Co-produced with the Black Film Institute of the University of the District of Columbia the vision. the voice.

From LA to London and Martinique to Mali. We bring you the world ofBlack film.

Ifyou're concerned about Black images in commercial film and tele­ vision, you already know that Hollywood does not reflect the multi- cultural nature 'ofcontemporary society. You know thatwhen Blacks are not absent they are confined to predictable, one-dimensional roles. You may argue that movies and television shape our reality or that they simply reflect that reality. In any case, no one can deny the need to take a closer look atwhat is COIning out of this powerful medium.

Black Film Review is the forum you've been looking for. Four times a year, we bringyou film criticiSIn froIn a Black perspective. We look behind the surface and challenge ordinary assurnptiorls about the Black image. We feature actors all.d actresses th t go agaul.st the graill., all.d we fill you Ul. Oll. the rich history ofBlacks Ul. Arnericall. filrnrnakul.g - a history thatgoes back to 19101

And, Black Film Review is the only magazine that bringsyou news, reviews and in-deptll interviews frOtn tlle tnost vibrant tnovetnent in contelllporary film. You know about Spike Lee butwIlat about EuzIlan Palcy or lsaacJulien? Souletnayne Cisse or CIl.arles Burnette? Tllrougll­ out tIle African cliaspora, Black fi1rnInakers are giving us alternatives to tlle static itnages tIlat are proeluceel in Hollywood anel giving birtll to a wIlole new cinetna...be tIlere! Interview:------4 VDL.G NO.2 by Pat Aufderheide Malian filmmaker Cheikh Oumar Sissoko discusses his latest film, Finzan, aself­ conscious experiment in storytelling 2 2 E e Street, NW as ing on, DC 20006 MO· BETTER BLUES 2 2 466-2753 The Music 6 o by Eugene Holley, Jr. acquie Jones TheMan------8 istant Editors by Lett Proctor D. Kamili Anderson TheMovie 12 Peter J. Harris by Kalamu ya Salaam Consulting Editor Tony Gittens ( lack Film Institute) How to Make Trouble ------14 sociate Editor/Film Critic by Jacquie Jones Arthu r Johnson The recent Canadian release, How to Make Love to aNegro Without Getting Tired, sociate Editors has stirred up some trouble in the US-but for the wrong reasons Pat Aufderheide Roy Campanella, II Victoria M. Marshall What's New in the Cinema of Senegal ______16 Mark A. Reid by Francoise Pfaff Mi riam Rosen Saundra Sharp Filmmakers Mousa Bathily and Cheikh Ngaido Bah discuss their latest projects and Clyde Taylor movie-making in Senegal today Art Director/Graphic Designer Davie Smith FEATURES Advertising Director The Market: ------24 Sheila Reid Shopping for Images Editorial Interns Nicole Dickens by Victoria Marshall Kayhan Parsi The American Film Market Founding Editor David Nicholson Books: ------26 1985 - 1989 No Identity Crisis by John Williams Black Film Ravie (ISSN 0887-5723) is published Melvin and Mario Van Peebles' new making-of-the-film book four times a year by Sojourner Productions, Inc., a non-profit corporation organized and incorporated in the District of Columbia. This issue is co-pro­ Film Clips: ------2 duced with the Black Film Institute of the University of the District of Columbia. Subscriptions are $12 PBS Goes to Sundance, Gunn Tribute at the Whitney, and more per year for individuals, $24 peryearfor institutions. Add $10 per year for overseas subscriptions. Sub­ Reviews:_ ---- ~ ------20 scription requests ,and correspondence should be sent to P.O. Box 18665, Washington, D.C. 20036. Def by Temptation, Bal Poussiere and Without You I'm Nothing Send all other correspondence and submissions to the above address; submissions must include a Calendar ___ 32 stamped, self-addressed envelope. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. Logo and contents copy­ Classifieds --- 33 right (c) Sojourner Productions, Inc., 1990, and in the name of individual contributors. Black Film Review welcomes submissions from writers, but we prefer that you first query. with a letter. All unsolicited manuscripts must be accom­ panied by a stamped, self-addressed ~nvelope. We are not responsible for unsolicited "manuscripts. Black Film Review has signed a code of practices with the National Writers Union, 13 Astor Place, 7th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10003. HOW TO MAKE This issue of Black Film Review was produced with TROUBLE the assistance of grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humaniti.es, the National Endow­ ment for the Arts, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. ,14 PBS GOES TO F i I m eli p s gram included an after­ SUNDANCE ••••• noon-long "walkabout," in by Ellen Hoffman which participants were able to schedule brief ap­ The majestic snow­ pointments to discuss pro­ dusted Rockies and rustic posals for funding, produc­ cabins, screening room tion and distribution oppor­ and rehearsal hall of the action pictures." DePasse sessions, participants tunities for their projects Sundance Institute in Utah garnered a burst of ap­ alluded to the difficulty of with representatives of provided a serene setting plause when she asserted: convincing white television PBS, some Hollywood for an animated, provoca­ "Some day a Black is going decision-makers to air studios, foundations and tive conference of 100 to write a mainstream programs about minority the British Broadcasting minority women in the white commercial picture." figures or issues. One Corp. media in May. Another major discus­ conference participant The screening schedule It was designed to bring sion theme was the reported the difficulty of included "Family Gather­ women of color who are definition of such "multi­ convincing white television ing," Lise Yasui's attempt practicing filmmakers into cultural programming" and decision-makers that Miles to understand her Japa­ contact with leading the challenge of delivering Davis was an appropriate nese relatives' internment producers, directors and it to the public television subject for a television in camps in the U.S. during writers, both to discuss audience. Jennifer Lawson, show. World War II; Jude Pauline professional issues and to executive vice president for "When minority produc­ Eberhard's "Break of encourage connections that National Programming and ers have to deal with Dawn," about a Spanish­ could result in funding, Promotion Services at PBS, producers and executives language radio and record­ production and distribution defined multi-cultural who are non-minority, the ing star who protests the of their films. programming as by and burden is put on us to anti-Mexican policies of the For two-and-a-half days, about ethnic, racial and convince (them) that this U.S. government during invited participants at­ regional groups, but geared part of our culture is valid," the Depression; and Julie tended panel discussions to a general audience for observed Gail Christian, in­ Dash's forthcoming and presentations, a "walk­ the prime time schedule. dependent producer, "Daughters of the Dust." about" networking session, Mercedes de Uriarte, an former PBS official and Question-and-answer and screenings and discus­ assistant professor of conference co-director. To sessions with producers sions with women of color journalism at the University illustrate, she suggested. followed. about the films they have of Texas, warned against a turning the tables, imagin­ Yvonne Smith's "Adam produced. "vegetable soup" approach ing a situation in which the Clayton Powell," an Euzhan Palcy, director of to programming, one that decision-makers were all episode in PBS's series, A Dry White Season, and would dilute representation Black and a white "The American Experi­ Suzanne DePasse, presi­ of each ethnic or racial filmmaker "came in with a ence," provoked dent of Motown Produc­ group's uniqueness. She program on Pavarotti and tions, confronted the issue cited statistics showing we all said: 'Who's of how much afilmmaker that 76.5 percent of Pavarotti?' challenging must compromise in order television news directors the producer to to attain success in Holly­ are white males; 15.6 defend the wood. Palcy recounted the percent white females; 5 proposal. fight-which she ultimately percent black males; 3 To facilitate won-to make "A Dry percent Hispanic males; networking White Season" the story of 1.3 percent black females between the a Black family as well as and 1 percent Latinas. She filmmakers and that of a white one. suggested that placing the decision­ DePasse suggested that more people of color in makers, the pro- "a hot script is the way to such decision-making break into Hollywood." She positions is a condition of JennfferLawson, execu­ added that "right now, it achieving more truly multi­ tive vice president, Na­ happens (that Hollywood is tional Programming and cultural programming. Promotion Services Public looking for) white male In other conference Broadcasting Service

