Saint Leroi is a film by tinypistol about a Black avenging angel come down from on high.
By reinstating Blackness as arbiter of justice and punisher of wrong amidst the ceaseless anti-Black apocalypse of America, Saint Leroi challenges who is allowed judgement, destruction, rapture, and rebirth. While a trenchant indictment of the blood-stained hands of all those—past and present—who know what they’ve done, Saint Leroi is ultimately an expression of belonging, utter grief, and radical love.
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Saint Leroi IS PART OF THE 2021 COUNTERPULSE FESTIVAL. LEARN MORE AT COUNTERPULSE.ORG/FESTIVAL2021
About the Artists
Maurya Kerr is a bay area-based artist, writer, educator, and the artistic director of tinypistol. Much of her creative work, across disciplines, is focused on Black and brown people reclaiming their birthright to wonderment. Maurya was a member of Alonzo King LINES Ballet for twelve years, an ODC artist-in-residence from 2015 to 2018, and holds an MFA in dance from Hollins University. Maurya’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in multiple journals, and was recently chosen by Jericho Brown as a runner-up in Southern Humanities Review’s 2021 Auburn Witness Poetry Prize; her chapbook “tommy noun.” was the Honourable Mention winner of Vallum’s 2021 Chapbook Award. Maurya is currently a UC Berkeley ARC (Arts Research Center) Poetry & the Senses Fellow.
Alexander Diaz (Saint Leroi) is an independent artist born and raised in The Bronx. Alex works with dance, theater, and performance art in order to explore memory, reimagine history, and create environments that facilitate awareness of self and the performance of self in relation to others. Alex began his training with the Bronx Dance Academy and Bronx Dance Theater, and is a graduate of the University of The Arts in Philadelphia and the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. Alex has had the pleasure of working with nathantrice/ RITUALS, Christal Brown’s INSPIRIT, Ray Mercer, Fredrick Earl Mosley, Sara Shelton Mann, LEVYdance, and has been a member of Maurya Kerr’s tinypistol since 2017. Alex is currently participating in Bronx-based Pepatián’s 2021 Dancing Futures: Artist & Mentor Collaborative Residency.
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Header Photo: Film still of Alexander Diaz as Saint Leroi.