I Is a Long Memoried Woman

Directed by Frances-Anne Solomon

United Kingdom, 1990 (fiction, 50 minutes, colour, English)

Film Description:
"Adapted from the award-winning book of poems by Guyanese writer Grace Nichols, this extraordinary video chronicles the journey of the unnamed African woman from her homeland to slavery in the Caribbean. It interweaves an original music score and fantastic choreography to tell this evocative first person narrative, which culminates in a personal liberation."
-- francesannesolomon.com (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by:	Ingrid Lewis, Frances-Anne Solomon
Based on:	I is a Long Memoried Woman, a book by Grace Nichols
Produced by:	Ingrid Lewis, Frances-Anne Solomon, Gary Tuck, David Wilkinson
Principal Cast:	Adjoa Andoh, Leonie Forbes
Film Editing:	Allen Charlton
Music:	Dominique Le Gendre
Production Company:	Leda Serene Films

(sources)

Quote about I Is a Long Memoried Woman

"As film-maker, [Frances-Anne] Solomon takes certain key ideas from the words and phrases in the collection [I Is A Long Memoried Woman by Grace Nichols], such as travel in space, and memory, and spirit, in order to release the potential inherent in the poetry. She further intensifies these through the camera's focus on the Black body. This body, as the film progresses, takes on a chameleon-like expressive force as it combines with other images and sounds. The word 'is' as in the creole construction 'I is' is accessed for its sense of embodiment of all women, a kind of 'essence' of the female spirit that the poem uses in its movement across time as the speaker becomes every African Caribbean woman who is the product of enslavement and enforced exile."
-- Jean Antoine-Dunne (source)

Bibliography for I Is a Long Memoried Woman

Brief Sections of Journal Articles

Antoine-Dunne, Jean. "Words Are Not Enough." Journal of West Indian Literature 25, no. 2 (2017). (pp. 53-54)

Web Sites about I Is a Long Memoried Woman

"IMDb: I Is a Long Memoried Woman." Internet Movie Database, Inc. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193237/reference.