Richmond Free Press: ACTION Film Festival features 3 new works by local artists
The film “Bleach” is one of three to be featured during the inaugural Sitelines BLM Film Festival.
Originally published by the Richmond Free Press
by George Copeland Jr.
October 5, 2023
The sights, stories and histories of the city of Richmond are the focus of a new film festival running from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
The ACTION Film Festival will showcase three films, “Still Fighting,” “Bleach” and “Break,” written by and featuring local creatives and set at historic locations and landmarks across Richmond.
“It has been a rich learning opportunity to gain experience in arts administration, development, producing, and the art of filmmaking,” said Omiyemi Green, who directed “Bleach.”
The festival is the culmination of three years of work by Sitelines BLM, started in 2020 by the Cadence Theater Company and Ms. Green, who serves on Cadence’s board of directors. The idea came in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement and the need for inclusivity it revealed, she said.
“In devising Sitelines BLM I responded to a need both within Cadence as well as the community at a time when both entities were asking themselves important questions around how to be most impactful and of service,” Ms. Green said. “Sitelines BLM is our response to those questions.”
Margarette Joyner wrote and directed the short film “Still Fighting,” which traces the long struggle against racial injustice across multiple conflicts and generations in a short film set within and around the Virginia War Memorial.
The Richmond Slavery Reconciliation Statue and the Historic Westover Plantation are the sites for a story about multiple perspectives of the same situation, communication and reconciliation in “Break,” written by, directed and starring D.L. Hopkins.
Finally, “Bleach,” written by Brittany Fisher and directed by Ms. Green, dramatizes a group discussion about staying safe amid rising racial tension. The film is set at the Rumors of War statue at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Shockoe Hill District African Burial Ground during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.
The festival also will feature a question and answer session with the writers after the films. Options for future festivals are being explored, according to Ms. Greene.
The event is free and open to the public, though visitors will have to pay a fee to park at the VMHC. Parking is available at Kensington Avenue and across from the VMFA parking garage from North Sheppard Street or Stuart Avenue.
Darlene M. Johnson contributed to this article.