deerstalker
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) announced today the selection of finalists who will compete in its Annual HBO® Short Film Award Showcase and Series and Voices of Culture lineup. The 27th annual ABFF will take place in Miami Beach June 14-18 and will be available to a global audience June 19-25 on ABFF PLAY (https://abffplay.com/).
“We have curated a diverse lineup of authentic stories created by talented artists that give visibility to Black creatives in the industry,” said Nicole Friday, president, COO ABFF Ventures and Festival Producer. “Over 25 years ago, we launched the HBO Short Film Award, spotlighting groundbreaking filmmakers and elevating Black content for mainstream audiences to experience. Many dynamic storytellers have been a part of the ABFF community, and we are proud to continue our legacy of showcasing gifted creators.”
Winners of the 2023 independent film awards and talent contest winners will be presented during the Best of the ABFF Awards hosted by Emmy-nominated actor/author Dondré Whitfield, Saturday, June 17, in the Miami Beach Convention Center. Sirius XM’s Bevy Smith (Bevelations) will host the HBO Showcase. ABFF is proud to be a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards® Short Film Awards.
The annual five-day festival, held in locations in and around Miami Beach and the City of Miami, will showcase a selection of exclusive programs from networks and streamers including spotlight screenings, conversations and panels with award-winning directors, producers and top-line talent. For a complete schedule of programming, full list official film selections and to purchase passes for the 2023 American Black Film Festival, visit www.abff.com. Follow @ABFF on Twitter, @AmericanBlackFilmFestival on Instagram and Facebook.
The HBO Short Film Award finalists, Web Series and Voices of Culture lineup is listed below.
HBO Short Film Award Showcase
Now in its 26th year, the HBO Short Film Award, sponsored by HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery, is regarded as one of the most prestigious short film showcases in the world. Five filmmakers are selected as finalists, one grand prize winner will be presented with the HBO Short Film Award and a cash prize of $10,000. The following films represent the finalists for the 2023 HBO Short Film Award.
Radio Silence
As a successful radio DJ, Tracey made a career out of her love for music and its connection to the human experience. But when confronted with her mother’s illness, she is forced to reevaluate her own life. Divided between the hauntingly beautiful memories of her past, fears of the future and the painful realities of her present, she gives herself the ultimate challenge – a broadcast of reconciliation.
USA | 2023 | 20 minutes
Written by: Nakia Secrest
Directed by: Ric Serena
Jelly
Jelly is a young Black girl in Bed-stuy with a peculiar fascination with death. While trying to solve the mysterious case of a missing neighbor, she comes to terms with a more personal disappearance. Narrated by André Holland.
USA | 2023 | 10 minutes
Written and Directed by: Anndi Jinelle Liggett
Fathead
When one of the last free children of Junkyard Paradise has her brother stolen away from her, no ragamuffin army or vicious beasts will stop her from getting him back.
USA | 2023 | 20 minutes
Written and Directed by: c. Craig Patterson
Recovery Chain
After being evicted by his mother, a rebellious teen must adapt to life with his distant father and his father’s new family.
USA | 2022 | 17 minutes
Written and Directed by: Quamé A. Hamlin
Jerome
Basketball connects Jerome to his long-absent father, though not in the ways he wishes. As he wrestles with his own concept of family, he must confront his father’s legacy on and off the court.
USA | 2023 | 14 minutes
Written and Directed by: Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz
Series
A competitive section for short-form episodic television directed by and/or both written and produced by persons of African descent. Each series in this section will compete for the Jury Award for Best Series (Television or Web) (presented by Comcast NBCUniversal, $2,500 cash prize). The following are the 2023 official selections in the Series category:
Being Alex *World Premiere
An eclectic high school sophomore embarks on an entertaining journey of self-discovery amidst a spiraling pandemic and life-changing social revolution.
USA | 11 min
Written and Directed by: Christopher J. Love
Producer: LaShanda Simmons-Calhoun
Cast: Koby Calhoun, Roman Vargas, Paula Velasquez
Bloom Room *U.S. Festival Premiere
In the midst of a global pandemic, a group of twenty-somethings explores the complexities of Black mental health and the bonds of chosen family in an online plant care community.
