A Litany For Survival: the Life and Work of Audre Lorde
Ada Gay Griffin, Michelle Parkerson Audre Lorde was a poet, teacher, mother, Black lesbian, activist, and warrior, and she refused to let anyone separate those identities. This 1995 documentary, made by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, draws on archival footage, interviews, and readings of Lorde’s poetry to chronicle a life that bridged movements and demanded that none of them leave anyone behind. QWOCMAP screens this film because the work Lorde called for, naming ourselves, refusing silence, insisting that our survival is not academic, is still the work.
View ScreeningSynopsis
An epic portrait of the eloquent, award-winning Black, lesbian, poet, mother, teacher and activist, Audre Lorde, whose writings -- spanning five decades -- articulated some of the most important social and political visions of the century. From Lorde's childhood roots in NYC's Harlem to her battle with breast cancer, this moving film explores a life and a body of work that embodied the connections between the Civil Rights movement, the Women's movement, and the struggle for lesbian and gay rights. At the heart of this documentary is Lorde's own challenge to "envision what has not been and work with every fiber of who we are to make the reality and pursuit of that vision irresistible."
Screenings
ENCORE: A Litany for Survival
FEATURED SCREENING: A newly restored documentary about Audre Lorde. Watch anytime between September 11-21.
A Litany for Survival
FEATURED SCREENING: A newly restored documentary about Audre Lorde.
Content Warnings
Specific Themes
Credits
- Director
- Ada Gay Griffin, Michelle Parkerson
- Producer
- Ada Gay Griffin
- Cast
- Audre Lorde, Phyllis Blackwell, Helen Lorde, Joan Sandler, Adrienne Rich, Blanche Wiesen Cook, Sapphire, Clare Coss, Jewelle Gomez, Maua Yvonne Flowers, Essex Hemphill, Barbara Smith, Dr. Gloria I. Joseph, Dagmar Shultz, Dr. Manfred Kuno, Donna Goodleaf, Cheryl Clarke, Ellen Kuzwayo
- Cinematographer
- Larry Banks, John Bentham, Michael Chin, Christine Choy, John Donnelly, Vilma Gregoropoulos, Crystal Griffith, Arthur Jafa, Herman Lew, Alfred Santana, Irene Sosa
- Editor
- Holly Fisher
About Filmmaker(s)
"Ada Gay Griffin is an African-American activist working in electronic media and film production. She was formerly executive director of Third World Newsreel and works to ensure a flourishing future for producers of color in progressive media. Griffin studied art, political science, and black feminist writing at Hampshire College, where she studied the works of Audre Lorde. She directed and produced Can’t Jail the Revolution and Break the Walls Down (1991), about political prisoners, and developed Black in a Small Town, a documentary series that explored issues of race and class in semi-rural areas in the United States. In 1995 she co-directed A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde with Michelle Parkerson. She served as first assistant director on the drama Dead Man’s Shoes, which premiered at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival.
Writer/filmmaker Michelle Parkerson’s activist journey launched in the late 1970s and early 80s - as a major contributor to a Black gay and lesbian renaissance of DC artists, musicians, activists, writers and performers, among them, poet Essex Hemphill. Michelle’s award-winning films include Gotta Make This Journey: Sweet Honey in the Rock, A Litany For Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde (Co-directed with Producer Ada Gay Griffin) and Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box. Her documentaries have screened at numerous festivals, including The Sundance Film Festival, The Berlin International Film Festival, BFI FLARE Festival, Filmfest DC, DOC NYC, DC/DOX, BlackStar Film Festival and AFI Fest. She has received recognized grants and awards - a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, the Mayor’s Art Award, grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Rainbow History Project’s Community Pioneer Award and a HumanitiesDC DC Docs Grant. Her 2021 documentary, Fierceness Served! The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse, revives the storied history of a DC Black LGBTQ cultural hub in the 1980s. Camille A. Brown: GIANT STEPS, her latest short documentary for PBS American Masters / Firelight Media (Co-directed with Producer Shellée M. Haynesworth), was a Nominee for the 2025 NAACP Image Award - “Outstanding Documentary (Short Form)”. This summer, Michelle received a NBJC Audre Lorde Wisdom Award (National Black Justice Coalition). Ms. Parkerson has served on faculties of the University of Delaware, Northwestern University, Howard University and Temple University, as well as Advisory Boards of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and Mary’s House For Older LBGTQ Adults, Inc."