2 the most spirited discus- his play, the Forbidden novel, and collaborated maybe two, African Ameri- sion, including criticism City, starring Gloria Foster. with the late Kathleen can producers. These from viewers who felt that Gunn died last year of en- Collins on Losing Ground, become their 'in-house' the film did not focus cephalitis. in which he starred, and minorities. They proudly enough on the role of Curated by author Women, Sisters and showcase the one African racism in contributing to Ishmael Reed, the pub- Friends. (See Black Film American in residence and the late congressman's lisher of Gunn's second Review: Vol 5, No.2) expect to be congratulated. downfall. novel, Rhinestone Share- -John Williams There are far too many The screenings also cropping (1981), and his imaginative producers afforded the opportunity to award-winning play, Black NAACP BLASTS available for the studios. to discuss technical issues Picture Show (1975), the STUDIOS FOR limit the numbers they such as the use of anima- tribute was a once-in-a- hire." tion and video techniques lifetime event reuniting "TOK8IISM" Disney was the only and musical scores. friends and admirers of Sandra Evers-Manly, studio the report acknowl- Although much of the Gunn's work who flew in president of the Beverly edges as having "actively conference discussion from every major city in the Hills/Hollywood branch of searched" for more African addressed frustrating and country. the NAACP, has authored a Americans in areas in emotional issues that face Among the films and report analyzing studio which we have traditionally minority women in the videos showcased on the hiring practices. Contrary been under-represented. media, the main message program was Ganja and to recent articles in the Disney has launched a that emerged was probably Hess, Gunn's surrealistic New York Times that minority writers program. best put by Latina tour-de-force horror which present a highly favorable Evers-Manly is planning filmmaker Sylvia Morales, he starred in, wrote, and picture of the picture of to release a final report in who told an interviewer: "A directed; his "soap opera," Blacks in Hollywood, the September, in which each lot of women of color dwell Personal Problems Vol. I NAACP report reveals that studio will receive a too much on the difficul- and II (1980-1982), which there are actually fewer job "grade" based on its hiring ties. (But the difficulties) used cinema verite tech- opportunities today for practices. are a given." Her advice to . nique to depict the fluctuat- Blacks than there were a her colleagues? "Whatever ing values of a Black urban decade ago. CHARLES you want to do-write or working-class family; and "Ten years ago at least produce-just do it!," even the belated premiere of there were a few African BURNETT'S if it means volunteering to Stop! (1970), Gunn's X- American executives," the "AMERICA BE- work on a project free. rated, sex-death thriller report states. "Ten years "Have a plan, and then made for Warner Brothers ago at least there were COMING" FOR PBS have a Plan B in case Plan which marked his Holly- producers and production Award-winning A doesn't work out. If you wood directorial debut. A companies that were a filmmaker Charles Burnett don't have stamina, don't lurid, mystery-suspense- viable part of the system." is currently in post- get into this business." drama a la Bergman, the The brief report mentions production on a documen- The conference was film was a pioneer Black- the "invisible ceiling" that tary special for PBS, sponsored by the Public Hispanic coproduction shot exists in the studio struc- entitled America Becoming. Broadcasting Service. in Puerto Rico. ture that prevents African The project originated with - Ellen Hoffman is a free- Gunn's career hit a high Americans and other its producer, Daisil Kim-Gi- lance writer who lives in point in 1970 when Hal people of color from bson, who raised produc- Washington, DC. Ashby hired him to write reaching top management tion financing from the the screenplay for The and important creative Ford Foundation. America WHIDIY TRIBUTE Landlord (United Artists), positions. Evers-Manly, Becoming explores our FOR GUI\I\I produced by Norman who has been negotiating increasingly pluralistic Jewison. The film estab- with studio executives for society and the matrix of Bill Gunn, the late Black lished his talent as a improved hiring practices ethnic interactions in six pioneer actor-director- screenwriter. Gunn's since March, states in the cities including Miami, scenarist-author-p lay- screenplays include Fame report: "...our meetings Chicago and Houston. wright, was honored at the (Columbia) and The Angel and investigations have Burnett's latest feature film, Whitney Museum of Levine (United Artists). also highlighted the trend To Sleep With Anger, American Art in June the Gunn also penned All the towards 'tokenism.' Stu- starring Danny Glover, will day before the opening of Rest Have Died, his first dios have signed one, be released this fall. _ 3 Cheikh Oumar Si

by Pat Aufderheide comic standoff.) One woman tells about women's rights facing the the official, 'We're tired ofkilling entire community. "alian film director Cheikh ourselves for the likes ofyou." Ultimately Finzan is not the story M Oumar Sissoko, whose N anyuma is recaptured, trans­ ofNanyuma but ofthe social crisis second feature film Finzan debuted ported to her dead husband's vil­ precipitated by Nanyuma's (and in the U.S. simultaneously at the lage, and dragged through a civil" Fili's) resistance to tradition. San Francisco Film Festival and at wedding. Her son organizes a rau­ The drama is not intimate and Filmfest D.C~ in Washington, D.C., cous campaign ofhumiliation psychological, but social. The boldly terms hinlself a politically against Bala by lacing his water camera's focus is typically on the engaged 'filmmaker. His works with an herb that gives him diar­ small group--with plenty ofroom combine a search for popular form rhea and flatulence and by intimi­ for side and background action­ with a goal ofraising debate on dating Bala with imitations of rather than on an individual. Edit­ critical social issues. \ spirits; the gambits buy Nanyuma ing is minimalist and camerawork In Finzan, a moral narrative with time on her wedding night. is often static as ifthe director, tragic overtones is laced with The villagers then march on the through the camera, were intro­ slapstick comedy that draws from local police station to free the ducing us to an exemplary scene folk theater. It is a tale that Sissoko chief. This experience emboldens rather than attempting to erase the intended to entertain as well as the women to ask what the villagers psychological distance between teach. The story focuses on the will do about the plight of spectator and character. trials of two women: Nanyuma, a Nanyuma, threatening not to sleep recent widow, and her citified with their husbands until it is T he social crisis is an open niece, Fili, who has never under­ resolved. subject for debate, rather than gone the traditional clitoridec­ one that emerges through isolated tomy. ut not all organizing by women personal decision. Thus, characters Her cruel husband's death B goes in a progressive direction. openly denounce or proclaim liberates Nanyuma, but all too Fili returns with Nanyuma, on her their views. A woman says, "Are soon the village chiefapproves a father's orders, to the village. But women human beings or slaves?" polygamous marriage with her hus­ there she creates a scandal because and the chiefsays, "Excision is at band's buffoonish and idiotic she has never been excised. the very base ofour tradition!" brother, Bala. Nanyuma, in love Women, backed by the stern chief, That debate is reinforced by the with a handsome single man who excise her by force and she is taken soap opera plot twists, and by vhad begged the chieffor her hand away bleeding by her father. uninflected touches such as the without avail at her first marriage, N anyuma and her son finally constant sight ofwomen at work in fights the arrangement. She goes manage to leave the village uncon­ the background ofthe central into hiding in her brother-in-Iaw's tested, with her son quite possibily story. village; her.niece Fili supports her to find a better life. She leaves be­ Finzan is a self-conscious experi­ but her brother-in-law tells her she hind a village that has tasted the ment in filmic storytelling on con­ must marry his other brother, Bala. success ofcommunity organizing troversial social issues. It offers Meanwhile, the village receives a and that has gone through a jokes and buffoonery targeted at visit from a government represen­ painful awakening to the questions the culpable, and it also delivers tative who orders them to with methodical and deliver tons ofmillet at a painstaking clarity, its low, fIXed price for govern­ "[FINZAN] DEALS WITH EXCISION AS AN OPPRESSIVE message ofwomen's rights. ment storage. The villag­ PRACTICE, BUT I WOULDN'T WANT IT TO BE KNOWN AS A FILM ersjoin together to resist, Political involvement led by the chief. (He ABOUT EXCISION. I MADE IT GENERALLY AS A FILM ABOUT is in Sissoko's family forces the French-speak­ history; one ofhis ing official to negotiate WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM." mother's brothers was a with him in Bambara, in a famous anticolonial