Canada | 8 min
Directors: Tristen Sutherland, Christian Anderson, Yasmijin Nicolle, Sochima Nwakaeze, Ajhanis Charley
Writers: Tristen Sutherland, Christian Anderson, Yasmijin Nicolle, Sochima Nwakaeze, Ajhanis Charley, Maryan Haye, Anthony Meeks, Yonas Ogubu
Producers: Alexx Bryant, Caleb Phillips, Anthony Jhade, Kelvin Omori, Rochelle Chambers, Funsho Elegbeleye
Executive Producers: Alison Duke, Ngardy Conteh George
Cast: Lane Webber, Brittany Miller, Blane Soloman, Jordan Henry
Buzz Kill *World Premiere
A charismatic and chubby Black queer millennial’s life is shaken up when romance, career and family issues collide.
USA | 15 min
Director: Jessie B. Evans
Writers: Jessie B. Evans, Terrance ‘Mo County’ Williams
Producers: Jessie B. Evans, Credere Joseph, Terrance ‘Mo County’ Williams
Cast: Terrance ‘Mo County’ Williams, Marcel J. Sawyer, Danielle Carter, Stewart Jewett, Christian Omari, Jessie B. Evans
Criblore: A Horror Anthology *World Premiere
An anthology series that follows a group of eccentric characters and their encounters with witches, werewolves, mermaids, trolls, and more.
USA | 14 min
Written and Directed by: Lucien Christian Adderley, Richard “Byrd” Wilson
Executive Producer: Moon Lee Ferguson (Creator of Series)
Cast: Terayle Hill, Brittany S. Hall
Dolla Van
Two Trinidadian siblings, Jordana and Khalid, face challenges starting their own Flatbush Avenue dollar van service.
USA | 9 min
Director: Gabriel A. Tolliver
Writers: Gabriel A. Tolliver, Vinay Chowdry
Producers: Vinay Chowdry, Kecia Élan Cole, Kuye Youngblood
Cast: Jordana Persad, Khalid Hamid, Arthur Gregory Pugh, Walter T. Mudu
I Was a Soul Train Dancer
“I Was a Soul Train Dancer” is a mini-docs series that profiles some of the most recognizable and memorable Soul Train dancers from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s.
USA | 11 min
Written and Directed by: Timiza Sanyika
Producer: Timiza Sanyika
Cast: Aretha Jackson, Larry “Bobcat” Jefferies
I‘ll Make You Better: Thomas Jules, Knicks Fan Counselor *U.S. Festival Premiere
An aspiring self-help guru tries to strengthen his reputation while not alienating his loyal clientele of rabid Knicks fans.
USA | 2 min
Director: Andrew Edghill
Writers: Andrew Edghill, Lee O. Valentin
Producer: Andrew Edghill
Cast: Lee O. Valentin
Love Trial *U.S. Festival Premiere
Two young Atlanta professionals hit it off fast, but find out rather quickly that finding love, and maintaining it — are two totally different journeys.
USA | 15 min
Written and Directed by: Brandon Henderson
Producers: Brandon Henderson, Ruben Ahortor
Cast: Kiah Alexandria, Brandon Henderson, Keon Mitchell, Christen Sharice, Tuki Daily, Phylicia Morgan
Shadowboxing – Round 1 *World Premiere
Andre desires to be the perfect boyfriend for the love of his life, Desi, but he struggles with a secret…Sex Addiction.
USA | 15 min
Director: Mo McRae
Writer: Mustafa Speaks
Producers: Mustafa Speaks, Michelle Mitchenor, Mo McRae, Lex Scott Davis, Anna Notarides
Cast: Mustafa Speaks, Adriyan Rae, Diego Parada, Jerrell Pippens, Lex Scott Davis, Shakira Barrera
The Federation *World Premiere
Flex Incredible navigates the explosive world of professional wrestling in the 1990s, where the line between fantasy and reality is subjective in more ways than one.
