Black Lily Festival
to debut in Philadelphia

By Nathan Lerner
For the Times

When someone mentions a lily, it ordinarily evokes the mental image of a white flower. However, there are atypical examples of the flower, which are black in color. The imaginatively dubbed Black Lily Festival draws its name from this rare entity.
Maori Holmes, executive director of the upcoming festival, is busily preparing for the event, which is scheduled for Friday through Sunday.
"The festival’s primary purpose is to highlight underground left-of-center, non-mainstream female voices in the arts," she explained. "The women in music series did just that for over six years, providing a platform for women like Jill Scott, Floetry, Flo Brown, Goapele, and others who may not have gotten as much international attention if they hadn’t had a place to call home and feel comfortable and hone their performance skills."
Holmes works as marketing and public relations manager at the Painted Bride Art Center. So it is only natural that it will serve as the festival’s principal venue.
"The Painted Bride is our venue for screenings and workshops and panels," she said. "I’d done work with them as a programmer in the past and knew they’d be open to film."
According to Holmes, "They were first on the list for me, because the space is so unique and beautiful — just like our festival!"
"Black Lily was not a festival before. It was a women-in-music series of jam sessions, all over the world," Holmes added. "It was only about music because the founders are musicians. It was a weekly event in Philadelphia for five years at the Five Spot and ended in 2005."
Holmes described the genesis of the festival: "I did a documentary film called Scene Not Heard about women in Philadelphia’s music scene. I met Mercedes Martinez and Tracey Moore (also known as the Jazzyfatnastees), while making that film and I toured the film for over a year. In my travels, everyone seemed to know about the film and were interested in what happened to Black Lily.
"I also felt that there were so many amazing films being made by women that were overlooked by more mainstream festivals, and I wanted to have one in Philly," she added, "so I started thinking about the need for a women’s film festival in the city and brought it to the Jazzees, and they were both psyched about expanding the brand and working together. Initially we were just going to have a film festival and then we realized we had to re-insert music."
Holmes remarked, "I am excited that we are able to present Mohawk Girls, about growing up as an indigenous person outside of Montreal, and also our opening film, Counting Headz, about women in South African hip-hop. Both are East Coast premieres."
There are many of great short films, "but two of my favorite blocks are the Peace & Justice shorts and the Love & Romance shorts, she said. "We only have two concerts — Friday and Sunday — and they will be incredible for different reasons. All of our workshops and panels will be great! But I recommend registering in advance for the grant writing workshop on Sunday."
According to Holmes, "Philly is aching for more events that are multicultural in a real and defined way and not for p.r. purposes. Our event crosses so many bridges — racial, sexual, economic, artistic — and all of the organizers felt the void, so we knew it existed." ••
For more information on the Black Lily Festival, visit blacklilyfilm.org or call 215-925-9914, Ext. 15.
Nathan Lerner is the director of Davenport Communications. He welcomes feedback at culturevulture1@aol.com