4 activist who went on to support a term for a dance performed by accepted my argument. pan-West African federation and men who have done exceptional was eventuallyjailed after a West­ deeds; I have extended the term to BFR: Why did you decide to focus ern-inspired coup d'etat in 1968. women struggling for their free­ on women's rights? Sissoko, born in 1945, received his dom. As a French title announces Sissoko: When I was studying in higher education in Paris, having at the beginning ofthe fum, Paris in the '70s, the women's attended both the Ecole des Hau­ women do two-thirds ofthe world's rights movement was very large tes Etudes-Sciences Sociales and work, get a tenth ofthe reward and and made an impression on me. the French national film school. own only 1 percent of the prop­ But I think this is very much an He returned to work in Mali, erty. issue that belongs to the whole where he has worked as the head world. The Third World has its of a Malian government agency .BFR: How were you able to make specific problems; women are even producing documentaries and the film? more exploited than they are in newsreels. He recently helped Sissoko: It cost $350,000, and was industrialized countries. Some found a small filmmakers' coop­ funded in several ways. Some people say that women's rights is a erative, KORA films. Malian private investors put in First World luxury, but they are the Sissoko belongs to the Man­ money, and the government pro­ conservatives who want to maintain dingo culture, which encompasses vided in-kind contributions with the status quo. Bambara,.Dogon and other technicians and material. The I certainly wasn't the first person cultures. Finwn was made about German 1Vchannel, ZDF, also put to raise these issues ofwomen's Bambara culture in the Bambara in some money, as did the French rights in West Mrica. There have language, the dominant language Ministry ofCooperation. Finally, been conferences and discussions ofMali. we managed a pre-sale to an Italian by sociologists, historians and Pat Aufderheide spoke with educational firm. many other people. So the issues Sissoko in Washington, D.C., There are no professional actors weren't unfamiliar. where he attended packed screen­ in the film, but some semi-profes­ Still, no one expected to see a ings ofhis latest film for Filmfest sional-nobody works full-time as film on the subject, especially D.C. Translator Pat Belcher kindly an actor in Mali. I drew some [one] touching on excision. It's assisted in the conversation. cilent from the national theater one thing to have a conference company. The woman who plays among intellectuals and it's an­ Black Film Review: Finzan, like Nanyuma played the mother in other to make a movie about it. your earlier work, raises controver­ Garbage BoyS; this is her third fum. sial issues. And the village chiefhas been in BFR: There are very funny mo­ Cheikh Oumar Sissoko: Yes, six or eight films; he played the ments in the film and moments of Finzan forms part ofa series of king in Yeelen. low, scatalogical humor. films I have made about social Sissoko: This is all part ofa tradi­ issues in Mali and Mrica. The first, BFR: Did you have any difficulties tion ofpopular village theater ofwhich I am very proud, is a 35­ in getting your film approved in M~Ii? called Koteba. It's raucous and can minute documentary called Rural Sissoko: I had to submit the film be satiric. It's performed for free in Exodus, about the tragedy ofthe both in script form and in fmal village squares, and it's a forum for peasant during the drought. It was form to Malian government cen­ young people to raise social made in 1984 during the severe sorship. This is true throughout problems. It's a very old Bambara Sahel drought. The second is Mrica; there is no liberty ofexpres­ tradition. The part where the two Nyamanton (Garbage Boys), about sion. But I didn't have any real kids play tricks on Bala comes . the tragedy ofchildren. And now trouble. With Garbage Boys I didn't directly from there, as does the Finzan is about women. send them the real script the first character ofBala himself. It deals with excision as an time, and that caused problems. oppressive practice, but I wouldn't But this time I submitted the script BFR: You've combined several want it to be known as a film about we used. They approved it, too. styles, it seems to me; the film has excision. I made it generally as a In final form, they asked for tragic as well as comic elements and fIlm about women's rights and some small changes, which I didn't also a didactic element. struggle for freedom. I wanted to accept. For instance, they wanted Sissoko: I tried this in Garbage show that their need for emancipa­ me to cut the part about the ad­ Boys, too. It's a reflection ofmy tion was necessary for social prog­ ministration demanding millet at a choice to lure people into the ress, that it was a struggle both for fIXed price. I argued that there theater in order to hear my mes­ men and women. already was a public debate about sage. I also base my decisions on a the policy and that my fum fidelity to our oral traditions. BFR: What does the title mean? wouldn't raise issues that weren't I'm interested in people coming Sissoko: "Finzan" is a Bambara already in the air. Finally they continued on page 30

5 Mo' Better Blues

pike Lee's fourth feature film, Mo' Better Blues, starring Academy award-winner Den­ zel Washington, explores the complex, competitive and colorful world ofjazz musicians. Unlike other jazz movies ofrecent years (Round Midnight, Bird, Let's Get Lost), Mo' Better stays away from the "Hollywood" version ofthejazz musician: a lonely, tortured, drug­ crazed artist who spends his life playing to an unap­ preciative audience in a dingy nightclub. Instead, the movie presents the African American improvising artist as a multi-faceted craftsman. As Lee explained during a recent press confer­ ence, "I felt that we should do a contemporary look at jazz. What we ~ed to do was show a jazz musician [who] wasn't ajunkie or an alcoholic butwas an adult. Ifyou look at Round Midnight, the guy (played by the late saxophonist Dexter Gordon) was like a little child." Set in New York, Mo' Better is the story ofBleek Gil­ liam (Denzel Washington), a brilliant trumpeter whose passion for his music cuts him offfrom almost everyone around him-most notably, his band mem­ bers and the two women who love him: Indigo (Joie Lee), a schoolteac11er, and Clarke Betancourt (Cynda Williams), an aspiring singer. Ironically, the one per­ son Bleek isn't cut offfrom is his life-long friend but incompetent manager, Giant (Spike Lee), who ulti­ mately destroys him. continued on page 10

6 Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) is managed by his best friend, Giant (Spike Lee). Photos by David Lee By Eugene Holley, Jr. -

7 Mo' Better Blues III~

~I knew it was pointless. Still, when Bleek (Denzel Washington) showed up at Indigo's Uoie Lee) I sat there hoping that another lllan would lean over the banister. "Honey, who's at the door?" he would say. But no, this is Spike's world, where WOlllen (except for Nola), typically wait on and for lllen. So, after an obligatory scolding-he ignored her phone calls and the lettersfor over a year:-Indigo allows herself to get carried away, legs in the air, by her knight. So, despite the richly ro­ lllanced celluloid, Mo Better Blues is a Spike Lee joint after all. And while it is refreshing to see "Black love" on­ screen, Lee's depiction is insincere. The relation­ ship between Indigo Uoie Lee) and Bleek (Denzel Washington), in particular, lacks personality and ro­ lllance. The only selllblance ofchelllistry between the p~ir appears late in a briefand lllisplaced scene in which they discuss first loves. Clarke (Cynda Willi~ms), Bleek's other love interest, is fairly con­ vincing as a seductress though she does not even feign affection for Bleek or his rival, Shadow (Wesley Snipes). She lllerely "lllO' betters" one or the other sufficiently to facilitate her career.

