Chocolate Babies
Stephen Winter, 1997, 83 min

Introduced by Rabz Lansiquot

Occupying the space between fantasy, tragedy, and comedy, the award-winning Chocolate Babies is a roller-coaster ride that has been provoking laughter and dialogue since its 1997 premiere. An underground band of HIV-positive, queer, urban, genderqueer, activists of colour is making headlines in New York City. In an effort to expose political corruption surrounding the AIDS epidemic, these urban guerrillas stage a series of surprise attacks against conservative politicians whom they believe are collecting secret lists of HIV-positive individuals. Caught up in their extreme methods of activism and self-destructive drug and alcohol binges, the group becomes torn by infighting and begins to lose sight of their mission and loyalty to each other. Will they find the peace and justice they seek?

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The screening accompanies LUX BL CK B X exhibition Rabz Lansiquot where did we land.

Rabz Lansiquot is a filmmaker, curator, and DJ. She was a leading member of sorryyoufeeluncomfortable (SYFU), a London-based collective that created intentional spaces for deep study, conversation and multi-disciplinary art-making that relates to race and liberatory politics. With SYFU she has produced public programming in a number of institutional and independent contexts in the UK and Europe including curated screenings, collective readings, performances, workshops and discussions, and co-curated exhibitions. Her audio-visual work and film theory writing is informed by Black liberatory thought, Black queer studies, and lived experience, seeking to move beyond representation, to liberation in the realm of the moving image. Rabz also works collaboratively alongside Imani Robinson under the name Languid Hands producing artworks and curatorial projects.