Youth Making Queer Sci Fi and Immigrant Narratives in the Trump Era: Two Films Worth Talking About
by Kazembe Balagun
“Isn’t it astonishing what immigrants will go through to survive?” gently comments Alicia the main character in The C.O.R.E. Alicia speaks to us from the year 2032, where an evil dictator named Solomon has taken over the last remaining habitable islands on Earth, forcing the remaining queer migrants to toil and suffer brutal repressive conditions.
The film The C.O.R.E along with Echoes of Iemaya are two of latest features from the youth groups at Global Action Project (GAP) in NYC. SupaFriends, who created The C.O.R.E. is an a TLGBQ youth film collective. Youth Breaking Borders is made up of predominantly immigrant teenagers in NYC, and authored Echoes of Iemanja. The films will be released and a talkback webinar will take place online on Sept. 8th.
GAP began in 1991. While many of the young stars of these two films were not yet born, they serve as heirs of that time. It was in that year, that the first Gulf War was waged in on television sets in our living rooms, and some months after, that the entire country witnessed the police beating of Rodney King (which ultimately lead to the Los Angeles rebellion of 1992). In both instances, media was completely transformed from fantasy to reality and back again. In many ways, our current social media movements has it’s DNA from that period.
This is history that young people of Supafriends know too well and are willing to play with through the lens of what G.A.P calls Transformative Media Organizing.” That means centering the narratives of those most marginalized (Black and Brown immigrants and lgbt youth) and giving them the tools and space to tell their story.
And the results are phenomenal.
The C.O.R.E, like all great science fiction is speaking to us today, and asking how do we bring to the fore the millions of displaced migrants and equally displaced gay youth: how do we create meaning in foreign place?
The film resonates like a fire alarm when just this past month (no, not in 2032) we saw white supremacist rallies, a ban on trans people in the military, and the pardoning of a sheriff who who was recently convicted for contempt of court after failing to follow orders from a federal judge to cease from racially profiling Latinos in Arizona.
C.O.R.E with its unabashed pro-queer, pro-Black/Brown, transgender agenda echoes 1970s Lizzie Borden’s classic Born in Flames, as a convert crew of gay youth seek to overthrow the authoritarian Solomon. While also borrowing from the Star Wars trilogy in tradition of a chosen one to lead the rebellion, it also investigates the history of queerness itself. Indeed, if the sci-fi genre is looking at the present through the lens of the past, then certainly C.O.R.E’s foundation is its own alternative history of queerness. When the rebellion is hatched at an underground gay party in a basement, one cannot help but think of the experiences of that other riot, Stonewall. As there is a push to increased surveillance and monitoring of these communities, the C.O.R.E. is boldly speaking for this generation that there needs to be a move to come out of the shadows and resist.
While C.O.R.E relishes in its campiness, Echoes of Iemaya is on the other side of the pole: Sweet and earnest it views like a vegan sandwich, all the good stuff without the cheese. This story centers around Iris, a young Haitian immigrant who’s dreams of attending college are dashed by the reality of her undocumented and now controversial temporary protected status. Sandwiched by this fact and her mother’s pressure for her to become a lawyer, she seeks a new meaning through a visit of Iemaya, the Yoruba Goddess of the water and life. “You couldn’t find the beautiful things in the sea” the young goddess Iemaya beckons “That’s why you are here. You were taught how to play in the sand and now you forget how to swim. You thought you were from one, but you are from two.”
This beautiful scene reminds us of the constant pull and push of the im/migrant experience. The youth producers stated that the inspiration from the film came from a few of them reflecting on the power of cultural memory and traditions to transform reality. Seeking new life on a different shore, they are reminded of their lack of citizenship and belonging in everyday life.
In the struggle against colonialism, cultural memory wholly inspires, sustains, and institutes the material conditions for revolutions. Echoes of Iemanja resulted from a need to seek sources of strength and power beyond the conditions of the current political climate. Black history is a constant source of inspiration and guidance. — Jesus Villalba, youth media educator
The process of making a film that centered on darker toned black actors, also allowed Youth Breaking Borders participants to reflect on the process of making these films and the way cameras have historically framed and lighted black people.
Something that shocked me and was interesting for me when Jesus (media educator at GAP) said “our camera is racist, it loses focus on darker people.” I was shocked because our characters were darker and it was interesting to hear that! — Mehak Rao, Youth Breaking Borders producer of Echoes of Iemanja.
What these two films show us is that the youth today have no choice but to tell their stories, remix them, and create a map forward: for home.
Originally published at medium.com on August 28, 2017.