To be fair, the WOlllen in Mo Better, though still Photos by Davi dLee peripheral characters, are lllore life-like than the WOlllen in School Daze or Do The Right Thing. They havejobs, hOllles and aspirations, notjust nubile

continued on page 11

8 Sleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) enjoys a passionate love affair with aspiring singer Clarke Betancourt (Cynda Williams). THE MUSIC continued from page 6 "proper attitude for the music." A far cry from last year's Do the Right Thing, Lee Wesley Snipes, who portrays Shadow Henderson, uses music, camera angles, dialogue, lighting, and Bleek's tenor saxophonist and rival, was gre\atly color in this film much in the same way that a jazz influenced by Thelonius Monk. "The archetype for musician spontaneously arranges harmony, rhythm, me is Monk. I can relate to Monk totally. As an and melody to create the completed composition. actor, I was inspired by all of the tapes I saw of him, More ofa quilt than a narrative, Mo' Better makes up listening to his music, and by how he perceived art for its loosely constructed plot and faulty dialogue and music. I immediately had a connection to it. In with explosions offertile color, texture and sound. a roundabout way, I'm Monkesquewith my acting. Lee says he decided to work I'll do something out of the on the film after he saw Bird, clear blue sky not knowing Clint Eastwood's 1988 film whether it's going to work or about legendaryjazz saxophon­ not. And that's the way Monk ist Charlie Parker. "It was such a was." dark film, it was raining in every In addition to Washington scene, it really didn't speak of a and Snipes, Bill Nunn and true Mrican-American exis­ Giancarlo Esposito play bassist tence. For me, it wasjust too Bottom-Hammer and pianist bleak." Left- Hand Lacey, respectively. In his last performance, the The fictitious quintet also late Robin Harris, to whom the features jazz drummerJeff film is dedicated, provides Mo' Watts (formerly with Wynton Better's comic relief in the role Marsalis and currently with of Butterbean, the MC for the brother Branford) as "Rhythm" jazz club Beneath The Under­ Jones in his first acting role. dog (which, incidently, was the Originally scheduled as a con­ title ofjazz bassist Charles sultant, Watts was given the Mingus' autobiography). acting assignment because of The set's technical advisors the difficulty of duplicating the included bassist Michael Flem­ complex rhythmic patterns ing, who played in Bill Lee's necessary for a believable per­ New York Bass Violin Choir, formance. saxophonist Donald Harrison In addition to commanding and trumpeter Terence Blan­ Giancarlo Esposito stars as performances and Ernest Dick­ chard. Blanchard, formerly of pianist Left Hand Lacey. erson's always brilliant cinema­ the Harrison-Blanchard quintet tography, the movie features (with Donald Harrison) and Art Blakey'sJazz Mes­ exceptional music writterl and performed by sengers, worked as Washington's coach throughout Branford Marsalis and his Quartet featuring Ter­ the shooting of the movie. "I worked on him getting ence Blanchard. Bassist Bill Lee wrote the original his embouchure (the correct placement of the lip and score. Also featured in Mo' Better is the music of tongue to the mouthpiece) and gave him tapes of Miles Davis ("All Blues"), Wayne Shorter ("Foot­ the actual music he was playing. I wanted get him to prints"), Cannonball Adderly ("Mercy, Mercy, a level to where he could actually play the melodies Mercy"), andJohn Coltrane ("A Love Supreme"). of the tunes in the movie," Blanchard said. "Denzel Although this film will probably not do as well as went beyond my expectations and his own. When Do The Right Thing at the box office, Mo' Better Blues you see the movie, you'll see Denzel playing the should attract young Spike Lee fans who may have notes." had little or no exposure to jazz and inspire them In addition to teach- to check out Monk, ing Washington the Miles, Coltrane, and technical aspects of "More of aquiD than anarrative, Mo' the rest of the giants. trumpet playing, Blan­ 'ene, If Mo' Better pulls this chard also had him off, it will have done studyJohn Coltrane, lUakes up lor its loosely constructed plot and more for jazz than Miles Davis, Ornette any movie before it.• Coleman, and Thelo­ faulty dialogue with explosions of fertile color, Eugene Holley, Jr. is the assis­ nius Monk through tant director of the National their music and vide- Jazz SeIViceOrganizationinWash­ otaped live perform- teare, and sound." ington, DC. He is a contributor toJazz TimesandTowerRecord's ances to develop the Pulse magazine.

10 ' THE MAN continued from page 8 singing career, doesn't find success as a songstress bodies. And at least, Lee resisted the temptation until after she beds the new bandleader. And, to turn the nightclub scene where the two women Indigo only merits Bleek's singular affe<;tion after appear in identical, Bleek-bought, red dresses into he's flopped onstage. a cat fight. Though such a turn of events would Lee has said that Mo Better is a film about relation­ have been consistent with the film's machismo ships, but the only relationship in this film that has subtext, we would have been deprived of Bleek's any depth is the one between Bleek and his ego. Al­ smooth-talking his way out of the dilemma so though the conclusion of Mo Better implies that wife successfully that we don't even know who ended and home are the ultimate panacea, we aren't con­ up going home with him. vinced. The women that Bleek sleeps with, like the Mter Bleek's musical and, apparently, mental boys in his band, are merely the landscape for the demise, both women do get what they want­ glorification of Bleek's "dick thing." Lee does Clarke gets a steady gig, and Indigo gets the guy­ capture the myopia of the self-absorbed artist and but both on someone else's terms. Clarke, though his inevitable alienation but fails to capture our she seems offended by Bleek's inference during sympathy.• pillow talk that she wants him to launch her Lett Proctor is a Washington, DC-based writer and editor.

Denzel Washington (Sleek Gilliam) and Joie Lee (Indigo Downes).

