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W Saint James Street, Tarboro, North Carolina.

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Churchyard View, Calvary Episcopal Church Tarboro

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View from front facing west - Old Stables, 117-119 Granville Street, Tarboro, Edgecombe County, NC

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First She Worked For The ACLU. Now She’s Making Documentaries About Blackness In America.

As Crystal Kayiza’s 14-minute film “Edgecombe” fades to black, a quote lingers on-screen for a few seconds. “What a life,” it reads.

It belongs to William “Wi” Joyner, an aged deacon at a historic Baptist church in predominately black Tarboro, North Carolina. He lived through the Jim Crow era, barred from using the water fountains and movie theaters designated for white people. Discrimination has defined his reality. Reflecting on it now, his eyes shift to the floor, and his lips tremble ― but he never raises his voice or loses his spirit. The horrors of the past help him unite the community through a shared belief in God and the sheer willingness to hope for a better tomorrow.

For Joyner, resilience in the face of adversity is the real American dream: “What a life.”

Kayiza met Joyner during one of two trips she took to Tarboro to make “Edgecombe,” a moving tone poem about the titular county. Practically everyone she encountered there suggested she meet Joyner, the ultimate Tarboro figure. When Kayiza finally did, she immediately understood why his presence around town has crowned him a local celebrity. One look at his hunched back and weathered face, and you know he’s a man who has been through it.

Dedicating a chapter of “Edgecombe” to Joyner christens Kayiza a promising new talent, someone with an eye for affecting stories. To watch the movie, which screened at last month’s Sundance Film Festival after being shown at festivals in Brooklyn, New Orleans and elsewhere, is to wonder where its 25-year-old director has been and where she is going. Her stylistic instincts ― using a dreamlike haze to capture a reality wherein the passage of time feels like a reverie ― are that good.

Read more about Crystal Kayiza and “Edgecombe” here.