Thursday, March 20, 2025 (Zoom): CYANO SUN SUITE screening
Join the League for a free online screening of CYANO SUN SUITE, a 43-minute concert film written, performed, and produced by Poet Ambassador in Residence Tawhida Tanya Evanson. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Tawhida.
Registration is required for this event; this event will not be recorded.
Dress up for the occasion, or join us in your coziest attire! Bring snacks, bring a drink, and settle in to share an hour with us, with each other, and with this incredible film.
Tawhida's recommended beverage for the screening: Black tea or bourbon.
Thursday, March 20, 2025 | 8pm ET
Shot at the iconic Montreal Biosphere, CYANO SUN SUITE is an award-winning concert film in seven poems performed to improvised hipjazzsoulbopfunkhop. With 50 awards so far on the international film festival circuit, CYANO SUN SUITE is directed by Stefan Verna; written, performed and produced by Tawhida Tanya Evanson; and featuring improvised music by members of Kalmunity Vibe Collective. This 43-minute visual album is an afro-ancestral dream of outer space told through word, sound and science.
From culture starters on Earth to the concept of freedom in outer space, CYANO SUN SUITE contemplates an Afrofuturist worldview as poems move up the food chain, or rather, through scientific levels of organization. Metaphors begin at the cellular (Culture Starter); then move onto tissue and organ systems (Incision); organisms (Ten Quintillion); population and community (Null Island); ecosphere and biosphere (The Mother of All Jams); planets and solar system (Extraterrestrial Diamonds); and end in the galaxy and observable universe (Sun Solo).
With Jean-Michel Frédéric (keys), Erik Hove (saxophone), Mark Haynes (bass), Jahsun (drums), Elli Miller Maboungou (percussion), and guest poet Kaie Kellough. Music production by Audio Coara and editing by Sharif Mirshak. A Mother Tongue Media production.
Tawhida Tanya Evanson
Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a poet, novelist, artist and Ashiq known for her work blending poetry, orality, music and multimedia. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, she performs internationally, has produced five audio recordings, six short films and the award-winning Afrofuturist concert film CYANO SUN SUITE, which premiered in 2024. Evanson has two published poetry collections and her debut novel Book of Wings won the 2022 CAM/Blue Metropolis New Contribution Prize. Her French autotranslation Livre des ailes was published in 2023. Evanson's work explores themes of African diasporic identity and Sufi spirituality, and she has received acclaim at home and abroad for her captivating performances and unique approach to poetry. She produces multimedia events as Mother Tongue Media, is recognized for her role as director of the Banff Centre Spoken Word program and is current president of the Quebec Writers' Federation. She moonlights as a whirling dervish.