11 ..

by Kalamu ya Salaam

pike Lee says he really loves ally lackluster until the conclusion of the movie s~ and appreciates jazz music. beginning with a Branford Marsalis treatment of If that's true then why didn't Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" and ending ~. . he spend some time getting to with extended selections ofJohn Coltrane's knowjazz before he made Mo' Better recordings. Only two soundtrack numbers are Blues? Lee's failure to deal with the details ofjazz standouts. One is "TopPop 40," a parody of popu­ in this film mirrors a problem that many of us lar music; the other is a brief burnout number, have: we think that because we are Black and love "Knocked Out the Box." "Top Pop 40," is excel­ our culture then ipso facto we know our culture, lently rendered, but it's not ajazz number. It's a and, unfortunately, show tune complete that's just not the case. with "mugging" from The key failure here the band members. is that Mo' Better Blues The second excellent does not really deal number is a trumpet with jazz from either a solo which aptly accen­ technical, artistic or tuates the off-stage business standpoint. action of Giant, the We never hear the cats trumpeter's inept man­ say a word about their ager, getting his ass music except for whipped in the back Shadow (Wesley alley-except at this Snipes), the tenor point Bleek doesn't. saxophonist, saying that know that his boy is he wants to make his getting beat up. So music more accessible why is this trumpeter, to a broad audience, who up to this point yet the imagery and the plays in a cool style, playing in the film suddenly coming on make it clear that with a lusty, screaming Shadow is actually the solo like he was audi­ strongest voice on the tioning for Albert bandstand. Ayler (a tenor saxo­ It's Shadow who is phonists who played hounded by Bleek "free"jazz in the (Denzel Washington) extreme upper register and Giant (Spike Lee) of his horn)? for taking long, long Yes, the music works tenor solos (which is as music. And, yes, it's hardly what someone technically on target as who is trying to become a counterpoint to the popular with the masses Wesley Snipes stars as ambitious saxophonist ,alley action, but the would be doing). It's Shadow Henderson scene defies logic. Shadow who reaches Spike Lee, here, as in back in the tradition to revive a W.C. Handy song. so many other places in this movie full of plot So, on the one hand, while the script says Shadow holes, does not even suggest what's going on. wants to sellout and go the pop route, the action There are many other examples of the film's of the film shows it is Bleek, the oseriouso one, musical shortcomings, but they all point back to who writes and clowns his way through "Pop Top either an inability to figure out how to or a refusal 40." It's Shadow who upholds the integrity of the to rely on the music in a film that is suppose to be mUSIC. geared toward uplifting jazz. Even the soundtrack of Mo' Better Blues is gener- Furthermore,jazz as an art form is never dis- Photos by Davi d Lee 12 cussed. The history raise families be­ ofjazz is never even cause their music alluded to, and the gets in the way. The major musicians of absurdity of all of Jazz are never so this is that most of much as mentioned the musicians who as influential forces actually play the and role models in music heard in the the lives of the "Mo film, Terence Better" musicians. Blanchard and Neither the music Branford Marsalis, presented in the film Bill Nunn stars as bassist Bonom Hammer in particular, are nor any of the scenes family men. They dealing with the art or business of the music offer are the same age as those portrayed in the film, the viewer any insight into jazz. In fact, people but rather than basing this movie on the real lives who go to see Mo' Better Blues will not only leave of real musicians Lee concocts images that are not the movie unenlightened about jazz, they will consistent with reality. actually have been subjected to some major mis­ It's time for Spike Lee to expand h-is vision, and conceptions about it. In this regard, oMo' Bettero it's tim~ for him to employ talented Black writers is not even a noble failure. who ca~ produce scripts which reveal both the Rather than show the musicians discussing their beauty and the complexity of our lives and culture views on the major issues facing jazz musicians rather than scripts like this one that limp along_~n today, Lee resorts to presenting Bleek as the fake hipness from cliche to cliche, generalization cliched, lonely, temperamental artist who will let to generalization. nothing get in the way of his music or else Lee The ultimate insult, however, is that the ending wastes time focusing on contrived issues such as of Mo' Better Blues is dominated by the music of an in-band feud about the piano player bringing John Coltrane. It's the ultimate insult because a woman into the dressing room. during the period that Coltrane made his strong­ Early in Mo' Better Blues, Bleek claims he would est music he also reared a family and had an amaz­ curl up and die if he couldn't play music. At the ingly beautiful relationship with a Black woman end of the movie, he's alive and well and not who was both wife and musician. playing music. What was set up as the main con­ During this portion of the movie, lovingly photo­ flict of the movie ends up being a non-question graphed scenes flow across the screen, offering as does every other conflict. visual accompaniment to some of Coltrane's most By the Hollywoodish ending of the this film-the stirring playing. And what does Spike Lee do? He ex-trumpeter is now a family man (although we takes Coltrane's music and mates it with a story are never told or shown what kind ofwork he line that completely contradicts the example that does), married to a school teacher (in an un­ Coltrane offered. bearably and unbelievably mainstream America Lee originally wanted to title this movie A Love wedding), and raising a son who is suppose to Supreme, the song for which Coltrane is best re­ remind us of the young Bleek Gilliam (through a membered, but Coltrane's widow, Alice Coltrane, concluding scene which parallels the opening would not allow it. Three cheers for Alice Col­ scene)-Spike Lee has totally undermined the tranel' • integrity ofjazz musicians. It's all a neat little Kalamu ya Salaam is a New Orleans-based writer, music producer and package of stylistic garbage. arts administrator who has served as the executive director of the New The implication is thatjazz musicians don't Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation.

13 HowTo Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired is a comical and non­ committallitde film. Apart from its provoca­ tive and controversial tide, the film itself rarely tantalizes, much less disturbs. In fact, if it weren't for the tide, this film would have long since been swallowed by the art house circuit and forgotten, hailed by most white critics and dismissed by most Black ones. A deliberately paced film, How to Make Love follows its protagonist "Man," a writer in exile, around in a-day-in-the-life fashion, usually for­ getting to cue the audience to the fact that the film is about the genesis ofa novel and its ultimate conclusion. The film also fails to convince us that it is an exploration ofthe process ofartistic creation, excluding us from the connections between the artist's experi­ ences and his work and leading us instead into the tricky realm ofcasual interracial sex. Haitian-born Dany Laferriere, the author of the book on which the film is based and co­ author (with Richard Sadler) ofthe screen­ play, says it represents his answer to a ques­ tion a white woman in Montreal once asked him. The question: What do Black men talk about when white "Tomen are not around?

