parallel events

 
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hair in the gate

January 2017 will mark years of Parallel hosting HAIR IN THE GATE (HITG) regular international film screening and DJ Music Mixers at Marvin Restaurant in Washington DC's historic U Street neighborhood. We present dynamic experimental, animated, narrative and documentary short films from a diverse set of themes including: Arab Science Fiction, New Latino Films, South African Fashion, Black British Shorts, South Asian Animation, African Diaspora Women's Films and Social Justice Documentary. And we focus on films by emerging voices many of HITG film have gone onto be selected at major international film festivals.

 

district riots

As part of Art All Night: Nuit Blanche DC, Parallel Film Collective in 2014 and 2015, curated DISTRICT RIOTS, experimental art and music pop-up and in 2015, the theme was centered on historical and contemporary works on Social Justice and Social Change. In Summer 2016, we are partnering with the historic Embassy Row Hotel in DuPont Circle to present a seasonal installation of District Riots and pop-up events.

 

above the line

In partnership with Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema, Parallel presents Above The Line series featuring films by and about women and marginalized communities plus filmmaker discussions exclusively at Atlantic Plumbing Cinema. Above The Line presents regular Washington DC premieres including of the critically acclaimed Breaking a Monster about a trio of 7th graders from Brooklyn who go from busking in Times Square to a $1.8M record deal. BREAKING A MONSTER reveals Unlocking the Truth's unlikely initiation into the music industry.

 

ARRAY Releasing

As Founding Members of L.A. Film Festival award-winning ARRAY Releasing formerly AFFRM (African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement), we are proud to be the local distributor of ARRAY films including South African film Ayanda directed by Sara Blecher and Liberian migrant tale Out of My Hand by Japanese director Takesha Fukunaga. In Spring 2016, we released the debut film by Amanda Marsalis Echo Park co-written, produced and starring Anthony Okungbowa. 

 
 
 
 

parallel films

 

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dj's, dance & deities

Currently at the pre-production stage, DJ's, DANCE & DEITIES is a documentary focused on the relationship between traditional African and South Asian religions and cultures, contemporary Underground House Music and Diaspora identities. This documentary will include interviews with House Music innovators in the U.S. and the U.K. along with footage from the Underground House Music scene and cultural performances from Yoruba-Atlantic, Hindu and Sikh religious communities.  DJ's, DANCE & DEITIES will comparatively explore the role of the DJ to that of a traditional drummer who uses music as a means of spiritually transforming the dancer within the sacred space of ritual. What this film seeks to undercover is how a blending of traditional spiritual music with contemporary electric sounds by Underground House Music DJ’s, reshapes the secular venue of a nightclub or party into a sacred space of self-expression for communities often marginalized in the larger society based on racial, religious, cultural and/or sexual identities.  

connecting people through film