cinéSPEAK’s 2018 season kicks off with Ai Weiwei doc ‘Human Flow’

Meet cinéSPEAK, a five-year-old, volunteer-run “alt-cinema group” that hosts public screenings in nontraditional spaces and is most known for its local support of Spike Lee’s #BoycottTheOscars movement.

The organization uses “cinema as a gathering tool to spark dialogue and new relationships amongst neighbors,” wrote founder and Director Sarah Mueller, who also volunteers as a core staffer for BlackStar Film Festival, in an email.

“Boycott the Oscars PHL: On Race, Honoring Culture and Being Good Neighbors,” held from July through October of 2017, convened longstanding residents and newcomers in gentrifying Brewerytown at screenings of films created by “important non-conforming individuals in history who have paved the cinematic way,” Mueller said.

For its 2018 season, the group will host two one or two screenings per month — programming that is both “advocacy-driven and community-centered.”

Two of this season’s events have been announced: a season kickoff party and fundraiser on Friday, Feb. 2, and a screening of artist and activist Ai Weiwei’s “Human Flow” on Thursday, Feb. 8.

“Human Flow” examines the global refugee crisis across 23 countries.

The subject matter fits with cinéSPEAK’s goals of sparking conversation about societal challenges while enacting change at the community level.

“We’re moving to walk the line of being both proactive + reactive to the sociopolitical climate of each day,” Mueller said. “We want to both produce programming that is open and flexible enough to respond to social issue-based conversations that arise — locally, nationally and abroad, creating space for people to know one another + engage in these conversations + organizing at our city-level, while also assisting in the dictation + direction of those conversations + movements.”

“We want to challenge our audience to demand justice — not just on-screen but off + in the streets, as well,” she said.

cinéSPEAK has fiscal sponsorship under CultureTrust Greater Philadelphia. Local groups that have offered financial support or served as production partners include Jewish Voice for Peace, The Painted Bride, Scribe Video Center, Leeway Foundation and PhillyCAM.

In the next few months, Mueller said she expects to hire part-time staffers, build the group’s media literacy- and production-focused Youth Crew program and plan more themed events — including a socially conscious party on Oscars night.