USA | 15 min
Written and Directed by: Kola Olasiji
Producers: Kola Olasiji, Molly Neville Olasiji
Cast: Kola Olasiji, Miles Burris, Byron Hopkins
The Lesbian Homie
A man tries to forget his recent past failed toxic situationship by pursuing another woman who he finds to have a lot of the same traits and attitude as the previous woman…..Deja Vu maybe?
USA | 10 min
Director: Jahdai Pickett
Writers: Jahdai Pickett, J. Antonio Figueroa
Producer: Dirty Chucks Entertainment
Cast: Jahdai Pickett, Stephanie Nelson, Kraig Smith, G. Wayne, Marche’ Howell,
Lisa Yaro, Marlin Minks, Ciera Angelia
The Table *World Premiere
The journey of London and Ed’s relationship is told over seven years primarily at their dining room table.
USA | 12 min
Directors: Caralene Robinson, Jamal Hodge, Crystal Whaley
Writers: Caralene Robinson, Nina Simone Moore
Producers: Caralene Robinson, Deborah Riley Draper, Crystal Whaley, DeDe Brown, Jamal Hodge
Cast: Devin Nelson, Brandon J. Shaw, Bevy Smith, Yvette Ganier
Third Wheel Material
When a perpetual third wheel struggles to find love and a sense of belonging, he decides to ask his two best friends, a couple, for help.
USA | 11 min
Director: Lyandre Pierre
Writer: Lyandre Pierre
Producers: Julian Park, Tezeta Solomon, Rickey Larke, Lyandre Pierre
Cast: Jerry Madison Jr., Charlotte Williams Roberts, Christian Robinson
Wallflower *World Premiere
When a shy teenage girl is gifted a family heirloom, it sparks the courage to live life on her own terms; but as she evolves and becomes unrecognizable to the people closest to her, she must decide who she wants to be.
Canada | 15 min
Director: Tristan Barrocks
Writers: Safia Bartholomew, Kern Carter
Producer: Leah Rifkin
Associate Producer: Corey Kareem
Cast: Kayla Kuhnke, Courtenay Field, Shirley Jackson, Romello Griffith, Ayan Elmi, Andrew James, Grace McDonald
Voices Of Culture
A noncompetitive section of narrative short films directed by persons of African descent.
The following films represent the 2023 official selections in this category:
Bizarro World *World Premiere
Six unrelated, humorous, absurd stories, shot in and around LA.
USA | 8 min
Directors: Jonathan Salmon, Abdi Ibrahim
Writers: Khari Johnson, Jonathan Salmon
Producer: Khari Johnson
Cast: James Chrosniak, Mark Mandia,Jonathan Salmon, Jak Knight, Upendo Moore, Nona P Johnson, Zack Fox, Tyree Norwood, Mekki Leeper, Khari Johnson, Felice Levair, Kate Hollowell, Matt Law
Blackifier *World Premiere
After watching an odd TV infomercial advertising a magical spray called blackifier, that when used can make anyone appear to be black to everyone else around them, Karen goes on a journey inside an alternate TV universe to see just how exciting the Black experience is.
USA | 15 min
Director: Christian Kamaal
Writer: Jalen Young
Producers: Cory Gorman, Jordan Shanks
Cast: Diane Sargent, Christopher Grossett, Chanda Wallace, TyNae Miller, Brandon James Somerville, Peace Ikediuba, Seth Carter, Michael Duisenberg
Burning Rubber *U.S. Festival Premiere
Down on his luck, Duane Ruiz is out of college and out of options and has to choose between his responsibilities or following his passion and competing in the high stakes, Burning Rubber Wallball tournament.
USA | 7 min
Director: Chris Fequiere
Writer: Dara King
Producers: Dara King, Amanda Miller
Cast: Dante Hoagland, Gorilla Nems, Alexandria Benford, Melvin Lee Douglas, Colin Ki/Kenny, Mike Smith Rivera, Oliver Fequiere
Chidera *World Premiere
A coming-of-age story of a teenage girl bound from birth to a higher calling; but as the traditional ceremony looms she struggles to choose between her destiny and the freedom she yearns.
