Experiencing Interruptions?

Drum Calls | Body Recalls

Black Atlantic memory speaks through music, dance and poetry in this docu-fiction. Past, present and future rhythm synchrony jams with creative cinematography, titles and sound design. African and diaspora dances and poetry reveal circles of connection between the past, present and future. A scientific premise is that rhythm codes are transmitted by muscle memory – the same memory you use to drive a car – and not by DNA or blood. While African rhythms resist colonialism, rhythms of the Americas express resilience, creativity, and diasporic spirituality. An interactive musical map accompanies the film: https://unityatlantic.org/

  • Deirdre C. Molloy
    Director
  • Miguel Bica
    Producer
  • Deirdre Molloy
    Key Cast
  • Aurélie Capelle-Sigère
    Dance
  • Kamau Brathwaite
    Writer
    (deceased)
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    le tambour appelle : le corps se rappelle
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 5, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    France, Portugal
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Deirdre Molloy
  • Manifest at L'Atelier 2024 sept 19 - oct 10
    Nantes
    France
    September 19, 2024
    French Première
    Finalist in EU-funded Manifest Art Award
  • Africlap
    Toulouse
    France
    November 14, 2024
    Official selection
  • Queens Black History Underground Film Festival
    South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC 290201
    United States
    October 11, 2025
    North American Premiere
    Official selection
Director Biography - Deirdre C. Molloy

Deirdre Molloy uses ethnography and digital design to research Black Atlantic identity through social dance. She dances mainly Blues, Dancehall and West African codes socially. In 2025, Molloy filmed ancestral rhythms in Ivory Coast with Andrienne Broh Zokou and Clement Assemian. Visiting the USA in 2024 Deirdre danced with DC Hand Dance, DC Bop, and street dance communities. This fieldwork was followed by a residency with SLIPPAGE dance lab at Northwestern University.
Affiliated with CIPHER ERC and winning the Danijela Memorial Award for interdisciplinary innovation in Film, Music and Theatre in 2022, Molloy's PhD research follows a BA (Hons) in Psychology and Masters degrees in Multimedia and Ethnochoreology. Molloy is a PhD candidate at University College Cork in cotutelle with University of Toulouse, France. Under the artistic name Unity, Deirdre created film, music and performance collaborations for the Manifest exhibition in Nantes, 2024.  Deirdre's research websites are designed to platform dance culture-bearer voices: https://www.decodenoir.org

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Director Statement

I invite you to visit the interactive map I have designed to contextualise the rhythms in the film – featuring culture-bearer dance videos, audio and text (in the text tabs): https://unityatlantic.org/