UNDER BONE

Original Film Duration: 4 mins 40 sec
Date: July 2017

Docu-Fiction / Installation Duration: 6 mins 36 sec
Date: May 2018

Synopsis: UNDER BONE is a narrated experimental-drama featuring ethereal vignettes
linked by a woman’s devotion, grief and ancestral evocation, as she traverses stories
beneath her rib cage.

Detailed Synopsis: As a subtle reminder to trust and rejoice, a figure walks a desolate
path despite its rocky terrain. In story two, a figure breaks out of their mother's cocoon
whilst conversing with their grandmother's spirit. Riddled with questions, two lovers try
solidifying the certainty of their partnership.

Unfolding in a mellow whirlwind, a woman is awakened by an alarm and poses the question,
"Is it 10:16, again?" before slipping back into a dream. While in an elsewhere, she grieves
her grandfather and is led by a spirit guide... but is this spirit kin to her?

Director's Statement: UNDER BONE is an exploration of grief, matrilineality, and religious
legacy, which is complicated by the presence of Black queer intimacy. As an homage to my
late grandfather, this film is concerned with ways of being: the notion of life and the absence
of life, coupled with the ability to love and be loved.

Producer: A FILM BY BLACK DAUGHTERS
Writer, Director: dana washington

Cinematographer: Kayla Reefer
Additional (Docu-Fiction) Footage: dana washington, Dannielle Washington
Editor: dana washington

Cast:
dana washington as the Lead
trenderlene marshé harris as the Lover
Brielle Northcutt as the Spirit Guide
Anita Queen as herself (Docu-fiction)

Original Score, Sound Design: SANA
Additional Vocals: Arima Ederra

Narration: dana washington
Additional (Docu-Fiction) Narration: Anita Queen

Poster Design: DeChazier Stokes-Johnson

Screenings:
2018 - Afrikana American Film Festival (Virginia)
2018 - BlackStar Film Festival (Philadelphia)
*Best Experimental Short Film Nomination

2018 - San Diego Underground Film Festival
2018 - Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival
*Honorable Mention Award

2018 - Black Cinema House (Chicago)
2018 - Locust Projects presents Saint Cities (Miami)
2018 - Welcome Home: UNDER BONE (Los Angeles)
2018 - MOCA presents SCREEN: Black Radical Imagination (online stream)
2018 - Black Radical Imagination 2018 Showcase
MOCA Los Angeles, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Articule Montreal,
ICA Boston, MCA Chicago, Smithsonian African American Film Festival,
Perez Art Museum, Little Haiti Cultural Center

2018 - Outfest Fusion Film Festival: On the Queer Horizon (Los Angeles)
2018 - Toronto Short Film Festival

Video Installations:
2018 - San Diego Art Institute

© 2019 DANA WASHINGTON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED