CINEMA RED
Cinema Red is presented by Public Functionary, in partnership with the artists and collectives behind CineFilmu and Open Screen, to explore the intersection of contemporary art and cinema.
Anchored by a film installation showcase featuring work by Wasima Farah and Tiff Tran on view in PF’s main gallery from May 2 - June 6, the program also presents a series of gatherings that center emerging QTBIPOC, immigrant, and underrepresented voices in film and photography.
The program responds to ongoing conversations about the marginalization of moving-image artists, the challenges of entering exhibition contexts, and the emergence of new forms of presentation — centering artists who are navigating, or hope to navigate, these overlapping worlds.
Opening Reception:
Saturday, May 2 / 5pm - 9pm
PF Main Gallery 144
About Cinema Red: The Installation
Through archived films, light, and spatial design, Cinema Red invites audiences to move through red as a symbol of love and resistance through whimsy + memory. The exhibition takes color as both a sensorial experience and a conceptual anchor between the work of Wasima Farah and Tiff Tran.
Cinema Red asks: Where do we locate ourselves within the primary color, red?
Rooted in Minneapolis, where red carries the weight of violence, grief, and survival, the exhibition takes place in the context of the realities of bloodshed on local streets. Red becomes a site of tension, at once confronting and restorative, reflecting both the fragility of the body and the strength that runs through it. But red is also a color of intimacy and self-regard, a way of reconnecting with ourselves. The radical nature of self-love, the depth of connection through tying memories together, and the healing force of care within our communities is what inspired Cinema Red.
About The Artists
Wasima Farah is a Somali multidisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Brooklyn, New York. Her practice explores themes of mother and daughter relationships, girlhood, the complexities of being an eldest daughter, and working with primary colors within Somali motif paintings, illustrations and experimental films.
@vvsima
Tiff Tran is an interdisciplinary sculptor, prop stylist, and storyteller based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their art practice utilizes experimental filmmaking, performance art, and sculpture to create a visual language to describe poetic [sculptural] landscapes. They strive to explore and understand themes of memory and permanence through recontextualizing the form and function of everyday objects & ephemera. Influenced by their day job as a freelance prop stylist, they began to imagine an alternate universe through the lens of an archaeologist for objects of the present day.
Open Gallery Hours:
May 2 - June 6
Thurs, Fri, Sat / 2pm - 6pm
PF Main Gallery - 144
Open Screen: Photography
Thursday, May 7 / 6pm. Free.
PF Upstairs Gallery - 247
This event brings together Minnesota photographers to share works in progress and speak about the process behind them. Throughout the evening, artists will show their work and talk through the research, testing, revisions, false starts, and decisions that helped shape it.
The program will span a wide range of projects, all still in motion, and offers a chance to experience photography as something unfolding rather than fixed.
Come through if you’re a photographer, if you love photography, or if you’re curious about what goes into a project before it feels finished.
Open Screen: Film
Ajuawak Kapashesit
Martín Blanco
Uzoma Ngwu
Thursday, May 21 / 6pm. Free.
PF Upstairs Gallery - 247
Open Screen: Film creates space to dig into process with 3 talented local filmmakers. Spanning genre, style and stories, Ajuawak Kapashesit, Martín Blanco and Uzoma Ngwu all have deep experience and insight into filmmaking, from ideation to distribution. In one night, all 3 filmmakers will share work samples, present their process and connect with the audience through an open community conversation facilitated by Ryan Stopera.
Gathering Led by Mamá Papaya:
Together We Light The Future
Sat, May 30 / 6:30pm-9pm. Free.
PF Upstairs Gallery - 247
An intentional gathering for BIPOC filmmakers and members of our community to connect, play, and collectively dream of our futures in film and beyond.
The gathering includes interactive experiences, gifts, dinner, and opportunities to meet each other with care and mutually agreed values. We will welcome the new cohort of StorySeeds fellows who will share their ideas for their screenplays in this year’s fellowship. We hope attendees leave feeling connected, nourished, and inspired to build film futures together.
Workshop Led by TDM5:
Artist Lockdown!!
Friday, June 5 / 6pm-9pm. Free.
PF Upstairs Gallery - 247
Join us for an interactive game and discussion where artists are confined to a circle and will draw character cards that determine the privileges and skill gaps they have as they navigate creating visual art projects (e.g film, music, exhibition).
Through this unorthodox method artist groups will work together to generate ideas and find solutions to the barriers many QTBIPOC artists navigate.
Snacks and light refreshments will be provided.
