Conceived by Baltimore Living Archives artist-in-residence SHAN Wallace, this program explores the relationship between cinema and the sacred through the work of three of SHAN's contemporaries. Filmmakers Trae Harris, Sonia Malfa and Shannon Joy Shird will premiere several award winning short films and discuss the process of remembering, imagining, honoring and documenting the sacred.
Trae Harris is a Baltimore born, LA based multi-disciplinary nomad who incorporates movement, writing, film and esoteric spirituality to reimagine and highlight the lives and experiences of queer Black Women in the Americas. Trae starred in the Sundance feature Newlyweeds (2013), and Naomi Wallace’s And I and Silence (2014) at New York’s Signature Theater. She has also appeared in the Netflix dramatic series Orange is the New Black and shorts films Didn't I Ask For Tea?(2015), Ori Inu: In Search of Self (2015), Hair Wolf (2017), Bodymore (2018). In additional to acting, Trae is a performance artist and poet, receiving her B.A. from the New School in Performing Arts. Trae's performance pieces are a culmination of mediums she studied at the New School and seek to challenge gender, race and class norms. Her first one woman performance piece Detachment (2015), which she produced and performed for an audience in Bushwick, NY, is the subject of a recently released short film with the same title. Trae’s commercial work includes advertisements for brands such as L'Enchanteur, Lulu Frost, Maybelline, Adidas and Calvin Klein. Trae is passionately invested in art as a form of protest and praise and extends this passion as a facilitator for both youth and adults alike.
Sonia Malfa is a Puerto-American writer/director whose creative voice centers on the stories of women, LGBTQ+ and people of the global majority. She is a commercial director currently repped by Good Company (US) and Familia (UK). Sonia has directed for Nike, Facebook (Latinx Heritage Month Campaign), Vogue Italia, L'Enchanteur, Luar, L’Oreal, Condé Nast/Them, Carol’s Daughter, State Farm, Citibank, Dis Arts, Maroon World and Booooooom.tv. Her work has received accolades from numerous festivals around the world including the Tribeca Film Festival, Clios, Webby’s, 1.4 Awards, One Show Awards and Kinsale Shark Awards. She has been awarded grants from the Jerome Foundation Grant, NYSCA Individual Artist and was selected for the DGA/AICP Commercial Director’s Diversity Program. Before transitioning to directing, Sonia worked as a commercial and independent film/TV producer including projectys such as the MTV feature documentary on rapper Drake, Better Than Good Enough, for @radicalmedia and the Youtube Music Videos Awards for Pulse Films. She holds a BA and MA in American Studies (Gender and Race Relations).
Shannon Joy Shird is a writer, producer, cultural curator, yoga instructor and abolitionist. Shannon is born and raised in Baltimore City, MD. Westside to be specific. Shannon Joy co-founded House of Ease, a creative community and production house with a group of peers in 2017. House of Ease produces content that celebrates and centers the voices of alternative Black folxs with mindfulness, compassion and, ease. Through House of Ease, Shannon Joy produces both narrative and documentary film, experimental and short-form media projects. She has served as outreach producer on award-winning documentary film, Black and Cuba (2014), and Complicit (2017) and is currently screening and distribution director of Rhythms of the Land (2022), a documentary film valentine to generations of Black farmers in the United States from the enslavement period to the present, whose intense love of the land and dedication to community enabled them to survive against overwhelming odds. Shannon Joy curates public art projects, intimate gallery shows, educational/cultural events, and also crafts thoughtful workplace trainings around topics of racial justice, media literacy, abolition 101, transformative justice, emotional intelligence and more. Shannon has organized mixed media artistic exchange projects in NYC, South Africa, and Japan with 1Future and is part of the leadership contingent of the Venceremos Brigade, the oldest US-based Cuba Solidarity Organization. She is a co-producer of a podcast: Let’s Get Back To Queer, whose first season is out on all streaming platforms and you’ll hear her voice acting on the upcoming 2nd season of F#$king Sober podcast. In 2015 she wrote a short story that became the short film, BodyMore. She’s currently writing the script for the feature film while in development for her next short film, Love which starts production this fall. She holds a BA in History and International Affairs from Smith College and a MA in International Affairs from The New School in NYC.
Baltimore Living Archives is a collective place keeping project that builds community and civic engagement, centered around the sharing of stories through film and media co-produced by The SNF Parkway Theatre and the Enoch Pratt Library. Baltimore Living Archives is an artist residency that invites Baltimoreans to craft and showcase media-based stories alongside two Baltimore artists with archiving practices, SHAN Wallace and Lawrence Burney. SHAN and Lawrence will develop their own work and work with the community, sharing skills and stories through a number of participatory programs. Members of the community will be invited to share their stories, explore and contextualize archives, and enjoy the findings of SHAN and Lawrence.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Anonymous Foundation. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
COVID-19 POLICIES
- Face masks are required at all times in the SNF Parkway except when consuming concessions in your seat.
- Patrons are strongly encouraged to avoid the theater if they are feeling unwell or have had a recent unmasked exposure to someone who tested positive. Email info@mdfilmfest.com with any questions.