Revival 24 captures a liminal moment in which, through the spirit, the Black body transcends a singular notion of masculinity to break free from the constraints of linear temporality. The film reflects an alternative tangible framework, where the contemporary and the archival converge, embodying an “untethered now.”
The film’s use of repetition and movement point towards African ontologies of cyclical time, rhythm, and ritual, affirming a diasporic sensibility that defies conventional narratives of linear progression and definitive endings. Instead, it asserts an alternative reality within the moving image, further reinforced by the choice to shoot entirely on 8mm film. The limitations of the analogue medium echo the film’s rejection of linear temporality, reflecting the tension between constraint and freedom, while simultaneously embracing the fluid nature of time itself. Each frame, captured in its “raw” state, becomes an artefactual testament of the fleeting experience, yet still existing beyond the confines of the present moment.
The film‘s title suggests a cyclical return, while alluding to the Jamaican Revival Zion religious tradition, particularly the Revival 60 and Revival 61 (Pocomania) movements. These movements, as Edward Seaga describes in Jamaica Journal, arose from the creolization of African Myal practices and European Christianity, forming a syncretic spiritual system where “the spirit becomes the activist.” within a complex intercessionary framework addressing communal and ancestral ties.
Revival 24 challenges the viewer to reconsider the temporality of Black identity and the body, proposing a vision where freedom is not bound by space, time, or societal constructs.