Inspired by the work of four New York City poets, Things I Carry Into the World is an abstract meditation on the body, the feminine, the everyday realities of being young and black, and the fragile relationship between the manmade and the natural.

Filmmakers Jamil McGinnis & Pat Heywood teamed with the non-profit Urban Word NYC to work with four poets: Esther Aloba, Nkosi Nkululeko, Makayla Posely, and Trace DePass. They are all featured in the film, and the scenes are adaptations of their own poems, which you hear briefly in the opening scene. The final film is essntially moments from four separate films, crafted under the umbrella of Cynthia Manick's original poem.

The film was created as part of the seventh season of Motionpoems. Its theater premiere was at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis on October 27 and had its online premiere on NOWNESS on November 6.

Jamil McGinnis & Pat Heywood

Writing since November 2016 · 1 story contributed