USA | 18 min
Directors: Sope Aluko, Adaora Nwandu-Earl
Writers: Sope Aluko, Shola Dada
Producer: Sope Aluko
Cast: Sope Aluko, Courtney Williams, Dasan Frazier, Bridget John
Fifty-four Days
One girl’s grief drives her to extraordinary lengths.
UK | 18 min
Directors: Cat White, Phoebe Torrance
Writer: Cat White
Producer: Cat White
Cast: Cat White, Celia Imrie, Juliet Cowan, Delroy Brown, Josh Williams
Grown
Having recently lost his father, Rogelio (14) devises a plan to sneak into a strip club with his pals Larry and Chaz, as the night takes an unexpected turn.
USA | 18 min
Written and Directed by: Jocko Sims
Producers: Jocko Sims, Christopher Santiago, Chaz Hazlitt, Andrew Zolot
Cast: Josiah Santiago, Tristan-Lee Edwards, Giovani Cristoff, Angela Mejia-Loggia, Eliza Ramos
Love Taps *World Premiere
A young boy trying to cope with his parents separation gains a new perspective of his father after discovering his affair with another man.
USA | 14 min
Written and Directed by: Derrick Woodyard
Producers: Tara Sheffer, T. Bankolé
Executive Producer: Spike Lee
Cast: Rahim Barry, Parish Bradley, Emmanuel Kerry, Omrae Smith, Rayvon Southerland
Monochromatic *World Premiere
The inevitable moment a six-year-old girl realizes the world operates with bias when it comes to the color of her skin.
UK | 13 min
Written and Directed by: Karen Bryson
Producers: Lorraine Bhattachary, Shakyra Dowling
Cast: Stephanie Levi John, Kenedy McCallam Martin, Elisha Robin
Oba *World Premiere
In an Afro-Futurist future, the King of a prominent Nigerian village has died. The Kingmakers select an unsuspecting boy from South London to ascend him.
UK | 11min
Written and Directed by: Femi Ladi
Producer: Ray Okudzeto
Cast: Samuel Adewunmi, Funke Adeleke, Philips Nortey, Richard Olátúndé Baker
Pema
Murphy, a young Black girl of Congolese descent, suffers from depression. In opposition to a particularly religious and superficial family, Murphy has no other choice to survive than to take refuge in her bed …
France | 19 min
Written and Directed by: Victoria Neto
Producers: Anais Lonkeu, Lena Bapt
Cast: Lorena Masikini, Pauline Mbaku, Pol White, Dorea Da Rozalia, Cindy Wadja
Port Of A Prince
A young Haitian boy must decide if joining a gang is the right path for him.
USA/Haiti | 15 min
Written and Directed by: JR Aristide
Producers: Gilbert Mirambeau Jr., JR Aristide
Cast: Personna Wilensky, Guerrier Giovanni, Edmond Erthon, Rolando Etienne
Reunion *World Premiere
“Reunion” tells the story of what happens when a West African immigrant living in the Bronx discovers the child soldier who destroyed her family years ago is now a best-selling author living in NYC.
USA | 16 min
Directors: Zainab Jah, Tim Naylor
Writers: Tim Naylor, Zainab Jah
Producer: Djaka Souaré
Cast: Mayaa Boateng, Obi Abili
Somebody *World Premiere
As Jared contemplates ending his life, his plan is disrupted by a lost child seeking directions.
USA | 12 min
Director: JoJoe Earley
Writer: Ava Mone’t
Producer: Julio Mata Jr.
Cast: Kamil McFadden, Nyle Mckenzie
Speak Up Brotha!
After a brief encounter with an enigmatic woman in his car, a rideshare driver must learn to communicate in ways beyond his understanding to win her heart.
