BmoreArt

RoVo Monty (@RoVoMonty), a pop artist with a self-described “vogue sound,” gives the final interview, which cuts between his music video “Pretty in Pink,” featuring Kotic Couture and DDm. True to its title, the video saturates my screen with bright and neon shades, and the hypnotic drum beat and atmospheric synths make the music mesmerizing. Monty talks about the desire to be marketed for his music, his sound and work, rather than as a “token gay” artist. He discusses a lack of genuine investment and room for multidimensionality as a Black gay artist, an observation that threads all three interviews. 

Capping the weekend on Sunday, May 23 at 1 p.m. is Mom & M, a tender yet raw portrait of Elise and Nikki Richards, who live in Baltimore with their 6-year-old daughter Sansa. Directed by Baltimore filmmaker and artist Jena Burchick, Mom & M is told in part through home movies, Nikki’s poetry, and Elise’s social media, which are interpolated with the sights of Baltimore’s rainy days and row houses. 

The sound of rain, soft music, and Nikki’s compelling poetic voice is cut across interviews, video portraits, and pastel, sometimes dreary, clips of Baltimore. Together, these elements build an emotional landscape that echoes these words by Nikki when she reads them halfway through the film: “I like sad things / they remind me of cold nights.” Nikki and Elise practice radical communication with one another, and they allow us to witness this astounding ability to speak things out loud and practice gentleness even in the thick of the bad days. It is collaborative, personal, and lyrical, and as such it invites a turn inward: the film reminds me of a term my dad sometimes uses, “DocuPoem.” 

Burchick calls the project a new kind of collaborative documentary: the story is pieced together by her labor of editing, interviewing, and shooting footage, but much of it is told through the Richards family’s own creative efforts and practices of documenting life. By inviting Nikki and Elise to share their videos, music, and art, Burchick extends ownership of how the story is told. In turn, Nikki, Elise, and Sansa are active participants in crafting their narrative, and they invite us into their lives with striking vulnerability. 

Like Children of Paris, Mom & M creates a vivid and poignant portrait of modern life and artistry, built out of a unique collaboration between filmmakers and those in front of the lens.

A FEW MORE SHOUTOUTS:

• Children of Paris leads the Baltimore is Burning program on Friday, May 21 at 6 p.m., followed by The Filthiest People Alive and Into the Light: A Trip Through Baltimore Ballroom. All three films will be followed by Queer Stories shorts and a virtual Pride Party at 10:15 p.m., hosted live on Twitch.
• Mom & M screens on Sunday, May 23 at 1 p.m., and later that day at 7 p.m. is All Light, Everywhere, a film by Baltimore filmmaker Theo Anthony, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and explores surveillance technology and policing.
• Women is Losers, Lissette Feliciano’s vibrant film set in 1960s San Francisco, will close out the festival at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 27, followed by a Virtual Variety Show at 8 p.m. The line-up includes Betty O’Hellno, a queer drag artist and burlesque performer, and Becca Brooks Morrin, a DJ and production designer who worked on Strawberry Mansion (directed by Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney), which screened on MdFF’s opening night. The Closing Night Variety Show will be streamed at Union Collective for those who might want to celebrate in person.