Scenes from How To Make Love to a Negro Without GeUing Tired from left to right: Man (Isaach De Banko/e) at his typewriter; Man and MilBicycleUe (Nathalie Talbot); Man and MilLiterature (Roberta Bileau); Man and Bouba (Maka KoUo) in their Apartment. I cannot disagree with his nation for the forbidden. But assumption that the stink about rather than address this, most Faculty Vacancy in the film's tide smacks ofan avoid­ critics have howled about the Visual Media ance tactic. After all, who protested offensive tide rather than the The Toy, the silly Richard Pryor ve... troubling and, to some, distasteful One Year Appointment hicle, an equally offensive tide and idea. School of Communication a more offensive film? More disappointing, though, are 'When I wrote this book and the missed opportunities of the Temporary one-year non-ten­ film I did not want to take an film itself. Rather than explore the ure track appointment avail­ nature ofMan's attraction to white ideology," he says. "I have put able for The American Univer­ myself in a position where anybody women, How to Make Lave simply can say this guy is a sexist or a presents it as natural. The idea that sity 1990-91 as Assistant Profes­ racist. But I wanted people to be beauty is personified in creamy sor of Visual Media, in the honest and discuss it. I did not find flesh is never challenged. The rela­ School Communication. that in America." tionship "between races, between Responsiblities: Teaching under­ The truth is How To Make Love is white girls and Black boys," as Laf­ graduate and graduate courses most problematic in the United erriere puts it, never questioned. in basic film/video production, States not because ofits tide but The nameless "Man," played by basic photography, film/photo sculpted, god-like Senegalese because it deals with Black men history and media studies, having sex with white women, a Isaach de Bankole, is a lighdy-elad relationship most Americans­ (or unclad), carefree child thrown script writing, and studio Black and white-are very uneasy into a candy shop ofwhite women. television; student advising; with. Beyond the fact that most Rarely, do we see the depth or assistance in facilities and ­ often when we've seen this particu­ insight ofMan, the artist, as an equipment management; lar relationship dramatized it has observer or luminary. Instead, we School and University service. been in the most demeaning and are subject to his silence, his ogling base sort ofway, and beyond the ofwhite women, and his occa­ Qualifications: M.A.; profes­ political issues ofthe cultivated sional pouting. Any depth in How sional backgrqund and experi­ alienation ofBlack men and Black to Make Laves characters come ence in appropriate areas re­ women in the cinema, and even from Man's philosophizing Muslim lated to teaching interests and beyond the politics ofbeauty in the sidekick, Bouba, the film's most capabilities; some technical African American community, the likeable andwell-roundedcharacter. expertise necessary; previous Still, Laferriere insists that this fact is that the pretense ofthe teaching experience preferred; sanctity ofwhite womanhood, like film is revolutionary because two of it or not, is as much a part of its three central characters are evidence of production of pub­ American culture as the animaliza­ Black intellectuals--one a writer, lications interests and potential tion and mystification ofthe Black the other a philosopher-and desirable. man. because its drug dealers are white. Competitive salary depending Unlike the relationship between But the film is anything but revolu­ tionary in its continuation ofthe on qualifications and experi­ stereotypes its title seeks to ridi­ ence. Position subject to final cule. Much like Keenan Wayans budgetary approval. C#V, and I'm Canna Git Yau Sucka, the film three letters of recommendation often comes dangerously close to should be sent to: stepping over the line between Visual Media Search Committee satire and reinforcement. School of Communication Although Laferriere says he's The American University generally pleased with the way his 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, novel was translated to film. "Maybe in the movie it was not NW Washington, D.C. 20016­ clear eIlough, but in the book it 8017. white men and Black women, was very clear that only the reader The American University is an affirmative which has been accepted as a who's reading the book knows very action/equal opportunity employer. Appli­ matter ofcourse in the brutal well that this is a writer," he admits. cations from women and minorities are dynamics ofslavery and colonial­ 'The other characters in the novel particularly invited. ism and their residual systems of think that he'sjust a sex object." inequities, white women and Black And, so do I.• men have been categorically off limits to one another, creating an JacquieJones is editorofBlack Film Review. Actor aura ofchild-like curiosity, a fasci- Madgi Barsoum assisted the author as translator. 15 by Francoise Pfaff Born in 1946 in eastern Senegal, Moussa Bathily at­ Cheikh Ngaido Bah was born in Senegal in tended the University ofDakar where he earned a 1949. In addition to his two feature-length films M.A. in history. He started his professional life as a and three shorts, Bah has made his mark in the teacher at the Alxloulaye Sadjii high school in history of Mrican cinema as one of the founding Rufisque. It was around this time, in the early '70s, members of L'Oeil Vert (Green Eye), an organi­ zation of filmmakers and technicians whose aim is to work together to exchange or share the technical resources and means at their disposal. This interview was conducted in Dakar, Sene­ gal, for Black Film Review.

BFR: Tell us about your forthcoming film? Cheikh Ngaido Bah: My next film will be La vie continued on page 19

Moussa Bathily (right) talks to cameraman Bara Personnages during the shooting of Des Personnages. that he became seriously involved in film criticism by writing a regular film review column for 1£ Soleil, a Se­ negalese daily newspaper. Later, after resigning from the school system, Bathily returned to Dakar, where he regularly attended film screenings at the Dakar Cine-elub. There he came into contact with such Senegalese filmmakers as Djibril Diop Mambety and MahamaJohnson Traore and started writing scripts. At that point Bathily became in­ creasingly impassioned with cinema and subsequently worked as Ousmane Sembene's assistant during the fI1mingof Xaw (1974) and Ceddo (1976). Mter such on-the-job training, Bathily started shoot- _ A scene from Xew Xew, a film by Cheikh Ngaido Bah ing his own fIlms. His best known works are Tiyabu Bira ------continued next page This interview was translated from the French by Francoise Pfaff, author of The Cinema of Ousmane Sembene, A Pioneer ofAfrican Film and Twenty-Five Black African Filmmakers and professor in the Photo courtesy Moussa Bathily Department of Romance Languages at Howard University.

16 (1978) and 1£ Certificat d'indigence manioc et a la sauce gombo, shot in also related to a number of problems (The Certificate ojIndigence, 1981). Wolofand in French, I try to be fair which occurred during the shooting? Tiyabu Bira is a feature film about by refusing the type ofMan­ Didn't you have very heavy rains pastoral life in Bathily,s native ichaeism currendy practiced in which destroyed the clay village village. 1£ Certificat do'indigence is a Mrica, and according to which all which had been especially -built for short fiction film which denounces white people are exploiters. Since the film? the inadequacies ofDakar's health we are in the post~olonialera, I felt Bathily: I'll be briefon this services. His latest movie, Petits it was both timely and appropriate particular point because bLancs au manioc et a La sauce gombo to depict the relationship between filmmakers have a tendency to ( lVhiteFolks &roed Manioc and Okra Mrican and Western countries with speak at length about the problems Sauce), was featured at the 1989 a certain amount ofserenity. My they have experienced with Mother FESPACO (Panafrican Film Festival film describes the tribulations ofa Nature. I'lljust say that I had in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso). group ofFrench technical assistants decided to film at a given time who live in a Sahelian village. because people told me that it Black Film Review: Bathily, what is hadn't rained during this season the theme of your latest film to date? BFR: Does the film focus on the for a hundred yearS' or more. I had Why did you call it Petits blancs au village or the technical assistants? my set built and shortly thereafter it manioc et a la sauce gombo? Bathily: It focuses on both, and rained cats and dogs for days. Moussa Bathily: I wanted to illus­ contains amorous interrelation­ There is maybe some type of trate the relationship between ships. conflict between God and Mrica and the West, but I wanted fIlmmakers because the latter think to do it in an ironic way. I did not BFR: What was your film's budget they are creators. So it seems that want to make a didactic film with and how did you finance it? God forces filmmakers to be a bit good people on the one hand and Bathily: It ended up costing more modest.... bad people on the other hand. I about $1,350,000, which is an thought that one could tackle this important amount ofmoney for a BFR: You worked as a journalist for fIlm in a humorous way. This film in Senegal. Petits blancs au a while, and you have also written a explains the film's tide, which is a manioc et a la saucegombowas number of short stories. What do bit long, but which thumbs its nose financed through my own savings these stories depict? at colonialism and at the myth of and the profits from my previous Bathily: One ofmy short stories is the cannibalistic savage. movies. It was also financed by the entided En circuitJenne ( Close Cir- SNPC (Societe Nouvelle de Promo- cuit). It's the story ofheads ofstates BFR: Does such a myth refer to the tion Cinematographique) of who gather to discuss the best ways mythical and stereotypical perception Senegal, the French Ministry of to avoid coup d'etats. While they of Africa? Cooperation, the European are meeting, pyrotechnics are Bathily: Yes, in a way, but the fIlm Economic Community, Channel 4 setting up fireworks. When the frre- also confronts Mricans, Europeans, (a British television station), as well crackers are heard, the heads of and Mricanists-you know, these as other agencies and organiza- state believe a coup has fomented people who have very fIXed ideas tions. against them. concerning the Mricans! Besides, I I would like to go further in am convinced that one should not BFR: Wasn't the cost of the film terms ofwriting. There is a great remain in one's corner in this difference between being a space age. We know as a fact that filmmaker and a writer. You need we generally need Apastoral scene fromTiyabu Biru a film by Moussa Bathily collaborators to foreign money make a film, and technicians to whereas writing make a film in equals solitude and Mrica. Moreover, total freedom. In it also happens fact, I like the thatyou get along challenge ofa with people who blank sheet of are not ne<;essarily paper. I'vejust Black. By the same fmished a novel token, you may about a l~year-old have a very poor boywhose mother relationship with is a prostitute. The people who are boy creates an Black. artificial world In Petits blancs au continued on page 18

