Maqluba
Sunday, November 17
Post-film discussion with filmmakers Mike El sherif and John Ben Lacy
Free
Speed Cinema
2035 S. 3rd St.
As Louisville continues to try and grow a thriving film scene, it’s good to identify a few of your favorite homegrown makers and make an effort to see and champion their work. For years now, starting with their 48 Hour Film Festival-winning entries, I have found the film-making partnership of Mike Elsherif and JonBen Lacy just delightful. They make small-scale, deeply felt short films flavored with a touch of whimsy and a haunted sheen over the whole endeavor, usually veering off on an unexpected path. Their partnership and films also challenge people’s stereotypes about Kentucky overall because they interweave Louisville’s international roots and immigrant communities into the stories. Elsherif brings his experience as a Palestinian-American to the table, having immigrated here with his family from Kuwait after the Persian Gulf War. In their latest short, Maqluba, written and directed by Elsherif, they turn to his family background (and literal family) to create a low-key mystical film centered on the relationship between a Palestinian-American grandmother and her granddaughter as they unpack after a recent unwanted downsizing move. At cross purposes, they spend an evening together eating maqluba, reading Turkish coffee grounds, and side-eyeing their pain as they deal with transition, bad decisions, and things beyond their control. When the lights go out, the evening takes on an extra layer of foreboding.The grandmother is played by Amineh Elsherif, the director’s mother, and her grandmotherly tendencies and the relationship on display is very relatable, even if the touchstones are culturally different than my own background. The apartment reminds me distinctly of the Old Louisville apartments of my college years, and while the city is unnamed, locals will recognize the setting. It is a touching fable about the inter-generational immigrant experience and life in the diaspora, and rich in authenticity. Elsherif is currently finishing up his Bernheim Forest & Arboretum Artist-in-Residence project, “Inshallah.” He is mixing Bernheim visuals with Hi-8 footage he took during a trip to Palestine back in 2000 to create a travelogue of sorts as a displaced spirit tries to find his way home. After that, keep an eye open for another joint project from the filmmaking pair, “Goodbye Habibi,” a Palestinian superhero short to be shot in 2025. This production is made possible by the Sunbird Stories Production prize from FilmLab Palestine in Ramallah and the first-ever Shireen Abu Akleh Film Grant from the Islamic Scholarship Fund. Not bad for a couple of Kentucky filmmakers on the other side of the world.
The People Could Fly
Sunday, November 24
Post-film discussion with filmmakers Imani Dennison, Bryn Silverman and Naveen Chauba
Speed Cinema
2035 S. 3rd St. Free
Imani Dennison is a Louisville born and raised Artist with a capital A, and is currently the head programmer at Black Science Fiction, a collective and incubator space for Black and brown artists who push artistic boundaries in music, performance, and film.She will return to Louisville to discuss her newest project “The People Could Fly,” a documentary which centers the history and legacy of roller skating culture in Louisville’s Black community. Less concerned with presenting a straightforward talking heads style doc, Dennison instead weaves together memories, interviews, archival footage, and newly shot material to create a poetic film that illuminates the importance of Black gathering spaces in a (still) segregated city. Named after the myth written down and popularized by Virginia Hamilton, “The People Could Fly” is a hyper-local love letter to roller rinks as sanctuaries, and a celebration of Black Joy. And there’s a little Sun-Ra in there too.
Both of “Maqluba” and “The People Could Fly” are Sunday Showcase films, shown as part of Oswley Sundays in which general admission to the Speed Art Museum is free. See new, lovingly made films, meet your local filmmakers, AND see what the Speed has on display. That’s an afternoon well spent.
This article appears in Nov 4-19, 2024.