Emergency Needs

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Emergency Needs is an experimental work, considering the July 1968 Hough Riots and the Glenville Shootout in Cleveland, Ohio and the response to the crisis, as observed in color footage from a local press conference, by Mayor Carl B. Stokes. Stokes, the first Black mayor of a major American city, maintains calm and measured composure; his demeanor and words help diffuse an already incendiary situation. Actress Esosa Edosomwan, dressed in suit and tie, delivers Stokes' statements. The footage of Stokes and filmed performance of Edosomwan is rendered in split screen and combined with footage/reportage from the streets. The film was a commission of IFFR's Meet the Maestro homage to the films of Gus Van Sant and was a featured work in the 2008 Whitney Biennial in New York City.