For February and March I’m organizing and hosting three events at Bijlmer Parktheater:
1. BPTUnpacks The Color Purple (Fri. February 23), a gathering centering Alice Walker’s legendary novel and its two film adaptations. Panelists: Romana Vrede (pictured here), Shirley Ahura, Ayra Kip and Simone Lagrand.
2. GembertheeSessies with Adrian Van Wyk (Thu. February 29), which will be a ginger spices conversation about film and the tracks of these imagined subway lines between Cape Town and Bijlmer.
3. GembertheeSessies with Kelechi Okafor (Sat. March 30), a sisterly reunion in celebration of Okafor’s debut collection of short stories ‘Edge of Here’.

Both GembertheeSessies are in collaboration with my favourite spot to drink ginger tea: poetry and cocktailbar Labyrinth. For all three events the lovely Bijlmer Bookstore will be present with a pop-up store. Below, you’ll find more info about each programs:

Friday February 23: BPTUnpacks The Color Purple
It’s been a while since our former Bijlmer Parktheater-colleague Saundra Williams organized one of our legendary programs: Black Magic Woman. It is in the spirit of that memory and with a longing for that vibe that program maker Simone Zeefuik would like to discuss a classic: The Color Purple. On Friday February 23 our downstairs studio will transformed into a cozy living room where we’ll discuss Alice Walker’s novels and its two film adaptations.

For a proper unpacking of this film -its main themes, the cinematography, the soundtrack and the ways in which both films are in conversation with each other- Zeefuik will be joined by four panelists:
– Shirley Ahura (London),
– Romana Vrede (Rotterdam),
– Simone Lagrand (Paris) and
– Ayra Kip (Amsterdam, Bijlmer-raised). It will be an evening full of Shug & Celie, quotes, memes and quiz questions. The winner of our ‘Blues women in film’ quiz will stroll out the door with a prize package put together by our panel.
Tickets for BPTUnpacks: The Color Purple can be bought via this page on the Bijlmer Parktheater-website.

Thursday February 29: GembertheeSessies with Adrian Van Wyk (Kaapstad/Cape Town)
For this year’s first edition of the GembertheeSessies (GingerteSessions) we’re connecting Bijlmer to Cape Town. We’ll do this through the works and research of writer, director, producer, curator and cultural worker Adrian Van Wyk. Simone Zeefuik interviews Adrian about his creative processes and his current research projects through which he links decolonial activism in the Netherlands and South Africa. The session opens with the screening of the short documentary What The Soil Remembers. Van Wyk is the producer and researcher of this short film directed by José Cardoso. 

Adrian Van Wyk is a filmmaker/creative producer and cultural historian from Cape Town, South Africa. He completed a MA in History at Stellenbosch University. His dissertation, titled “From Jamaica to the Cape Flats: Reflecting on the manifestations of a Cape Town Hip Hop Culture”, unpacked the diasporic movements of Hip Hop culture onto the Cape Flats. In 2023, a documentary short film that Adrian produced and researched titled What the Soil Remembers enjoyed its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) where it was also awarded the Ammodo Tiger Short Award.

Tickets for the GembertheeSessies with Adrian Van Wyk can be bought via this page on the Bijlmer Parktheater-website.

Saturday March 30: GembertheeSessies with Kelechi Okafor
The awe-mazing, London based Kelechi Okafor will talk about her stunning debut collection of short stories: Edge of Here. With her book Okafor combines the ancient and the ultramodern to explore tales of contemporary Black womanhood, asking questions about the way we live now and offering a glimpse into our near future. 

For her bio this Marvel from London writes: “Ke-leh-chee. That is how my name is pronounced. Now that is out of the way, hello! I am Kelechi Okafor and I’m a lover of words. I act, I direct and I write. I tweet and I dissect bits about society one podcast episode at a time. When I am not doing all of the above, I teach pole dance and twerk at my studio Kelechnekoff Fitness in Peckham. Society teaches us that we must fall into categories somehow. All I know is that I’m just a Baby Girl.”

Tickets for the GembertheeSessies with Kelechi Okafor can be bought via this page on the Bijlmer Parktheater-website.

Both GembertheeSessies are in collaboration with our beloved, much needed Bijlmer Bookstore and my favourite spot to drink ginger tea: poetry and cocktailbar Labyrinth. For all three events the Bijlmer Bookstore will be present with a pop-up store.