Filmmaker Interview: Fulla Abdul-Jabbar

The unconventional artistic journey of Chicago-based artist and writer Fulla Abdul-Jabbar took her from working in biochemistry to creating experimental films. In this newly released short interview with the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Fulla discusses two of her works that were programmed at the 57th AAFF in March 2019: Why did you cry when you read that poem and A Comfortable Hole.

Fulla created the expanded cinema performance Why did you cry when you read that poem using Apple’s Keynote software, which she describes as a “potent, poetic, and personally expressive” media form. As one in a series of PowerPoint poems, Why did you cry when you read that poem explores the rigidity of structure and the quality of form that moves us.

Fulla's other work, A Comfortable Hole—which was a world premiere at AAFF—is described as "a PowerPoint poem that leans against its edge and falls asleep there." With both works, Fulla’s goal was to show how the PowerPoint media form is “intrinsically beautiful.”

To learn more from Fulla about these works—plus what she enjoyed most about the Ann Arbor Film Festival—watch the interview.