maya cade

@mayascade

always: creator & curator blackfilmarchive.com 💌: maya@blackfilmarchive.com + soon: incoming president / owner of milestone films. film curator + writer + curious about the world.

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maya cade@mayascade· Jun 29

a few weeks ago a friend texted me “did you know your words are in the blacksonian?” i didn’t know!!!! but how cool is that? ❤️

a wall hanging in NMAAHC that reads: "The act of collecting, sorting, preserving, and making available is an act of love for a group. It's an act of care."
Maya Cade, creator and curator, Black Film Archive, 2022

maya cade@mayascade· May 15

i genuinely can't name another moment in time when a black woman director was given as much agency over her own work as aleshea harris was for "is god is." if we are lucky, this won't be a one time event... read more: www.thecut.com/article/ales...

screenshot from article that reads "In “Phenomenal Woman,” Maya Angelou’s poem heard round the world, she says the secret to her alluring success and innovative nature is pulled from a well deep within her. “Phenomenal woman, that’s me!” echoes from the mighty river of Angelou’s words to the arch of Aleshea Harris’s trailblazing career. The Pulitzer Prize–finalist playwright paints rich, textured worlds that take on the multifaceted inheritance of being Black with a daring acuity. And now Harris is taking an unprecedented path in Hollywood as a Black woman: directing and writing a film adaption of her own stage play. Like Angelou, Julie Dash, and a chorus of Black women directors before her, Harris is in command of her bold world. The difference between Harris’s journey and the ancestry that illuminates her path? Hollywood is ready for her."

maya cade@mayascade· Apr 28

in the most bizarre instance of misappropriation of a name/legacy (?) legendary, honey voiced jazz singer ernestine anderson’s apple music / spotify pages have been littered with unrelated LPs? she passed in 2016!

screenshot of apple music showing recent work “produced” by ernestine anderson.

maya cade@mayascade· Apr 28

charles burnett accepting his award from the city of los angeles as one of his muses, carl lumbly, looks on. in his acceptance speech charles says he is grateful he was able to make meaningful work.

charles burnett at podium. actor carl lumbly looks on as charles accepts the award.

maya cade@mayascade· Apr 28

spent the day with charles burnett as the city of los angeles honored him with distinction and friends from across his life sung his praises. deeply honored to co-present the award and be in the number of those singing his praises.

an origin award from the city of los angeles to director charles burnett.

maya cade@mayascade· Apr 4

april is poetry month so i often take the months to read work my favorite poets. derek walcott’s “love after love” is one of the greatest ever poems :-)

poem by derek walcott that reads:

Love After Love
The time will come when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

maya cade@mayascade· Mar 17

❤️‍🔥 director aarin burch in a 1998 newspaper profile ❤️‍🔥 happy women’s history month.

aarin burch in a 1998 newspaper feature sitting by a film editing bay.

maya cade@mayascade· Mar 17

✨ a new @milestonefilms.bsky.social acquisition by yours truly are two pioneering black; queer shorts by aarin burch. the first of the two shorts— 1989’s “dreams of passion” — is having its world restoration premiere at the los angeles festival of movies on 4/11 at 12:30 pm w/ director in person.

text from LAFM’s website:

Director: Aarin Burch
USA, 1989/2026, 4 min, DCP
Dreams of Passion is a sensual exploration of the essence of self and of the intimacy of desire between two Black women as communicated through movement, dance, and imagination.
In her groundbreaking films, the Bay Area-based filmmaker Aarin Burch brilliantly explores the nuances of Black lesbian identity through movement and personal relationships. In this short-believed to depict the earliest
same-sex kiss between Black women on screen-Burch films dancers
Matima Hadi and Debra Floyd as they channel desire through reciprocal gazes and gestures. -MG

maya cade@mayascade· Mar 15

what will it mean if “sinners” (2025) wins best picture? @angelicabastien.bsky.social and i answer the question of the moment for @vulture.com. www.vulture.com/article/if-s...

maya cade@mayascade· Mar 10

CHARLES BURNETT x BOOTS RILEY on the cover of A RABBIT’S FOOT. cover story by me! on newsstands 3/14.

directors charles burnett and boots riley seated on the cover of film / culture magazine “a rabbit’s foot”

maya cade@mayascade· Feb 26

and the beat goes on ✨

digitization of a 1970s photo of black life. the photo is a screen grab from a work in progress that features a grandson and his grandmother.

maya cade@mayascade· Feb 15

🚨 the theatrical poster of charles burnett’s “my brother’s wedding” for the new 4K restoration is here 🚨 world premiere tomorrow. poster first shared via @letterboxd.social @milestonefilms.bsky.social

new poster of charles burnett’s sophomore feature “my brother’s wedding”

maya cade@mayascade· Feb 9

🤯 one full year of working on this photo project of black 20th century life. i think my favorite image is one of the first i scanned in: a couple in a dorm room.

a black young couple in a dorm room look lovingly away from the camera.

maya cade@mayascade· Feb 5

randomly rewatched “what happens later”(2023) dir. meg ryan this morning. i hope she continues to direct!

my letterboxd review of “what happens later” that says: in one of his infamous love letters franz kafka wrote
"you wouldn't believe the kind of person i could be if only you wanted it." for some lovers that feeling lingers longer than others, and for even fewer some they build a home out of the feeling. in love's image their life's possibilities bloom and they are able to touch life where romance doesn't reach with a gentler hand. in
"what happens later" meg ryan directs that feeling. the film gestures towards something transcending the prefabricated outlines of the romantic comedy form by understanding the dizziness of living in a fantasy but falls just short of fully selling its ideals.
i love meg's aging face, in it a lifetime of romantic intrigue and joys. thank you for it all meg.

