Black Audio Film Collective at PAMM presents a selection of films characterized by an interest in the diasporic African experience, memory, and new modes of representation. This evening, PAMM will screen Mysteries of July (1991) by Reece Auguiste, and the film will be introduced by Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, writer and filmmaker.

Reece Auguiste
Mysteries of July, 1991
Color video transferred from 16 mm film, with sound, 54 min.
Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery

Mysteries of July investigates a number of deaths that occurred under police custody in Britain, revealing the pain of grieving when the factual cause of demise is repressed as a state secret. Organized around an elaborate funerary tableau, the film enacts an intricate ritual of cinematic mourning, relying heavily on symbolism to evoke the emotional. 

Jason Fitzroy Jeffers is a Miami-based writer and filmmaker from Barbados. As a journalist, Jason has written covered arts, lifestyle and local politics in South Florida for publications such as The Miami Herald and Ocean Drive.

As a filmmaker, he wrote and produced the award-winning short film “Papa Machete,” which explores the esoteric martial art of Haitian machete fencing. The film world premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and had its U.S. premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It has since screened at more than 30 film festivals around the world and has garnered coverage from NPR, Al Jazeera and the Associated Press. The film is currently featured on NationalGeographic.com. Most recently, he produced two short films selected to Sundance 2016: “Swimming in Your Skin Again” and “Dolfun.”

Jason is also one of the founders of Third Horizon, a Miami-based collective of Caribbean filmmakers, musicians and artists. The collective recently staged the inaugural edition of the Third Horizon Caribbean Film Festival, which aims, through screenings and workshops, to celebrate and empower the new creative voices emerging from the region.