how the blood blooms (2020) - conceived, directed, and filmed by Chibueze Crouch

Featured performers: Uzo Nwankpa, Rhodessa Jones, Gabriele Christian, KaliMa Amilak, Randy Jordan, Ernest “Mali” Andrews, and Chibueze Crouch.

This is my first film, created during the 2019-2020 Onye Ozi Fellowship administered by Afro Urban Society, a dance collective in Oakland. Onye Ozi convened 16 African-descended artists from across the Diaspora to dialogue, create work, and collaborate. We focused on the relationships between Black peoples, especially among those based within and outside of America. We spent 10 months exploring the fissures, commonalities, tensions, differences, and joys we share as Diasporic peoples, culminating in a group show. Due to the pandemic, we shifted from an in-person presentation to a Zoom showing of video/film. In my contribution, I examined the historical, cultural, metaphysical, and spiritual connections between Afro-Diasporic folks. Using original poetry and film, I asked: how do our cultures diverge and converge? How do our respective wounds differentiate and bind us together? How can these wounds be portals to each other? How does the blood bloom across generations into creations we could never fathom?