Thursday, January 18th the newly restored Spirit to Spirit: Nikki Giovanni will make its New York premiere as part of the Skip Norman’s Blues People, Program 2 at To Save and Project for the 20th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation.

Once crowned “The Princess of Black Poetry,” the prolific and political Nikki Giovanni has become one of America’s most popular poets. This lyrical and visually provocative film details the poet’s coming-of-age against the background of her times: the Civil Rights struggle, the Vietnam War, and the Women’s Movement. Independent director and producer Mirra Bank skillfully weaves performance footage with evocative photo montage, archival footage, and colorful animation, creating a dynamic and intimate portrait of the poet. This documentary short was digitally restored in 4K from the 16mm original negatives. (1986. 29 min. USA. Color. English. DCP).

The documentary was restored in 2022 by the Academy Film Archive and the Women’s Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television, with support from the Leon Levy Foundation.

Founded in 2003, MoMA’s annual To Save and Project festival has become the Museum’s showcase for presenting new restorations from the Women’s Film Preservation Fund of New York archive, as well as work from their colleagues around the world: archives, foundations, studios, and others who are engaged in maintaining and presenting precious audiovisual heritage.

The screening will take place at Museum of Modern Art in New York City at 7:30 pm and will be introduced by filmmaker Mirra Bank and Michael Boyce Gillespie, author of Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film.

For more information on the event schedule, visit MOMA’s website.

Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on January 9, 2024.