Spotlight on Going to Mars

with Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster, and Chris Pattishall, moderated by Yolanda Wisher

Through intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of her poetry, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project pushes the boundaries of biographical documentaries by traveling through time and space to reveal the enduring influence of one of America’s greatest living artists and social commentators. This conversation with longtime creative partners and directors Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster (American Promise, The Changing Same) will focus on the spiritual, political, and creative process of making Going to Mars. Via the technique of call and response, they re-pattern cinematic language by incorporating improvisational and collective elements of song and story through the Afro future and the past. Ultimately, they evoke Giovanni’s wisdom that “The trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans.”