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Still from Zeinabu Davis’s Compensation, courtesy of Janus Films
Join us for a post screening discussion with filmmaker Zeinabu Davis, in person.
This event will include simultaneous ASL interpretation.
Compensation is a portrait of the struggles of deaf African Americans and the complexities of loving relationships at the bookends of the 20th century. In extraordinary dual performances, Michelle A. Banks and John Earl Jelks play Malindy and Arthur, a couple in 1910 Chicago, as well as Malaika and Nico, a couple living in the same city almost 80 years later. Their stories are deftly interwoven through the creative use of archival photography, an original score featuring ragtime and African percussion, and an editing style both lyrical and tender. Malindy, an industrious, intelligent dressmaker, falls for Arthur, an illiterate migrant from Mississippi, along the shore of Lake Michigan. On the same beach in the present, Malaika, an inspired and resilient graphic artist, softens before Nico, a brash yet endearing children’s librarian. Each pair faces the obstacles of their time as Black Americans. (Zeinabu Davis, 1999, DCP, 92 minutes)
Sign language interpreters are available for this program. Learn more about our accessibility services.
About the artist
Originally from Philadelphia, Zeinabu Davis is acclaimed for her representation of the African American female perspective through a variety of works, which include documentaries, short narratives, and experimental films. She holds an MA in African studies and an MFA in film and television production from UCLA. Davis’s experimental short Cycles (1989) earned her awards from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and the National Black Programming Consortium. Her following works, A Period Piece (1991), A Powerful Thang (1991), Mother of a River (1995), and Compensation (1999) continued to garner her awards from numerous organizations and festivals, including the Gordon Parks Award for Best Director from the Independent Feature Project.
Davis has received grants and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Film Institute and the National Endowment for the Arts for her film work. After holding teaching positions at Antioch College and Northwestern University, Davis moved to teach at the University of California San Diego, where she currently serves as professor of communications.
Programmed in conjunction with the exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement: 1955-1985, open from September 21, 2025 to January 11, 2026.
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