About this program:

Fluid Frontiers, the fifth and final chapter in Ephraim Asili's The Diaspora Suite, explores Black Power and liberation through vignetted, unrehearsed, outdoor spoken poetry performances. Shot on the border of Detroit, MI and Windsor, ON — a region known for its associations with the Underground Railroad — local residents read from original publications of Broadside Press, a Detroit-based publisher, and the oldest Black-owned press in the United States. These moving, genuine readings speak to the history of the region, and the migration to the Canadian border. Prefaced, and then interspersed with an audio clip of Margaret Walker reading her iconic poem Harriet Tubman, Fluid Frontiers is a deeply felt celebration of the people of this region, their ancestors, and the path that led them there. 

"With its observational 16mm cinematography and its precise use of sound and music, Asili’s work is critical and speculative, listening intently to the resonances of words and gestures that span centuries and oceans."

— Ekrem Serdar, The Brooklyn Rail, November 2017

"Asili has concluded a five-part film suite that examines the African diaspora through a series of immeasurable equations: America and abroad (with films shot in Ghana and Ethiopia, as well as Brazil, Jamaica, and Canada); personal and collective history; the past and the present; imaginations and realities; and image and sound. Abandoning digital video for 16mm, Asili has developed his documentary impulse into something more spontaneous and musical, his eye attuned to the unexpected rhythms afforded by montage."

— Jesse Cumming, Cinema Scope, Fall 2017

Love what you’re watching? The Diaspora Suite is now available!
Order the compilation on vdb.org

About Ephraim Asili:

Ephraim Asili is a Filmmaker, DJ, and Traveler whose work focuses on the African diaspora as a cultural force. His films have screened in festivals and venues all over the world, including the New York Film Festival, NY; Toronto International Film Festival, Canada; Ann Arbor Film Festival, MI; San Francisco International Film Festival, CA; Milano Film Festival, Italy; International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands; MoMA PS1, NY; LAMOCA, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; and the Whitney Museum, NY. As a DJ, Asili can be heard on his radio program In The Cut on WGXC, or live at his monthly dance party Botanica. Asili currently resides in Hudson, NY, and is a Professor in the Film and Electronic Arts Department at Bard College.

Fluid Frontiers is the fifth and final film in the series entitled The Diaspora Suite, exploring Asili’s personal relationship to the African Diaspora. Shot along the Detroit River, Fluid Frontiers explores the relationship between concepts of resistance and liberation, exemplified by the Underground Railroad, Broadside Press, and artworks of local Detroit Artists. All of the poems are read from original copies of Broadside Press publications by natives of the Detroit/Windsor region, and were shot without rehearsal.

For a limited time, watch Fluid Frontiers on VDB TV.