FILM
LOVE YOU MADLY
Running time approx 22:00, Brooklyn, NY, Currently in Production
Love you Madly is an animated, experimental short documentary film shaped by the encounters and conversations with Mr. Steve Cannon — a playwright, mentor, poet, and retired professor — who was a fixture of the Lower East Side art scene since the 1960s, until his passing in 2019.
The film was conceived during boisterous conversations between the director and Steve on his couch, located on the second floor of his East Third Street apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, also known as A Gathering of the Tribes, and was initiated during her fellowship with the UnionDocs Collaborative Studio in 2016. This film is a work-in-progress, with an anticipated release date of December 2024.
**A version of Love You Madly was on view at the Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept as part of the Steve Cannon / A Gathering of the Tribes installation, of which Williams had the honor of collaborating closely with the curators in designing. On the occasion of the opening weekend of the Biennial, Williams also designed an expanded cinema, site-specific immersive sound performance featuring audio recordings and a live score from the film, programmed with the A Gathering of the Tribes: Marathon Poetry Reading showcasing 100 poets over 2 days
SCREENINGS
2016 UnionDocs Preview in the Park: Just to Get By, Farm on Kent, Brooklyn, NY
2017 Sit Beside Me? Between Author and Other, Lipani Gallery, New York, NY
2019 Landscape Art Program, UnionDocs x Elsewhere, Brooklyn, NY
2019 The One and Only Steve Cannon: A Celebration of Life, St. Mark’s Church, New York, NY
2022 A Gathering of the Tribes Marathon Reading, Expanded Cinema program, Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2022 A Gathering of the Tribes / Steve Cannon Installation @ the Whitney Biennial: Quite As it’s Kept 2022, New York, NY
Running time 18:00, Brooklyn, NY 2016
In response to the murders perpetrated by police of unarmed black and brown women, men and children, the Ase Dance Theatre Collective, led by founder and choreographer Adia Whitaker, prepare a performance as a form of both healing and resistance — empowering their community and passing lessons of strength to their youth.
Co-directors: Beata Calinska + Sarah Jacobson
Director of Photography: Tracie Dawn Williams.
SCREENINGS
2016 UnionDocs Preview in the Park: Just to Get By, Farm on Kent, Brooklyn, NY
2017 International Documentary Film Festival Visions du Reel, Nyon, Switzerland - World Premiere
2017 BAMcinemaFest Independent Film Festival, Brooklyn, NY - US Premiere
2017 BAMcinematek Movies with the View, Brooklyn, NY
2017 International Film Festival Cine Migrante, Buenos Aires, Argentine - Argentine Premiere
2017 NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2018 Polish Seattle Film Festival, Seattle, WA
2018 Polish Film Festival LA, Los Angeles, CA
2018 International Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland
2018 NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2018 New York Polish Film Festival, New York, NY
2018 New York City Independent Film Festival, New York, NY
2018 The Best of UnionDocs Spring Celebration, Brooklyn, NY
2018 7 Dudley Cinema Program | Beyond Baroque Arts Center, Venice, CA
2018 Cyprus International Film Festival (CYIFF), Paphos, Cyprus
2018 New York African Diaspora International Film Festival, New York City, NY
2019 Have K(NO!)w Fear: A Bluessical, ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA
AWARDS
2018 Best Documentary Film, Talca International Film Festival, Talca, Chile
2018 Jury Special Distinction, New York Polish Film Festival, New York, NY
2018 Best Direction in a Short Documentary, CYIFF, Paphos, Cyprus
2019 Best New Media Award, NewFilmmakers LA, Los Angeles, CA
ATTACK WARNING
Running time 2:48, Brooklyn, NY 2014
The inspiration for creating this film was drawn from my experiences photographing the Occupy Wall Street movement, as well as a direct response to a court case that was taking place at the time involving a female protester who was charged with assaulting a male police officer. Her claim: self defence. She testified in court that while attempting to clear an area of protesters, the male police officer lifted her from behind and in doing so grabbed her right breast. As a knee-jerk reaction, she inadvertently elbowed him in the eye. I began to think about how intimate protest situations are, the expectations and roles played by both protesters and police, the hierarchy of power, and the fine line between violence and sex and pleasure and pain. When creating this piece I worked with footage from my archives and appropriated imagery from the internet.
SCREENINGS
2014 Slidefest, International Center of Photography (ICP), New York, NY
2015 EXTRA TASTY, ICP, LIC Studios, New York, NY
2015 OPEN SHOW NYC, Videology, Brooklyn, NY
2016 MAMA LOVEY'S FILM SALON, The Cellar @ Finborough Arms, London, UK
2018 IV Festival de Video nodoCCS, Caracas, Venezuela
2019 IV Festival de video nodoCCS en Art Banchel, Madrid, Spain
ABOVE THE HORIZON
Running time 4:14, Brooklyn, NY 2019
Created entirely from found footage, Above the Horizon questions the power of suggestion in a country divided by the understanding of truth. This film has no sound.
SCREENINGS
2019 Everyone Is Asleep But Me, The Collective Art Tank, Asbury Park, NJ
2019 5 Years of Live Soundtrack, Kinoskop Fest, Belgrade, Serbia
2022 re·boot(,) \ ˈrē-ˌbüt, Studio Theatre Gallery, Edison, NJ