SPIRIT TO SPIRIT: NIKKI GIOVANNI Director Mirra Bank

By Jason Godbey

In this excerpt from episode 1418 of No Rest for the Weekend, we take you to the Museum of Modern Art for the opening of the newly restored Spirit to Spirit: Nikki Giovanni as part of the To Save and Project film festival made possible by New York Women in Film and Television’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund. In this interview, director Mirra Bank talks about the making of the film and its restoration.

I had the opportunity to attend the screening which was part of a retrospective of films from cinematographer Skip Norman. Spirit to Spirit is a captivating film and Nikki Giovanni is a force to be reckoned with, very compelling and entertaining. One would think that a half hour film about a poet who performs her poetry might not be exciting, but I was enthralled. It’s a very well made performance piece that is innovative in the way it tells Giovanni’s story.

Nikki Giovanni is a renowned American poet who was born in 1943 and became well-known as a prominent figure of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The new feature documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project which Bank refers to in the interview is compelling as well and currently streaming on MAX.

Last year at To Save and Project, I spoke with director Kavery Kaul about her 1988 film, One Hand Don’t Clap, which was newly restored with the help of NYWFT and the WFPF as well. You can find that interview here, and for more on the women’s film preservation fund, visit: womenfilmpreservationfund.org and more about Mirra Bank’s upcoming work on her website: MirraBankFilms.com

The full episode is now available on podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on February 7, 2024.