USA | 15 min
Director: Wes Andre Goodrich
Writers: Roderick Lawrence, Obbie West, James J. Johnson
Producers: Salma Qarnain, Roderick Lawrence, Dario Harris, Patrick Nichols
Executive Producers: Ron Gillyard, Will Campbell, Ike Mbanefo, Obbie West, Cameron Carr
Cast: Roderick Lawrence, T.C. Carson, Toni Lachelle Pollitt, Madeline Grey DeFreece, Alphonso Walker Jr., Justin Winley, Jaleeca Yancy
The Fairchild
The new membership desk assistant at an exclusive museum becomes a special exhibit when staff and visitors obsess over him and his hair instead of the art on the walls.
USA | 15 min
Written and Directed by: Danny Rogers
Producers: Alyssa Katalyna, Celai Ahmadzai
Cast: Danny Rogers, Eric Davis, Sierra Marcks, Lauren Killer, Ben Newton, Hunter C. Smith, Susan Priver, Frank Poynton, Maria Brodeur, Aeron Macintyre
TikTok Challenged
An elderly woman with Hollywood dreams enlists her grandson’s help to go viral on TikTok.
USA | 9 min
Written and Directed by: Ivan Rome
Producer: Yoko Kohmoto
Cast: Christine Smith, Thomas Walter Booker, Winter-Lee Holland, Kendel Rome
Welcome to Afrotree
After being fed up with life in the city, Steven and Janet move to a gated community where all the residents are Black. But, they soon realize their dreams have become a nightmare.
USA | 21 min
Written and Directed by: Chase Parker
Writer: Chase Parker
Producers: Chase Parker, Greg Rhem
Cast: Charlie Q. Smith, Wilson Christopher, Tra’Lynn Husbands, Colin Pieters
Since its inception, the highly regarded American Black Film Festival has become a cornerstone for diversity in Hollywood. It has premiered the work and supported the careers of many of today’s most successful filmmakers, actors, writers and stand-up comedians, and is recognized as a standard-bearer of excellence for Black creativity.
Sony’s PlayStation Showcase this year came with some big announcements. Most prominently, a new streaming service and PlayStation’s first official wireless earbuds. Project Q will be a dedicated device launching later in the year. It will allow you to play any compatible1 game installed on your PS5 console using Remote Play over Wi-Fi2. The device will deliver crisp visuals and smooth gameplay streamed from your PS5 when you’re away from your TV. All the buttons and features of the DualSense wireless controller, including adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, are featured on the device3.
They also revealed PlayStation’s first-ever official wireless earbuds. Launching later this year, the earbuds will feature new wireless technology developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment and will deliver lossless audio with low latency for a high-quality audio experience. These will bring next-generation audio immersion to PS5 along with PC, and feature connectivity to smartphones via Bluetooth. Sony will reveal more details over the next few months. You can see the first images above. And below is an official statement from SIE president Jim Ryan about these new reveals:
“Our fans expect and deserve a steady cadence of amazing content. Today’s presentation demonstrates our unwavering commitment to offering them the best and most varied catalog of games possible. It also highlights the tremendous popularity and power of the PS5 as the global development community rallies to push its advanced capabilities to the limit. We’re investing heavily in the future with innovative best-in-class hardware like PlayStation VR2 and the newly revealed Project Q, and our expansion into PC, Mobile, and Live Service gaming is transforming how and where our content can be enjoyed.”
We expect Sony Interactive Entertainment to reveal much more in the coming months.
The post Sony Announces New PlayStation Handheld and First Wireless Earbuds appeared first on Nerdist.
My Broken Mariko is a manga that has forever changed me. Published by Yen Press in 2020, it is the heart wrecking journey a young woman takes to liberate her best friend–a task she couldn’t complete in life. however, now she strives to do so in death–with Mariko’s ashes, that is. Waka Hirako’s stunning self-contained volume of manga is a difficult read about friendship and redemption but one that I recommend for its narrative depth and hopeful ending.
I was rereading the manga and was emotionally overwhelmed by this particular image found on the inside of the dust cover of the physical copy. I found the very same image on the very last page of the manga where the credits of the creative team and other publishing information is. I wanted to write on how the simple repetition of sharing this image adds not only to the overall story of My Broken Mariko but to me as a reader when I think on my cannon of images that strike me as comforting and profound in manga.
