On the Battlefield

In the southern Illinois region of Little Egypt, a sound recordist revisits the flat fields where once stood Pyramid Courts – the housing projects that formed the heart of the Black community of his hometown, Cairo. His mic gathers sonic ephemera of past, present, and future within the grasses, trees, and skies. Kids play, birds flock, a grandmother and granddaughter burn sage for protection from evil spirits, and an official who oversaw the projects’ closing reflects on its psychic toll. Throughout, a 1970 private release LP by the United Front of Cairo, a Black power movement led by Rev. Dr. Charles Koen, guides the sound recordist – and us – on a search for connections across struggles for liberation, near and far. On the battlefield, these voices march towards resurgence.
As the first Little Egypt Collective release, On the Battlefield is an overture celebrating the joy and power of Cairo, a town famous for confluences and collisions: between the North and South, the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers, and Black liberation and white supremacy. The film offers an aperture of encounter, resistance, and inspiration, and invites audiences into these muddy histories and potent spaces.

Theresa Delsoin is an author, teacher, and community leader who grew up in Pyramid Courts housing projects in Cairo, Illinois. She has published multiple books that explore healing across race-relations and family histories, including the co-authored work “Malindy's Freedom: A Story of a Slave Family.” She is the first female director of a Boy’s Club within the Boys and Girls Club of America, a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Samoa, and a leader within Southern Illinois’s NAACP chapter and Community Health and Emergency Services organization. Her role as a founding member of Little Egypt Collective marks her foray into filmmaking.

Lisa Marie Malloy is an artist whose work centers cinema’s potential for collective world-mending, engaging communities in the US and Taiwan to create films such as The Raw and the Cooked (2022) and A Shape of Things to Come (2020). She uses cinema as a stage to illuminate connections across generations and between species. As a founding member of Little Egypt Collective, she focuses on leading filmmaking workshops with youth and elders.

J.P. Sniadecki is a filmmaker who works between China and the US in collaboration with people and places to make films such as A Shape of Things to Come (2020), El Mar La Mar (2017), The Iron Ministry (2014), Yumen (2013), and Peoples Park (2012). He is also a professor in the Radio, TV, and Film Department of Northwestern University, and a core faculty in the M.F.A. of Documentary Media. As a founding member of Little Egypt Collective, he works to create generative opportunities and connections for emerging artists.

Ray Whitaker is an artist and entrepreneur from Cairo, Illinois who previously lived in Pyramid Courts housing projects. At a young age he trained as a concrete worker with his grandfather, Elihue Whitaker, a figure who also shared with him the importance of cultivating the next generation. He is a founding member of Little Egypt Collective, where he focuses his efforts on training youth in Cairo to unlock their artistic potential through film and acting workshops.

Production Rachel Burns, Karin Chien, Judson Childs, Theresa Delsoin, Clarence Dossie, Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker. Production company Little Egypt Collective (Cairo & Chicago, IL, USA). Directed by Little Egypt Collective, Theresa Delsoin, Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker. Screenplay Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker. Cinematography Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker. Editing Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker. Music United Front Choir. Sound design Homer Mora. Sound Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker. Production design Lisa Marie Malloy, J.P. Sniadecki, Ray Whitaker. With Ray Whitaker, Rachel Burns, Zah-Karri Levy, Towanda Macon, Kyrie Wright, Reverend Dr. Charles Koen.

Films

Theresa Delsoin: 2024: On the Battlefield.

Lisa Marie Malloy: 2020: A Shape of Things to Come (with J.P. Sniadecki, 77 min.). 2022: The Raw and the Cooked (with Dennis Zhou, 22 min.). 2024: On the Battlefield.

J.P. Sniadecki: 2007: Songhua (29 min.). 2008: Demolition / Chai – Qian (62 min.). 2010: Foreign Parts (with Véréna Paravel, 80 min.), The Yellow Bank / Huangpu (27 min.). 2012: People’s Park / Renmin Gongyuan (with Libbie Cohn, 78 Min.). 2013: Yumen (with Huang Xiang and Xu Ruotao, 65 min., Forum Expanded 2013). 2014: The Iron Ministry / Tie Dao (82 min.). 2017: El Mar La Mar (with Joshua Bonetta, 94 min., Forum 2017). 2020: A Shape of Things to Come (with Lisa Marie Malloy, 77 min.). 2024: On the Battlefield.

Ray Whitaker: 2024: On the Battlefield.