TO KNOW HER IS TO LOVE HER

2025–2026, USA, Switzerland, Senegal, UK, Nigeria, 87 min.
In English and Wolof with English subtitles | Format: Digital

November 7 & 11 | TO KNOW HER IS TO LOVE HER centers the interior lives of Black women and femmes through stories of motherhood, healing, identity, illness, memory, embodiment, and self-definition. Across documentary, narrative, and experimental forms, these films reject singular portrayals in favor of complexity, vulnerability, pleasure, ritual, and joy. Together, they offer an expansive portrait of Black femme experience rooted in resilience, care, transformation, and the radical work of defining oneself.

PROGRAM

DËMM

2025, dir. Aida Captijn, Switzerland, Senegal, 19 min., In Wolof with English subtitles / Format: Digital
A grieving teenager is drawn into a mysterious community of soul-eating women undergoing transformation.  

DIRECTION OF SUNLIGHT

2026, dir. Satarie Bennett, USA, 14 min., In English / Format: Digital
A mother revisiting her postpartum anxiety sends a tender message of resilience to her child.  

SOMATIQ BLACK: NECI

2026, dir. Olamma Oparah, USA, 9 min., In English / Format: Digital
A cyclical journey of memory and spiritual time travel encourages young Black women to reclaim their self-worth.  

STILL, MOVING

2026, dir. Dion Hesson, UK, 18 min., In English / Format: Digital
Archival footage captures the shifting dynamics between a pioneering ballet dancer and her daughter.  

H. P. V.

2026, dir. Kiah Clingman, USA, 17 min., In English / Format: Digital
Navigating the physical toll of endometriosis and HPV, a woman takes desperate measures to find empathy.  

WHAT’S IN A NAME

2025, dir. Lotanna Ogbuefi, USA, UK, Nigeria, 10 min., In English / Format: Digital
Hand-painted animation uncovers erased histories of women in the director’s Igbo lineage.


The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu

SHOWTIMES

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 5:00 P.M. & WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 6:00 P.M.