The multifaceted Kwesi Abbensetts recently released Poems. A film about a couple traveling through Jamaica, Poems is a far cry from your average artsy cinematic offering. Poems doesn’t break the rules, it simply ignores them. Poems possesses an enduring but delicate dichotomy that teeters on the edge while still remaining tethered to a safe, warm place that could only exist in the heart. It blissfully stumbles between documentation and surrealism thus giving the film a sense of whimsical mystery. It invites you in without quite extending an invitation.
A collaboration with Anya Peters, the visuals of Jamaica are accompanied by Bob Marley’s recorded interviews. There is an undeniable synergy between Marley’s voice and Abbensetts’ imagery that forces the audience to listen with their eyes and as well as their ears.
Akeem is our founder. A writer, poet, curator and profuse sweater, he is responsible for the curatorial direction and overall voice of Quiet Lunch. The Bronx native has read at venues such as the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, KGB Bar, Lovecraft and SHAG–with works published in Palabra Luminosas and LiVE MAG13. He has also curated solo and group exhibitions at numerous galleries in Chelsea, Harlem, Bushwick and Lower Manhattan.