Arts Organizations Partner for World Premiere of Daniel Roumain’s ‘They Still Want to Kill Us’

By Logan Martell

On May 25, 2021, Opera Philadelphia, in partnership with arts organizations nationwide, will present the World Premiere of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s new short film “They Still Want to Kill Us.”

The film is directed by filmmaker Yoram Savion and consists of an aria to be performed by mezzo-soprano J’nai Bridges. The project commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and also marks one year since the death of George Floyd.

“They Still Want to Kill Us” will be produced by Rika Iino and Ichun Yeh of Sozo Creative with support from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa; the work was commissioned by the Apollo Theater, Opera Philadelphia, the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage Anywhere, Joe’s Pub, Stanford Live, University Musical Society at the University of Michigan, Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, Creative Alliance, Bill Bragin, and Washington Performing Arts with support from National Sawdust, and the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation. The work will be distributed by ActiveCultures, Esty Dinur, globalFEST, ¡Globalquerque!, and HotHouse.

The program will include a discussion with Roumain and Bridges, moderated by Jamilla Deria, as well as a statement by Damario Solomon-Simmons of the Justice for Greenwood Foundation.

“Daniel’s beautiful project was in need, and the nationwide response of all these organizations quickly coming together to make an even bigger version of it happen shows what can happen when people work together in this historical moment of racial reckoning in the USA,” states Jamilla Deria, Executive Director of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “Together, we are imagining what more we could all do because we have realized what’s at stake for everyone in society. We must lift each other up, and Daniel’s project is a perfect vehicle to demonstrate both the brutal reality and communal potential of American society.”

The film will premiere on YouTube and Facebook, and will be available to stream for free on Opera Philadelphia Channel, AppoloTheater.org, Washington Performing Arts’s channel, and more.

Roumain’s piece “They Still want to Kill Us” was originally set to premiere at the Tulsa Opera but was cut from the company’s  “Greenwood Overcomes” concert due to what the company deemed sensitive lyrics.

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