17 #tKJNtN 8atUrt continuedfrom page 1 7 budget ofabout $850,000 and the made ofdreams. He plays with shooting ofthe film should take words which resound images and from eight to 10 weeks. with images which reverberate words. BFR: When we spoke earlier, you Call mentioned that you would like to go to BFR: Does your writing influence the United States. Why? your film language? Is there a Bathily: I think that I have for correlation between your two activi­ reached the limit ofwhat I can ties? Did you, like Ousmene Sem­ presently express in Senegal. Thus Entries bene, adapt some of your written I'd like to go elsewhere. Making a works to the screen? film in another Mrican country, Bafuily: I have done so only once however, implies getting involved with Des Personnages encombrants in a co-production, which is not ("Cumbersome People", 1976), in always easy. So, I have another which literary characters kill their possibility: to go to Europe or to author, whom they accuse of the United States. Depending on having betrayed them. The short the topic ofmy film I might be able story and the film are both surreal­ to fmd a producer and technicians istic. I like writing, but I have always in Paris. Yet, to make a film in National wanted to make films. My family Europe would mean to illustrate a thought filmmaking was not a storywith an Mrican content, serious career so I studied history which may be difficult for an Educational and became a teacher while Mrican to do objectively. The thinking about cinema. I began advantage with working in the writing while waiting to be able to United States would be dealing Film & make films. Then, ofcourse, when with a topic related to the Black I became a filmmaker I had much community and questioning its less time to write. past. Video BFR: Are you presently working on BFR: And delineate its Africanity? a film project? Bathily: Right. I must tell you that Festival Bathily: Yes, I am preparing I have already been to New York, l:4rcher Bassari ('The Bassari which is quite an exciting city. I Bowman"). It is a feature film based would like to live in New York for on the novel by Modibo Sounkalo six months and explore it further. 21st Keita. It tells the story ofman who Moreover, I'd like very much to ANNUAL COMPETITION kills people, rich people. He does adapt one ofChester Himes' stories so because they sold for their to the screen. Ifsuch a dream were Documentaries advantage the golden sword that to be fulfilled, I'd like to work with Dramatic Features & Shorts villagers had asked them to sell to professional actors and shoot a true get money to fight drought. There detective story Animation II Classroom Programs are already some people who are Medical/Health II Training/Instructional interested in this film: Channel 4 in BFR: In so doing you would in­ Special Interest II Made-for-TV England, WDR in West Germany, creasingly lean toward -commercial PSA's II Film &Video Art Canal Plus in France, as well as cinema? Already Petits blancs au other television stations in Italy and manioc et a la sauce gombo seems to Student-made Docs &Narratives elsewhere. Since my films have be a step in that direction. All of this never been commercially shown in seems far from the pastoral lyricism Mrica, I hope that l:4rcher Bassari of Tiyabu Biro ... Deadline: Dec. 1, 1990 will be shown on the screens ofmy Bathily: I think that I was very country. chaste when I made Tiyabu Biru. The fUm will be shot in three With time, one always prostitutes Entry Forms: languages to fit the story: French oneselfto some extent in order to NEFVF will be spoken by the bureaucrats, appeal to the public and be able to 655 - 13th Street Wolofwill be used in urban home make other films. Oakland, CA 94612 settings, and ~assari will be the 415/465/6885 language used for scenes taking BFR: Could the future of Sene­ place in the rural areas ofeastern galese cinema be linked to a more Senegal. I am planning for a continued on page 28 18 (}IJi~&t continuedfrom page 16 mature and become more in­ filmmakers wanted to develop en spirale ("Life in a Whirlwind") dustrious because such subsidies society through cinema and based on the novel by Abasse do hot bring in profits. From increase the sociopolitical CGn­ Mbione. It narrates the life of a 1983' to 1988, the state gave sciousness of the masses. Are we young man who lost his father more than $3 million to Sene­ leaning more and more towards a at an early age. He was brought galese filmmakers and very few commercial type of African cin­ up by his grandmother and films have been produced. ema? went to school until the age of Modern filmmaking implies a Bah: I was at the Niamey meet­ 15. Since he did not find ade­ wide distribution network. ing and a few of the things t~at quate employment, he joined Once, I had to confront were said put me to sleep whIle the army. Mter his discharge, [Ousmane] Sembene after he others made me smile. Why? his grandmother and his uncle said in a 1986 press interview Because Mrican filmmakers are gather their meager funds and that his forthcoming epic, behind the times in comparison buy him an old car so that he Samori, was going to cost $10 with Mrican ~lmgoers.Thefirst may drive a clandestine taxi cab. million. He added that in the European film was shown here By working at night, and United States this type of film at the turn of the century, ~nd through his passengers, the would cost twice as much. What since that time we have been young protagonist soon gets we were not told then [was] that shown award-winning films and introduced to the drug under­ when Francis Coppola, for in­ foreign commercial motion world. As a result he [gets in­ stance, prepares such a film he pictures. volved] with several situations, is not going to see the head of One cannot talk about raising and [obtains] $830,000 after his state to seek financial support. people's consciousness while boss dies in a car accident. The Coppola goes to see the dis­ most of the Mrican viewers want drug lord is to be played by tributor and he may tell him, "I to see commercial films. To a Jean-Paul Belmondo. Isaac de have a film with Marlon large extent, commercial films Bankole will play the main char­ Brando." The distributor' knows are the only ones able to attract acter. La vie en spirale will cost that this name will bring in wide audiences, especially now approximately $500,000. money and he is interested in when one can see good video the film project. This is a meta­ films at home. Nowadays Mri­ BFR: These actors, who are phor to tell you that Senegalese well-known in West Africa and can filmmakers have also to filmmakers should think in think in terms of popular France, should indeed facilitate terms of business, especially the commercial success of the cinema. when a film costs millions of What Mrican filmmakers do film! But now let us speak a bit dollars. about Senegalese cinema in nor talk about is the fact that general. Senegal used to be at the they used to make films for Eu­ BFR: How could Senegalese rope. Europe dictated what forefront of African filmmaking. cinema be revitalized? Today, although such films as Mrican cinema should be, and Bah: You have to start from Europe gave them a certain Camp de Thiaroye ("Thiaroye scratch and adapt to the needs Camp") by Ousmane Sembene amount of money to finance of the times. I maintain that one some of their film projects and PE ("White Folks served with must strengthen and link five Manioc and Okra Sauce") have based on scripts corresponding areas: promotion, production, to European views ofMrica. A just been released, one has the distribution, exhibition as well feeling that your country has lost lot of scripts were written, or at as the technical infrastructures. least edited, at the French part of its importance in terms of Filmmakers should not solely African cinema. How would you Ministry of Cooperation. In the depend on the State; they old days such motion pictures explain this fact? should obtain bank loans and reflected village life, class Bah: Senegalese filmmakers become accountable, even at conflicts, or the clash between have been responsible for the the risk of becoming business­ traditional mores and modern decline of Senegalese cinema, men. Whether one wants it or ways in Mrica; now these films particularly in the course of the not, cinema is a cultural indus­ deal with Mrjcan mystical past five years. A system by try. beliefs as in Eby Souleymane which you could get subsidies Cisse. Mrican masses do not from the State has been in place BFR: We are thus, according to really feel concerned with such for more than 20 years, which you, reaching another stage in the motion pictures. has created some sort ofwelfare history of African cinema; in par­ mentality among filmmakers. ticular, if one refers to the 1982 BFR: Some of Cisse's films like This.system worked for a while, Niamey Manifesto (Manifesto de Finye ("The Wind") have nonethe- but I strongly believe that Niamey). At that time, African Senegalese filmmakers should continued on page 28 19 Fresh Telllptress in Well Worn 'Def' by Arthur Johnson

