“WON’T YOU CELEBRATE WITH ME” IS ABOUT BLACK WOMAN UNITY IN AN ALTERNATIVE AFROFUTURE. THE FILM DEPICTS A SMALL COMMUNITY OF BLACK WOMEN WHO HAVE LET GO OF TECHNOLOGY, MATERIAL POSSESSION, AND CONTACT TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. THROUGH THIS ISOLATION, THEY’VE DEVELOPED AN UNBREAKABLE BOND. THE FILM ISN’T TRIUMPHANT IN THE TYPICAL SENSE; THESE YOUNG WOMEN AREN’T SHOWING THEIR CELEBRATION WITH ANY TROPHY. INSTEAD, THEY’RE CELEBRATING THAT THEY HAVE EACH OTHER AND UNDERSTAND THAT ONCE ONE HAS THAT, EVERYTHING ELSE MUST FOLLOW.

LUCILLE CLIFTON’S POEM, “WON’T YOU CELEBRATE WITH ME” SERVES AS A MANIFESTATION OF THIS CONCEPT. THE UNITY THESE WOMEN HAVE BUILT IS INDISSOLUBLE, AND BECAUSE OF ITS LACK OF ASSOCIATION WITH ANYTHING MATERIAL, IT IS PURE. THE FINAL LINE OF THE POEM, “COME CELEBRATE WITH ME THAT EVERYDAY SOMETHING HAS TRIED TO KILL ME AND HAS FAILED” CEMENTS BOTH THE UNWAVERING VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE OF BLACK WOMEN. IN MY EYES, “SOMETHING” REPRESENTS THE INSTITUTIONAL MARGINALIZATION AND OPPRESSION THAT ALL BLACK PEOPLE, BUT PARTICULARLY BLACK WOMEN HAVE EXPERIENCED IN THIS EUROCENTRIC WORLD. HOWEVER, EVEN THIS LONG STANDING, WIDE-REACHING MARGINALIZATION ISN’T ENOUGH TO KILL THE SPIRIT AND IDENTITY OF BLACK WOMEN DETERMINED TO LIVE FREE. THROUGH PURE UNIFICATION THAT SPIRIT WILL NEVER BE BROKEN AND IN SUMMARY, THAT’S WHAT THIS FILM IS SAYING.

Written, Directed, and Edited by Phillip Youmans
Produced by Stevona Elem-Rogers
Director of Photography Jackson Bein