Blackness and the Powers of Horror: Film, Performance, Poetry, Criticism

February 28, 2019 - 6:30pm

Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre, Cathedral of Learning Basement 

How can the vocabulary of the horror genre—expressed across the arts—speak about blackness and black experience? The Center for African American Poetry and Poetics, the University of Pittsburgh Humanities Center, and Romero Lives! present an evening of performance, film, poetry, and discussion about the relationship between blackness and the horror genre, convened as part of Romero Lives!, the year-long celebration of Pittsburgh filmmaker George A. Romero’s life and legacy on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his landmark horror film, Night of the Living Dead

Night was a milestone not just for horror, but for the representation of black characters in genre film, and it has been a touchstone for black filmmakers, writers, and artists for the past 50 years. Our four panelists will present their own work in dialogue with Night and the larger horror genre, and will discuss issues of race, queerness, and horror. 

Featuring: 

Composer/Performance Artist, M. Lamar
Writer/Director, Zandashé Brown
Founder, Graveyard Shift Sisters/Producer of Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, Ashlee Blackwell
 

Presented by the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics, University of Pittsburgh Humanities Center, and Romero Lives!