Note: This editorial will explore the women who are centered in My Broken Mariko. Please know that while I do not spoil the entirety of the manga certain details are revealed and elaborated on. To avoid any spoilers, please consider reading this brilliant manga and returning to read this editorial if this caught your eye!
Trigger warnings: mention of suicide, suicidal ideation, child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence in work and in the written editorial below
Comforting Mariko
In comics, but especially manga it is not uncommon to see hugs, to see embraces on the page. Characters in love, rivals duking it out, or friends encouraging one another. Hugs meet different characters at different stages of their stories. When I first picked up My Broken Mariko and opened the manga, the very first image that I saw was this one: of a little girl being held by a woman. Their eyes were closed and seemingly nothing interrupted them. I thought of it, before reading the work, as a sweet, comforting piece of imagery. And then I read the tale that is Waka Hirako’s English debut work and I wanted to be held.
RE: My Broken Mariko by Waka Hirako
— Carrie "Silk Press SZN" McClain (@DivineBlkPearl) May 8, 2023
(Yen Press) I am forever gonna be inconsolable, by the creative team placing this image from the manga on the dust cover—top ten manga images that wrecked me—like HOLD ME FOREVER PLS, EMOTIONAL DAMAGEpic.twitter.com/h0bxeOYqv8
My Broken Mariko centers on Tomoyo Shiino, a burned-out office worker who needs way more than a good night’s sleep or even a stiff drink to make it through the week. Life is a bit crappy, but it’s a living–it’s her life. She is blind-sided to the ninth degree to learn that her best friend, Mariko who has survived an incredible dysfunctional life–where she had survived several instances of abuse–has died. Shiino has known Mariko since they were school aged girls and has known the darkness that has permeated in her friend’s life. Shiino had been an anchor in her friend’s life. No matter what happened to her or how much they had drifted away as adults, she was a lifeline to Mariko.
Shiino couldn’t protect her from her secretive violence of her father in her childhood or the cancerous romantic relationship that produced broken bones and self-deprecating jokes. In her own way, Shiino was there for Mariko who was never properly loved nor appreciated. The image that readers are presented with is an imaginary one: of an adult, Shiino embracing her friend Mariko who is depicted as a young girl. This image is one that never truly happens in their lifetime. In short, it is a comforting, if not heartbreaking image, to open with to hint at the journey a young woman takes to not only comfort the memory of a dear friend gone too soon but herself, who is now alone in the world.
Liberating Mariko
The event that acts as a catalyst for this entire trip that Shiino takes in My Broken Mariko is when she literally liberates Mariko’s ashes from her father’s home. Shiino bravely enters the home of this man who heaped on years of abuse on her friend starting when she was a little girl. We’re talking years of abuse: including the physical abuse from Shiino’s’s memory of coming to the house as a kid and seeing her young friend cowering at the door with a vivacious black eye. We’re also talking about the sexual abuse Shiino accuses Mariko’s father of forcing upon his daughter as a minor before Shiino takes off with her friend’s ashes. This horrible man who created most of the great tragedies in Mariko’s life now has her ashes in his home. It is a sickening image to stomach with the knowledge as a reader that I have now.
Again, this image of Shiino embracing her friend Mariko as a young girl takes on another grander meaning if we read this physical act as a way to liberate her from her abuser and tormentor. In the first chapter of My Broken Mariko, Shiino goes home after hearing the news and recalls a childhood memory of first recognizing that Mariko was an abused child and how powerless she felt, unable to save her. Before leaving for her friend’s childhood home, she even thinks to herself that she’s going to “liberate her best friend’s ashes, even if she has to stab someone to do it.” Mariko’s ashes are being kept at his home, a place she probably never wanted to return to.
