DSI Screening Possession: Film + Discussion SeriesJuly 26, 1-4pm: Atlantics (Mati Diop, 2019) This July and August, join us for Screening Possession, a free film and discussion series. This series explores the economic, political and spiritual meanings of possession through the Black independent cinema. Possession, whether phrased as a noun or a verb, marks a relationship of control between ourselves and our world. Like the main characters of Berry Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy (2008), we move through a world organized by ownership and must confront the stark boundaries between those who have and those who have not. From the gentrified hills of San Francisco to the new building sites of Dakar, the location of Mati Diop’s Atlantiques (2019), property expresses relationships of power and can become the site of resistance. But possession is not only external – we also fight to control the terms of our own bodies and spirits. In Mati Diop’s ghost story, bodies are occupied by spirits that have returned to settle debts. For the vampires of Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess (1973), spirit is surrendered to ageless bodies driven by uncontrollable appetites. Our bodies are among our most valuable possessions and the most threatened. In Naked Acts (1998), Bridgett M. Davis explores what happens when our control of our bodies is put at risk, and what it takes to regain our self-possession. For the Black filmmakers featured in this series, the films themselves are possessions in need of protection. At the same time, film exhibition might offer a counterpoint to the logics of possession – an act of sharing, a release of control that enables a collective experience. A group discussion will follow each screening. Free and open to all!Screening Possession: Film + Discussion Series Sundays, July 12 – August 2, 1 – 4 PM Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Screening Room 201Sun, Jul 12:Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins, 2008) Sun, Jul 19:Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973) Sun, Jul 26:Atlantics (Mati Diop, 2019) Sun, Aug 2:Naked Acts (Bridgett M. Davis, 1998) All events are free withRSVP This series is generously funded by the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry & Expression and the Office of the Provost for Diversity & Inclusion Juneteenth Fund. The Digital Storytelling Initiative at the Logan Center for the Arts is funded by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation in partnership with the Jonathan Logan Media Center and Logan Center Community Arts. This series is organized by Screening*, a film programming partnership between Avery LaFlamme and Elizabeth Myles. Previous series include: Screening Juneteenth (2022), Screening Freedom (2023), Screening Acts (2024), and Mothering on Screen (2025).