“Black Joy” Film Fest Bids Farewell To Former Stetson

“Who would have ever thought I’d be back in here watching a film?” asked Tracey Massey, in a hushed whisper, in the back row of a film screening at the former Stetson Branch library building in the soon-to-be-demolished Dixwell Plaza.

On the projector played ​“Black Joy,” a musical short film by Kolton Harris, which tells the story of a group of Black students in detention who find pride and celebration in their Blackness through song and dance. 

“I came to this library 40 years ago as a child growing up in this neighborhood. It is here where we learned the first stories of Black joy. Here’s where we read books about Martin Luther King Jr., where we heard the first Michael Jackson song, the first Nina Simone song. We learned about Malcolm X. All of those stories generated out of this library.”

“It was joy. It was magic. [Harris] is reminding us of that. It was really just like it is in his film,” said Massey.

“Black Joy” was the first film Thursday night to be featured at BITE, which stands for Black Haven Independent Theater and Entertainment, a three-day popup of storytelling, film screenings, and community discussions hosted by Black Haven.

The series serves to bid farewell to the former Stetson Branch library building, which has been a place of community gatherings for over 50 years. Later this year, the building will be torn down and redeveloped by ConnCORP as part of the new ConnCAT Place on Dixwell. (The Stetson Library now operates out of a new two-story space in the rebuilt Q House community center right across the street at 197 Dixwell.)

The event kicked off on Thursday at 4 p.m. with a filmmakers lab on screenwriting and directing with multidisciplinary storyteller and musician Kolton Harris, who earned the Audience Favorite award at the 2021 Black Haven Film Festival. Then at 5 p.m. was a screening of three of Harris’s short films: Black Joy, Nightmare, and The Cure. Audience members were invited to discuss the film in a Q&A session immediately following the screening. 

Friday evening, BITE will screen 1985 film KUSH Groove and subsequently host a roundtable discussion on Black representation in film through the ages. And Saturday, BITE and the Stetson Branch library will host the finale event ​“Stetson Stories,” featuring live performances, open mic storytelling, recollections and goodbyes to the former Stetson Library building.

The entryway to the Dixwell Avenue building was decorated with purple spotlights, mimicking the cinematic lighting design of movie theaters. Indoors, the air was rich with the smell of buttery popcorn, sold among other concessions at the back of the theatre. Several dozen chairs were set up facing a projector screen, which was flanked by two large speakers.

Along the walls was a timeline of the Iibrary events throughout the years, with dated photographs showing city officials like Stetson Branch Manager Diane Brown and former Beaver Hills Alder and current Democratic mayoral candidate Shafiq Abdussabur. Many attendees took time to peruse the photographs before taking their seats for the screening, which began just before 6 p.m.

Around 50 community members came out for the event, including Angela Watley, who remembered when the library first opened half a century ago. 

Nine‑, 10‑, and 11-year olds Neváe, Amayah, and Santana, best friends and students at Sāhge Academy, were eager to talk to Harris after the event. They asked many questions about how he found actors to be in his films, and even volunteered to act in future films.

The event even brought people from out of town, like Conn College junior and film student Joaquín Morales, who took the train in from New London. And photographer Anthony Artis, who said he came in for the event from Queens because he loves to support Black independent artistry.

In opening remarks on Thursday, BITE principal organizer and Black Haven founder Salwa Abdussabur said that she grew up in the old Stetson Branch library, and that in many ways, it is where Black Haven got started. Appreciation for the space’s history was among the reasons to organize the event as a goodbye to the library.

“This project was a partnership between the city Arts & Cultural Department, the library, as well as ConnCORP.” Abdussabur pointed to the models of the new development hung up on the wall, saying that she believes the space will become a ​“cultural epicenter.”

“But I also wanted to give the community an opportunity to commemorate and say farewell to this building,” Abdussabur said.

Harris’s three films focused on themes of Black liberation, solidarity, and revolution. Throughout the question and answer session, he spoke about the importance of cultivating strong relationships with peers both in the creative and non-creative realms. Without these vital relationships, Harris said many of his projects would have cost much more to create. By fostering strong connections with actors, local businesses, and other creators, he was able to realize his visions without breaking the bank.

At one moment, nine-year-old Neváe mentioned that the teacher in the film looked a lot like Harris, and asked if it was him. He joked about hiring a lookalike, but then admitted to casting himself.

“We’ve got to give a nod to Issa Rae. We’ve got to give a nod to Spike Lee, of course. We see this happen. When you have films and filmmakers, we get to be in our own stories, and I think that’s really cool,” said Abdussabur.

Harris echoed her sentiment, adding that as an actor growing up, he was often denied roles based only on his skin tone. He said he was disappointed by the constant rejection in those years. 

“And then by God’s grace, I realized I can actually make a world, and play in it, and bring my other friends. If you have that ability, you can create a whole space for people to be a part of,” said Harris.

Watch the three screened films below. RSVP for the upcoming free events here.