In this Roundtable we are joined by Filmmaker and Innovation Doula, Nova Scott-James and elder Yoruba Priestess, Grandmother Sangoma.  

They discuss their new film that is in its crucial fundraising phase, Wild Darlings Sing the Blues (And It's A Song of Freedom). This feature-length documentary follows the Wild Darlings, queer healing art collective of black women and non-binary activists, as they embark on an epic road trip from New York to a plantation in Mississippi. Accompanied by Grandmother Sangoma and two other elders, the Darlings are tasked with harnessing their “healer within” to bless the plantation land, honor their ancestors and explore their experiences of racialized and gender-based violence. They create performance art in homage to The Blues.

The Wild Darlings approach their personal wounding through the lens of the painful legacy of slavery and set out to deepen the conversation around healing ancestral trauma. The film pays reverence to all black and queer artists that have found power in transmuting pain into creative intelligence. Bessie Smith, Prince, Little Richard, Billie Holiday... They explore how gender-bending, radical resilience and performative play help us heal and transform the trauma of our nation’s past.