In honor of J’Ouvert and the West Indian American Day Parade, we present a three-night screening of JUVÉ NITE (2018, 17 min.), by MELO-X. Primarily filmed over Labor Day weekend, 2016, it celebrates people of the Caribbean diaspora who call Brooklyn home as they play mas and revel in the streets. Interspersed with historical colonial images depicting hints about J'Ouvert’s origins, JUVÉ NITE portrays the joy, revelry, and unity of the borough's thriving annual carnival traditions.

The work explores carnival's beginnings in Trinidad and also sets the festivities against a backdrop of surveillance, increased policing, and Brooklyn’s rapidly changing landscape. MELO-X, who grew up on Church Avenue, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, says the audio-visual journey is the result of a lifelong fascination with carnival celebrations. MELO-X is a multimedia artist and multiplatinum music producer based in New York and Los Angeles.

JUVÉ NITE, being repeated about six times each evening, is followed by the music video for MELO-X’s “Warrior Song,” featuring Shungudzo.

This event takes place outdoors. We’re following procedures and guidelines laid out by the CDC and local health officials, including practicing social distancing for all activities, and masks are required for all adults and children over the age of 2.