20TH ANNUAL
IMAGENATION OUTDOORS FESTIVAL
July 16 - September 17, 2022
ABOUT
ImageNation's beloved, annual summer-long program returns with FREE film screenings and music in outdoor venues.
For our 20th year celebration we will be including a new series held in partnership with the Frederick Douglass Blvd Alliance (FDBA) themed “The Soul of Harlem” primarily featuring films about Harlem or by local directors. Join us for a stellar line-up including the New York premiere of African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey (August 17); Forty Year-Old Version by Harlem’s own Radha Blank (August 27); and a talkback and special advance screening of Harlem-based director Stanley Nelson’s Becoming Frederick Douglass (September 10).
FULL FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
All programs are free and open to the public. Unless otherwise stated, music/discussions begin at 7:00 PM; and films begin at 8:30 PM or sundown.
Friday, July 22 - KIDS NIGHT OUT!
GIVEAWAYS & GAMES AT 6:30PM
SCREENING AT 7:30PM
Encanto, dir. by Jared Bush, 102m, 2021, USA
Location: Bronx Terminal Market, Garage Rooftop, 6th Floor, 610 Exterior Street Bronx, NY, 10451
Synopsis: Join us for games, giveaways and a DJ before this special screening of Encanto! In this animated feature, a Colombian teenage girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers.
Presented by Bronx Terminal Market Films on the Rooftop.
Saturday, July 23
The Big Payback, dir. by Erika Alexander & Whitney Dow 88 m, 2022
Preceded by “Ragtime Fan Film - Wheels of A Dream” directed by Akil Dupaont, 7 min., 2021, USA
Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant
Synopses: For the first time in American history, a tax funded reparations bill for Blacks is passed in Evanston, IL. Funded by a tax on cannabis, the program is set to deliver $10 million as a correction for the systematic bias historically inflicted upon its Black constituents. The film follows the fight of rookie alderman Robin Rue Simmons as she leads the community in an uphill battle to obtain this ‘big payback.’
ImageNation x FDBA program co-presented with Black Public Media.
Thursday, July 28
Brown Sugar, dir. by Rick Famuyiwa, 109m, 2002, USA
Location: Herbert Von King Park, Marcy Ave., Tompkins Ave., bet. Greene Ave. and Lafayette Ave.
Synopses: Starring Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan Brown Sugar explores a relationship between friends since childhood, a magazine editor and a hip-hop record executive, who stumble into romantic territory.
Co-presented with Fun w/ Friends and the City Parks Department.
Saturday July 30
Bringin’ in Da Spirit, (A Tribute to Nonkululeko Tyehemba) dir. by Rhonda Haynes, 60m, 2003, USA
Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant
Synopses: Narrated by Phylicia Rashad, Bringin' in Da' Spirit celebrates the history of the midwives, particularly Granny Midwives, in the United States from the earliest days of slavery until today.
An ImageNation x FDBA program.
Sunday, August 7
West Side Story, dir. by Steven Spielberg, 156m, 2021, USA (Outdoor Seating & Drive-in!)
Preceded by “The Noise Complaint”, 7 min., 2022, USA
and “Late Date”,3 m., 2022, USA
Location: East River Plaza, Garage Rooftop, 4th Floor, 517 E 117th St, New York, NY 10035
Synopses: An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.
Co-Presented by East River Plaza Mall.
Saturday, August 6
Neptune Frost, directed by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams, 105m, 2021, US, Rwanda, FR, CA
Preceded by “A Playlist for Doomsday”, directed by Craig Hunter, 7 m, 2022, USA
Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant
Synopses: In this Afrofuturist musical, a group of escaped coltan miners forms an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective in the hilltops of Burundi. They soon attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime that's exploiting the region's natural resources -- and its people.
An ImageNation x FDBA program.
Thursday, August 11 - A Soul Train Tribute to Freedom
Academy Award-Winner Judas and the Black Messiah dir. by Shaka King, 126m, 2021, USA
Location: Marcus Garvey Park Amphitheater, 18 Mt. Morris Park W, New York, NY 10027
Synopses: Featuring DJ Stormin Norman, the Soul Train Tribute -- arguably the hottest Jam in the park for 10 years -- celebrates the soundtrack of American social movements with a tribute to Freedom Songs from the Soul Train Era performed by Sample Sale! Enjoy the music and then watch Judas and the Black Messiah. In this award winning historic drama Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), a young, charismatic activist, becomes Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party - putting him directly in the crosshairs of the government, the FBI, and the Chicago Police.
Co-presented with Injoy Enterprises.