maya cade@mayascade· Jan 13

charles burnett’s sophomore feature “my brother’s wedding” (1983) is having its world restoration premiere at berlinale. burnett’s follow up to “killer of sheep” is tender and enduring. i am grateful to have served as co-restoration supervisor for this 4K release. @milestonefilms.bsky.social

a still of pierce looking through the camera on a comfy chair with a planet in the foreground. from the 4K restoration of charles burnett’s “my brother’s wedding” (1983) ❤️‍🔥

maya cade@mayascade· Jan 9

nearly a year of working on this wonderful project of archiving and digitizing my found photo collection of 20th century black life. to be a caretaker of something, someone is an extreme honor and privilege. grateful as the work stretches on another year.

maya cade@mayascade· Jan 6

every time i see the trailer for "the bride!" (2026) i have the same thought: christian bale as 'frankenstein's monster' looks like a middle aged ted danson.

a still of christian bale in the trailer for "the bride!" (2026). he is costumed as frankenstein's monster and his gaze looks above the camera.

maya cade@mayascade· Dec 2

one of the true joys of digitizing this collection is looking through the warmth of black home interiors.

a screengrab from a photo in the process of being color corrected. the screengrab is from an early 70s black home.

maya cade@mayascade· Nov 18

a newspaper clipping that reads: “PSYCHOANALYST THE WEEK. Dorothy Dandridge, Hollywood night club singer, said she clicks with customers because she psy-choanalyzes them before she sings to them. Because she was scared by night club audiences, she took a course in psychology at UCLA, trying to find out what made people tick.
"Now," she says, "I can spot the different types the minute I see them at their tables. And, I pick a special song for each type." Miss Dandridge neglected to mention that: 1) she is beautiful; 2) she sings well.”

maya cade@mayascade· Nov 14

i have taken on a different archival project but still joyfully working on this in my free time. 👼

a photo of the scannerbed with three images of black life waiting to be digitized into the archive i’m building.

maya cade@mayascade· Oct 28

for blackstar's SEEN journal, i had the honor of writing about becoming the country's largest black film distributor and the history of racist practices that keeps black film distribution locked up in a cyclical prison. www.blackstarfest.org/seen/read/is...

A screenshot from my article that reads: "At its essence, film distribution depends on a checklist of external validation.
Before an independent film is selected for distribution, there is often an inquiry into whether it has received a New York Times review, a feature at Sundance or another established festival, or is beloved by an independent curator. This exporting of taste for institutions to corroborate binds film distributors to an echo chamber of white sensibilities and away from a unique point of view and ongoing accountability. Inversely, Black spectatorship of cinema has remained a duty akin to Black civic participation. For generations of Black moviegoers, cultural participation is a divine order, a calling to protect Black cultural heritage in a way that mirrors the commitment to Black voting rights. Whether it's feeling a duty to line up for the latest Black film release or starting our own awareness campaigns for Black media, Black cultural participation moves all media forward. If this is true, why haven't the worlds of distribution and Black cultural participation successfully met across time?"

maya cade@mayascade· Oct 15

new orleans: on saturday october 16 i’m heading home to screen two films and lead a community imagination workshop. 2 pm CT! see you there? learn more and rsvp for free: luma.com/42dmo9g4

maya cade@mayascade· Sep 23

happy autumn equinox from me and prince rogers nelson.

prince, the legendary musician, is center in frame around an autumnal paradise of orange hued trees. his glare pierces through the camera as he stands in front of a vintage maroon colored car. it’s one of my favorite photos.

maya cade@mayascade· Aug 24

in 2023, i discovered and wrote a piece of history that had gone missing: the first black woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show and wrote about it. archive.ph/chXvt today her family just let me know she won an honorary degree from her alma mater earlier this year. 🥹

a screenshot from a new york times article i wrote in october 2023 called “she was oprah before oprah” highlighting alice travis

maya cade@mayascade· Aug 9

i’ve been slowly teaching myself sign language. thinking about the relationship between black gestures, ways we emphasize language with our hands, have helped me easily understand many (basic) signs. take the ASL sign for money as example:

a cartoon graphic shows the ASL sign for money

maya cade@mayascade· Jul 17

something you may not know about me is that i am a hurricane katrina survivor. this year is the 20th anniversary of the hurricane and i am honored to be co-curating a film program at MoMA that takes a look at new orleans before, during, & after the storm. learn more: www.moma.org/calendar/fil...

moma (museum of modern art in new york) announced the series i’m curating for them. it reads: MoMA ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR FILM SERIES COMMEMORATING 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE KATRINA

When the World Broke Open: Katrina and Its Afterlives Offers a Sweeping Cinematic Portrait of New Orleans and Its Enduring Cultural Legacy Across Eras and Genres

maya cade@mayascade· Jul 7

now re/watching.

a newspaper ad for "sleeping with the enemy" starring julia roberts.

maya cade@mayascade· Jun 26

tonight’s double feature: “who framed roger rabbit” (1988) and “the producers” (1967)

film poster for “who framed roger rabbit”

maya cade@mayascade· Jun 18

LA: on 6/20 at 730 pm @bridgettmdavis.bsky.social & i will be at @vidiots.bsky.social for screening of “naked acts” (1996) w/ a convo after. each ticket will come w/ a dvd of the film courtesy of @milestonefilms.bsky.social. hope you can join us: vidiotsfoundation.org/movies/naked...

bridgett davis stands behind a camera while directing “naked acts.”

maya cade@mayascade· Jun 10

los angeles: join me + @bridgettmdavis.bsky.social for the very first black film archive event on juneteenth (6/19) at the philosophical research society, 7 pm. our timely, intimate discussion will focus on writing as freedom and black writerly life. ✨✨✨✨ www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-as...