“I see America as a model for how the assembly of images can serve as an archive of the past as well as a document of the present,” Bradley has said. This film cites historical events, ranging from African American composer and singer Harry T. Burleigh’s publication of the spiritual Deep River in 1917, to the murder of popular jazz bandleader James Reese Europe in 1919, to the founding of baseball’s Negro National League in 1920. By including borrowed footage from Lime Kiln Club Field Day, she also shines a light on a film that was radically progressive for its time by celebrating Black vernacular culture. America is also a sonic exploration set to a score by Trevor Mathison and sound designer Udit Duseja, which reminds us of the importance of sound to conjure memories.
