*Photo from Ebony Goddess: Queen of IlêAiyê*

In conjunction with the current exhibition En Mas’: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean, Musuem of the African Diaspora (MoAD) and the SF Latino Film Festival present Jump Up: The En Mas’ Film Series, six weeks of documentaries and features portraying the magical impact of Carnival in various places in the African Diaspora (Trinidad,  Brazil, Guadeloupe, New Orleans, Cape Verde and New York). Each program has a strong focus on the music, performers and the flamboyant attire so central to the celebrations including calypso and soca of Trinidad, Salvador’s blocos afros, Guadeloupe’s zouk, Mardi Gras’ Black Indian clubs, the transgender paraders on São Vicente island and Brooklyn’s Caribbean saturated Labor Day festivities.  

‍Ó Pai,  Ó! (Monique Gardenberg, 96 minutes, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 2007)

On the first day of the extraordinary Carnival in Salvador, Bahia, a variety of characters interact.  Among the personalities are a stingy evangelical landlord, an auto mechanic, a philandering husband,  a transgender neighborhood fixture,  a Baiana selling acarajé and an expatriate returning for Carnival.  Ó pai, ó - slang for “dig that” - is alternatively a bawdy comedy and a social drama with music and dance numbers set in the lively colonial district of Pelourinho starring Lazaro Ramos with a guest appearance by singer Virginia Rodrigues.  

‍Ebony Goddess: Queen of IlêAiyê (Carolina Moraes-Liu and Chung Liu, 20 minutes, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 2010)  

This documentary short follows three women competing to be the carnival queen of Ilê Aiyê, a prominent Afro-Brazilian group in Salvador, Bahia with an all-Black membership. The selection is based on Afro-centric notions of beauty.

Co-Presented by the San Francisco Latino Film Festival