The career of iconic and influential poet and writer Audre Lorde is seen up until death.

A champion of civil rights, the women’s movement, and gay and lesbian liberation, Audre Lorde left an enduring legacy as poet, activist, and Black queer feminist whose work refused the demand to choose between her identities. A Litany for Survival, newly restored in 4K, follows her life from her childhood in Harlem through her fourteen-year battle with breast cancer. Recordings of Lorde reading her poetry and prose — including excerpts from her biomythography Zami — and interviews conducted during the final years of her life narrate the film. Reflections from her children, students, and contemporaries — including Adrienne Rich, Essex Hemphill, and Sonia Sanchez — add to this rich portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers and one of Black feminisms’ most essential voices.

On a half-million-dollar budget raised from grants, sponsors, and individual donors, filmmakers Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson delivered a tender, in-depth documentary of the life of the influential Black lesbian poet, mother, teacher, and activist. The film took nine years to complete; Lorde passed away in 1992, three years before its official release. Experimental feminist filmmaker Holly Fisher (Who Killed Vincent Chin?) edited the film, creating what Lorde biographer Alexis Pauline Gumbs describes as “a sonic and visual litany” drawn from vérité and archival footage alongside Lorde’s own readings.

The result is a vibrant and tender observational document of a complex life and a singular body of work — one that rises, at its heart, to Lorde’s own challenge to “envision what has not been and work with every fiber of who we are to make the reality and pursuit of that vision irresistible. -SARAH-TAI BLACK

Accessibility:

• Paradise has a wheelchair accessible washroom on site and wheelchair accessible spaces within the cinema.
• Patrons are kindly asked to wear a mask while attending this screening. Black communities continue to be disproportionately affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the structural inequities it further entrenches. KN95 and/or N95 masks will be available onsite for guests.
• Please don’t hesitate to reach out to either Black Gold or Paradise if you have additional access needs, concerns, or questions!

Doors Open 30 Minutes Before Showtime.