Plays in Shorts Program: What These Walls Hold
Sunday, June 15
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Regal Gallery Place

701 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

The People Could Fly

Director

Imani N. Dennison

Executive Producers

Opal H. Bennett, Erika Dilday, Chris White, Kiyoko McCrae, Jenni Wolfson

Producer

Bryn Silverman

Co-Producers

Flor de Oro Tejada, Naveen Chaubal

Editors

Jonathan Proctor, Derek Schultz

Consulting Editor

Co-Editor

Assistant Editor

Cinematographer

Imani Dennison

Additional Cinematography

Music

Aquiles Navarro

Sound

Narration

Contact

A poetic documentary about the history of Black gathering spaces in Louisville, KY, from the 1960s to the mid-2000s. This intimate portrait explores the ritual of roller skating and how roller rinks became sanctuaries for Black culture. Using a mix of archival footage, still photos, newly shot material, and newsreels, THE PEOPLE COULD FLY examines the history of a segregated Louisville and the magic its Black community created as an act of resistance.

Director, The People Could Fly

Imani Dennison is a multidisciplinary artist, and award-winning filmmaker whose practice interrogates the intersections of memory, folklore, and identity. Rooted in Black speculative storytelling, their work spans film, video, photography, and installation, engaging with the personal and collective histories of diasporic communities to explore themes of interiority, ritual, and spatial belonging. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, and a graduate of Howard University, Imani’s academic background in political science and photography informs their critical reimagining of diasporic futures.