Private Project

why some people be mad at me sometimes

A meditation on the misappropriation of Dancehall music while using Black Feminist Citational praxis

  • Mahlet Cuff
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    550 CAD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Film and digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Mahlet Cuff

Mahlet Cuff (b.1998) is an AfroCaribbean queer femme born and based in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Treaty 1 Territory). They are a writer, programmer, artist, curator and DJ. Within their filmmaking practice they are interested in the ways that erasure takes place within pop culture, through working within an experimental Black feminist citational praxis. By collaging images and videos to create visual essays. Their first short film titled why some people be mad at me sometimes premiered at the New York African Film Festival. Their film has screened at the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, A Long Time Comin: A Black Queer Prairie Film (Winnipeg), Ẅ XOOL Film Festival (Paris) aCinema (Milwaukee) and Fluxus Experimental Film Festival (Hamilton) Mighty Niagara Falls Film Fest (Niagara Falls) and MIX NYC.

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Director Statement

why some people be mad at me sometimes is a single channel experimental film that cites the mother of Dancehall Sister Nancy singing her song bam bam in dialogue with Maya Angelou’s performance of the poem The Mask. The video is a meditation on the misappropriation of Blackness within music, and how often Black folks are told to not criticize but to smile and be grateful. All while tracing the filmmakers' relationship to Dancehall and Afro Caribbean culture through archival footage of themselves as a young person dancing at Folklorama. Folklorama has the intention to be a space for sharing diverse cultures but oftentimes a space of cultural consumption that erases the colonial history of the countries that are on display.