Free Noir Papillon

A mother exploring the relationship to her pregnancy through dance, as she deals with fear and hope about bringing a black baby boy into the world in 2020.The choreography stems from a place of creating sanctuary and learning to accept and find joy in bringing new life in a year full of uncertainty, conflict and strife.

Director: Lev Omelchenko

Starring: PhaeMonae
Featuring: Andrew Ritfeld, Echo Ritfeld, Free Noir Papillon Ritfeld

Produced by S2S + LEVOMEL
1st AD: Kevin Wall

DoP: Amber Bournett
1st AC: Valerie Brooks
Steadicam: Kurush Bakhtiari

Gaffer: Landon Kovalick
Key Grip : Hagan Mattingly
Swing: Stephen Dragstedt

Art Director: Magdelena O’Connor
Costuming by Marion Austin

PA: Elorm
BTS: Aboubacar Kante

Funding provided by Film Impact Georgia

First, I would like to share some words directly from Phae: “When my baby boy is 20 years old and asks me “mom why’d you name me Free Noir Papillion” I’ll say in 2020 there was a pandemic, a civil rights movement and whole bunch of other shit, rise of technology and all of those things needed to live in your name. You are a product of light that comes out of all of that fuckery – that to me is how art is made and how poetry is made. Those parallels – high celebration and really low low pain. That’s what inspires people to make some of the best shit. My best shit right now is making babies and speaking on my personal journey through carrying and caring for them in this time”

Second, I would like to share a little background about this project. During her first pregnancy in 2018, Phae told me how she felt that the country views her body as disposable, always at risk of a “death sentence”. As of 2018, GA is 2nd in the US for maternal mortality. “Georgia’s maternal mortality rate is especially alarming for black women, who have a rate of 66.6 per 100,000 live births in the Peach State (compared to 43.2 for white women), and for women between the ages of 35 and 44, with a rate of nearly 90 deaths per 100,000 live births.” US News.
I proposed the idea of documenting her experience of becoming a mother, and since then, we have documented Phae about 40 times; in her home, at work, in rehearsal, in performance, at the doctors, with family, alone. The goal of our collaboration was to create a blooming multi-year reflection on the multi-generational dynamics of black motherhood, and the significance of dance practice as a form of storytelling and healing. In 2019 we turned this footage into a short documentary teaser and, in January 2020, secured a 5000$ grant from Film Impact Georgia to continue our collaboration.

Mid-pandemic, Phae found out she was pregnant again. She decided to have the child, but dealt with extreme depression and anxiety. Bringing a second child, a black baby boy, into the world during a pandemic and a civil rights movement was terrifying. Phae expressed that she needed to create a piece of art that would help her process her second pregnancy, as well as the memories of her first labor. Through the rest of the pandemic, she developed new choreography and I developed a cinematic vision of it. Then, in December 2020, when Phae was 8 months pregnant, we filmed “Free Noir Papillon”, named after her baby boy.
This project is possible because Phae and I have developed a common language through a deep friendship and collaboration, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to tell her story.

Sincerely,
Lev Omelchenko