“Black Nations/Queer Nations? Film screening & Talkback

Presented in partnership with the Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture – NYPL, this program celebrates 30 years since the release of Shari Frilot’s “Black Nations/Queer Nations?,” an experimental film documenting the titular conference on queer studies across the African diaspora in 1995.

Following the screenings, participate in an intergenerational discussion looking back on the film 30 years later, charting the evolution of threats that Black queer communities face today, and addressing the vital role of intergenerational collaboration within Black queer political organizing.

REGISTRATION Black on Screen: Chronicles of Black Queer Worldbuilding Tickets, Wed, Sep 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM | Eventbrite

Attendees of Chronicles of Black Queer Worldbuilding are invited to view archival materials from the In the Life Archive (ITLA), None on Record Archive, and a shorts screening from collections of Joan Jett Blakk — the lipsticked, high-heeled persona of actor Terence Smith — as she embarked on her 1992 campaign trail in drag. The evening will conclude with the documentary “Black Nations/Queer Nations?” and an intergenerational discussion looking back on the film 30 years later, charting the evolution of threats that Black queer communities face today, and addressing the vital role of intergenerational collaboration within Black queer political organizing

This series, “Black on Screen: A Century of Radical Visual Culture,” captures 100 years of local and transnational Black movement work and artistic evolution on film. Sourced from The Schomburg’s collection and others, it takes a kaleidoscopic look at Black life and expression across diasporas, rendering a range of storytelling traditions that incite and inspire Black world-building. The Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division (MIRS, pronounced “meers”) at the Schomburg Center collects and preserves audio and moving image (AMI) materials related to the experiences of people of African descent. The division has amassed nearly 400 collections, approximately 5,000 square feet, in a variety of formats, which captures the gestures and sounds of major historical, artistic and cultural moments and influencers. While the strength is the Black American holdings there is considerable Caribbean and African representation in the collection. Learn more about this division.