This embrace is a liberating one. This image of them embracing has no association to being handled roughly or with malice. It is an embrace without violence. It is a defining image of female love and adoration via friendship that I have locked away in my heart for the rest of my days on this earth. Shiino and Mariko in each other’s arms is simply one of the most moving and heartbreaking images that manga has gifted me that I continue to come back to.
don’t know who worked on the book cover design/ dust jacket design for the English version but I know that’s the first image I opened up to when I got my physical copy & the last and the way I sobbed— great imagery to remind readers of the love for and reclaiming of Mariko
— Carrie "Silk Press SZN" McClain (@DivineBlkPearl) May 8, 2023pic.twitter.com/lKlUiqzZZl
Reclaiming Mariko
When I originally wrote about this blistering, brilliant yet saddening manga for the site, I mentioned that Shiino set out to redeem her dear friend but also herself as someone who could never truly save her destructive friend who moved from one trauma to the other in life. As hinted on the first page of the manga, Mariko takes her own life. Shiino is left with survivor’s guilt on top of the guilt she carried around from not being able to save the lost Mariko from the troubles she found herself in. This image of their embrace makes me weep when I think of Shiino seeking to reclaim her friend from the dark hole she was in when Mariko considered herself broken, worthless, and unlovable–an unwanted stain. The very hole that she perhaps could not get out of when she decided to take her own life.
What Shiino was unable to do in life for Mariko is pressed upon by what she does for her after her friend’s death. In the climax of the manga, Shiino physically uses Mariko’s ashes as a weapon to save a fleeing crying girl in distress as she’s running towards Shiino–a total stranger. It is a most poetic intervention where this grieving young woman sees her beloved friend in the many stages of her life seeking aid, crying, and reaching out–and acts to save a life, the life of a young woman in distress. This act of protecting this girl launches both Mariko’s ashes and Shiino forward off the very cliff that Shiino cried at. It is the very place where she cries out to Mariko asking her why she didn’t ask her to join her in death.
In the aftermath of the encounter, she’s approached by another person, a young man she meets in her journey with her friend’s ashes. They have a brief conversation where he too mentions that he was suicidal once and the epiphany he gained was to keep living. Taking care of yourself and taking care of the one you loved in your memories is perhaps the best way to honor that person and in spirit, reunite with them. It is important to note this may not be the best answer for everyone grieving from losing a loved one to suicide, yet it is, in the best spirit, what Shiino needed to hear to be able to return home. As a character who is both mourning a friend she feels she failed to save from committing suicide and is also dealing with suicidal ideations through the book, this is a powerful moment of clarity and gaining back agency in her life that she felt she was losing after hearing the news of Mariko’s death.
Seeing the two young women hugging again on the final page reminds me as a reader of the great love we have for our friends that helps carry us through grief and the darker stages of mourning. Friendships of women in particular on the page always hit differently for me when I read them written and created by other women. When interviewed by Nancy Powell and a question regarding the intensity of Mariko and Shiino’s friendship came up, Hirako included in her answer: “…that the experience of female friendship depicted in this manga is probably somewhat universal, to a degree.” The friendship in the manga wasn’t based on personal experience but what she concluded of any good friendship between women.
When I think of this, my interpretation emphasizes the fiery desire that women have that they use to protect each other in this life and the next. It is the same desire that I have inside me for the women and femmes that I am honored to call friend that keep us connected through distance and time. On the pages of manga, seeing Shiino and Mariko’s embrace reminds me of that desire. Acting as a symbolic gesture only reinforces that great love in such a profound way that it will never leave my mind, now. I once wrote that My Broken Mariko effectively defines heartbreak, survivor’s guilt, and closure on the page. It is my hope that this narrative about a woman’s journey to give a beloved friend a final sendoff deserving of her only comforts, liberates, and reclaims any readers in the same shoes who pick up this manga and start reading.
Reaching out is the first step to safety. If you or a loved one are having thoughts of suicide, a mental health professional can help. If you are currently in a state of distress, this website will direct you to dedicated crisis services. If you are outside the United States, please consider this helpline that includes online chat and phone lines for finding help and resources.
My Broken Mariko is available where comics and most manga are sold.
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram!
The post Profound Images of Comfort Found in Manga (‘My Broken Mariko’) appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.