Saturday, August 13
The Man by the Shore (A Tribute to Michelle Materre)
dir. by Raoul Peck, 106m, 1993, France/Canada/Haiti/Germany
Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant
Synopses: An imaginative girl (Jennifer Zubar) escapes the horrors of living in dictator Francois Duvalier's 1960s Haiti.
This ImageNation x FDBA program is co-presented with Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival.
Wednesday, August 17
The New York Premiere of African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey dir. by Roy T. Anderson, 85m, 2021, USA
Location: Marcus Garvey Park Amphitheater, 18 Mt. Morris Park W, New York, NY 10027
Synopses: Narrated by Keith David, African Redemption presents the life of Jamaican civil rights activist Marcus Garvey and his fight for the equality of Black people worldwide.
Co-Presenters: Black Star Line Films, Jazzmobile | SUMMERFEST, and HARLEM WEEK
Saturday, August 20 - ImageNation Celebrates Harlem Week!
You're Watching Video Music Box
dir. by Nas, 92m, 2021, USA
Location: St. Nicholas Park - St. Nicholas Ave and 135th Street on the Great Hill.
Presented in partnership with Harlem Week, join us for the untold story of the world’s longest running video show, Video Music Box. A hip hop mainstay since 1983, VMB gave a platform to artists like Jay-Z, Nas and Mary J. Blige before they hit it big. Host Ralph McDaniels’ archives — amassed over 40 nearly years — reveal the show’s importance to numerous big-name musicians, as well as to the kids that grew up watching.
Sunday, August 21
Encanto, dir. by Jared Bush, 102m, 2021, USA (Outdoor Seating & Drive-in!)
Location: East River Plaza, Garage Rooftop, 4th Floor, 517 E 117th St, New York, NY 10035
Synopses: Join us for giveaways and a DJ before this special screening of Encanto! In this animated feature, a Colombian teenage girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers.
Co-Presented by East River Plaza Mall.
Thursday, August 25
Drumline, dir. by Charles Stone III, 111m, 2002, USA
Location: Herbert Von King Park, Marcy Ave., Tompkins Ave., bet. Greene Ave. and Lafayette Ave.
Synopses: Starring Nick Cannon and Zoe Saldaña, Drumline brings the world of "show-style" marching bands (popular at traditionally black, Southern colleges) to the big screen for the first time when a band director recruits a Harlem street drummer to play at a Southern university. The story was inspired by the high school drumline experiences of executive producer/executive music producer Dallas Austin.
Co-presented with Fun w/ Friends and the City Parks Department.
Saturday, August 27
Forty Year-Old Version, dir. by Radha Blank, 123m, 2020, USA
Preceded by a talk with director Radha Blank and ImageNation founder Moikgantsi Kgama and the short film “One Step At a Time”, 8:30 m, 2022, USA
Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant
Synopses: Radha is a down-on-her-luck NY playwright, who is desperate for a breakthrough before 40. Reinventing herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime, she vacillates between the worlds of Hip Hop and theater in order to find her true voice.
An ImageNation x FDBA program.
Sunday, August 28, 2pm to 10pm
Black Anime Con, varied artists, 145m, 2021, USA
Location: Herbert Von King Park, Marcy Ave., Tompkins Ave., bet. Greene Ave. and Lafayette Ave.
Synopses: Celebrating the Black presence in anime, ImageNation’s Black Anime Con will feature CosPlay, Anime Market, Japanese Soul fusion food, film screenings and more.
Visit blackanimecon.com
Co-presented with the City Parks Department.
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Becoming Frederick Douglass, directed by Stanley Nelson, 90m, 2022, USA
This Special Advance Screening will be preceded by a talk with director Stanley Nelson and Professor Natasha Lightfoot, Columbia University, Department of History.
Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant
Synopses: Using Frederick Douglass’ own words, this documentary film tells the story of how a man born and raised in slavery became one of the most prominent elder statesmen and powerful voices for freedom in America.
This ImageNation x FDBA program is co-presented with Firelight Films.
Saturday, September 17
Wax Print!, dir. by Aiwan Obinyan, 98m, 2018, UK
Preceded by a discussion with textile artists curated and moderated by Harlem Needleworks founder Michelle Bishop featuring featuring Moctar Yara, Owner, Yara African Fabrics, LLC; Oluwaseyi Awoyomi textile artist and protege of Chief Nike Okundaye and the late Twins Seven Seven.
Location: 117th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd.
Time: Film starts at 7PM or as soon as its dark enough outside.
Synopses: From village to cotton field, from mill to market, the story of how one fabric came to symbolize the struggle of a continent and its people.
ImageNation x FDBA program co-presented with Harlem Needle Works.