Screening 06: Tuesday, April 5th, 7:00pm
@ The Woodward Theater (1404 Main St, Cincinnati, OH 45202)
Doors open at 6:00. Screening starts at 7:00. Please note, the theater can hold 250 people, with 150 chairs, and the rest standing room only.
Cincinnati Goddamn (2014) April Martin and Paul Hill
This feature-length documentary is about police brutality, institutional and anti-black racism, and the power of grassroots activism in Cincinnati, Ohio. The film focuses on the murders of Roger Owensby Jr. and Timothy Thomas at the hands of Cincinnati Police. Set against the backdrop of a successful economic boycott and a federal investigation into the city’s policing practices, this poignant and powerful story of injustice is told through news reports, first-person accounts and cinema verité footage of the surviving families’ long-suffering battle for justice.
The film is unapologetically candid. “Cincinnati Goddamn” creates a platform to discuss the state executions of Black men by police and gives voice to the families who have suffered in silence and have been let down by the judicial system. In addition to laying bare the emotional toll that the deaths of Roger Owensby Jr. and Timothy Thomas took on their families, “Cincinnati Goddamn” details the tactics used by Cincinnati’s grassroots activist community to implement an economic boycott, the likes of which the city and country had never seen before. Alongside the boycott, the Cincinnati Black United Front, a coalition of political organizations and activists, was able to work with the ACLU, the city of Cincinnati and the Department of Justice to craft and implement new policies and procedures that drastically reformed the police department and created a model of reform for police departments throughout the United States in cities such as New Orleans and Oakland.
“Cincinnati Goddamn” not only highlights injustice, but also inspires people to action. The filmmakers hope that this body of work transcends the city limits of Cincinnati to reach people nationally and internationally that are fighting for the dignity of communities who are over-policed, victimized by the justice system,
TRT: 105 Minutes
April Martin and Paul Hill in attendance!
April Martin is a femme identified, unapologetically BLACK, hella QUEER Art(ivist). She uses her artistic talents as a documentary filmmaker and photographer to honor Black people in all their humanity- magic, beauty, trauma, hope, fears, joy, resilience, and brilliance. She recently completed her first feature length documentary, Cincinnati Goddamn, a provocative film about black grassroots organizing, police brutality, corruption and institutional racism in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to Cincinnati Goddamn, Martin has created other short documentaries with a range of subject matter that includes the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, young women’s health in underprivileged communities, the Kerry James Marshall’s Rythm Mastr Exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts, as well as photographing the radical #SayHerName Liberated Chest Action reclaiming a powerful African tradition of bare-chested protest, Black women and girls shut down San Francisco's financial district for several hours during the morning commute. April is currently in production on a short music documentary about the band Rev. Sekou and the Holy Ghost and a photo portrait series of black activists around the country.When April isn’t behind the camera, she is fighting for the liberation and of black folks through organizing and direct action campaigns. As a member of black.seed; a leaderful, consensus-based collective of Black people who believe in the liberation and celebration of all Black People, she has worked on various grassroots campaigns around gentrification, state violence and the well-being of black trans women. On the recent MLK holiday, in a radical display of solidarity and the spirit of MLK, black.seed shutdown the Bay Bridge as a show of resistance to a system that continues to oppress Black, Queer, Brown, Indigenous and other marginalized people throughout the Bay Area.April has been awarded a Puffin Foundation Grant, the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Wexner Center for the Arts New Media Artist Award and has received fellowships from Northwestern University and C-Span Television. In addition, she has been awarded artist residencies at the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Headlands Center for the Arts. April is divides her time between West Oakland, CA and the Midwest.
Paul Hill is an award winning filmmaker, editor and sound mixer. He joined the Wexner Center's Film/Video Studio Program in 1996 where he edits with world renowned filmmakers and video artists. He also makes his own documentaries. In 2002 he completed Myth of Father, a personal documentary about his transgendered father, which has been screened and won awards at festivals worldwide and is distributed by Frameline in San Francisco. Through the Film/Video Studio Program Paul has worked on hundreds of projects from filmmakers and video artists including Sadie Benning, Jennifer Reeder, Barbara Hammer, William E. Jones, and Shimon Attie. He was an editor for The Brandon Teena Story, which won Best Documentary awards at several festivals, including the Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals. He was a contributing editor for the Primetime Emmy winning documentary, A Lion in the House by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar. When he’s not busy making movies or editing someone else’s, he’s usually found watching one while cuddling with his two lovable west-highland terriers.