It is truly commendable that 24-year-old actor horror favorites such as Abby and Blacula. The only James Bond III stars in, wrote, produced and di­ thing that saves Dejfrom complete horror film rected this all-Black-cast horror film for his own cliche is its talented cast. Kadeem Hardison, from company, Bonded Filmworks. But his film, Def l7y TV's "A Different World," gets to show a sensitive Temptation, has a well-worn horror film plot: a de­ side and a great deal of big screen charisma. Freed monic killer who lusts for human blood. The only from the broad comedy acting style required by twist on this old theme is that the demon is a sitcom TV, Hardison manages to flesh out his woman in a tight dress (Cynthia Bond) and all her homeboy'character as Bond's best friend, an ex­ victims are the men she picks up at a bar, takes to seminarian turned action film star. He's both her apartment for four-star sex, then kills in a funny and touching, indicating he may have an variety of acting future beyond the Cosby dynasty. bloody and Bill Nunn, Radio Raheem of Do the Right Thin~, bloodcurdling provides a good deal of comic relief as a bar deni­ ways. In fact, zen who unsuccessfully hits on the ladies at the bar the most star­ witl'} a never ending stream of outrageous pick-up tling scene of lines and lies. AndJohn Canada Terrell, the nar­ the film in­ cissistic muscleman of She's Gotta Have It, appears volves the briefly as a bartender and victim. He appears--­ villainess sod­ once again-in the nude. omizing one of Bond, however, as the film's main character,­ her conquests. lacks the star quality and charisma to carry the film Dejresembles and perhaps should have cast Nunn, Hardison or the many "Exor­ Terrell as the lead. Brief appearances by Freddy cist" clones of the mid 1970s, Left: Kadeem Hardison in Def by Temptation. Below: The including all­ Temptress (Cynthia Bond) seduces one of her victims (John Black-cast Canada Terrell). . Jackson and Melba Moore add little to the film. Cinematogra­ ADifferent World lor Kadeem Hardison pher Ernest Dickerson, best by Lett Proctor known for his collaborations t's a long way from Brooklyn to Burbank, but for Kadeem Hardison, the with Spike Lee, is responsible for beguiling Dwayne Wayne of NBC's "A Different World," it's been a the film noire look of De! Still, the film's most laudable pleasure trip. feature is the fact that it repre­ He began training as an actor at the age of 7 with Earle Hyman (Grandpa sents the tenacity of today's Huxtable) and then later at Weissbanen, where students' performances Black filmmakers who can were videotaped and then critiqued by talent scouts. His first paying job, at accomplish the herculean task of the age of 14, was an ABC Afterschool Special, "The Color of Friendship", a getting a Black film into your portrait of race relations in public schools. The lead role in "The Color of local movie theater. Friendship" was played by James Bond, III, director this year's Del by Temptation, in which Hardison stars. The Other Side Typically, work for the aspiring actor was sporadic. Hardison worked as a bike by Pat Aufderheide messenger in New York between auditions. His big break came three years ago in the form of Dwayne Wayne. Darrell Bell, who plays his sidekick, was up for Mrican cinema has a sober the same part. and socially-conscious interna­ tional image, and indeed its vital­ "I was in New York, and he was in L.A. auditioning for the same part. I'd call ity has typically been linked to its him up and say, 'Yo, man, I got a callback on that Different World gig,' and he'd social relevance. But there's say, 'Me, too,' and this went on until I was getting ready to go to L.A. to audition another side to Mrican cinema for it. And I called him up and told him, and he said, 'I'll see you there.' And I'm as well, that of lighthearted, like, hey, hold up now, he was a business major who dropped out of college to often bawdy comedy. Bal Poussi­ do Spike Lee's movie (School Daze) and now he's up for my part?! He .ain't paid ere, written, prodlIced and no dues. I've been busting my chops for 11 years." directed by Henri Duparc from When it came down to auditioning for the network, though, the competition the Ivory Coast, showcases this had been eliminated. Hardison had the floor. "I went in, gave them all some style. Like the Zairian-comedy La dap, told a few jokes, loosened everybody up a little bit and they asked me what Vie Est Belle, by Ngangura Mweze, I'd do with the money if I got the part, and I told them I would buy a BMW-I it has roots in French farce as was talking about a bike, but of course they thought, 'Little negro, soon as he well as showcasing folk humor starts making some money the first thing he wants to get is a fancy car.'" and topical jokes. And like that film, Bal Poussiere raises questions After two successful seasons on "A Different World," the network execs about the line between fullbod­ bought Hardison a BMW-a model car. By that time, though, he had already ied humor and offensive rein­ bought one motorcycle and traded it in on a second one, which he rode to LA forcement of stereotypes. from Las Vegas in the rain. Now, he's hoping to cut a deal with Honda to be a Bal Poussiere features the clash spokesperson. "I told tell them they could keep the money, just give me a bike!" between city and country, and He's planning a motorcycle trip from L.A. up the coast to· Vancouver, B.C. during between men and women. The the show's hiatus. heroine, Binta, is a young rebel When he's not biking, Hardison still remains far from the world of Holly­ who balks at her city relatives' wood's glitterati. "It's always a "Who's Who" thing when .you go out, wherever desire to make her into a maid you go. I did all my partying at 18,19, 20 in New York. Now I've got everything I and keep tabs on h,er; she wants need at my house-a computer, Nintendo, a VCR, my comic books, my pit bull. to go to school by day and party The most I do is go to the movies on Thursday nights." at night. She's sent back home, As for his future in acting, Hardison remains hopeful. "I'm very satisfied with where a lascivious polygamist­ Dwayne Wayne, the way he's matured over the years, and since Debbie (Allen) known locally by his nickname of took over, we have a lot more input over what the characters say and do." He Demi-Dieu (half god)-wants to enjoyed working with Keenan Ivory Wayans on I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Spike add her to his five-wife collec­ tion. (The wives all disapprove.) Lee on School Daze as well as James Bond, ilion Del. But, he explains, "That Binta's father approves the wasn't like work; it was like play because these dudes let you improvise. If it marriage, and the flamboyant works, they keep it, and if not, they don't. wedding shows off the husband's He hopes to work on more small budget projects in the future and has no wealth, even though Binta has desire to direct. In the meantime, Hardison will continue enjoying the fruits of warned her husband, "I'm not a his labor (he plans to buy a bigger bike, a "crUiser") and hopefully a long career virgin." The wedding night is a with many credits. "When I auditioned for Performing Arts (high school) in New comedy of one-upmanship. York, I didn't get in. Look at me now!" _ continued on page 22 Lett Proctor is a Washington, DC-based writer and editor.

21 REVIEWS continued from page 21 hard to be a crowd-pleaser by character to step over the line This is only the first of Binta's offering raucous scenes of city from funny to crude. There are outrages against her new hus­ entertainment, of lewd rural very few Mrican women band's control, and the first of buffoonery and of the culture filmmakers, and so it may be a his problems in juggling his clash between city and country. bit of a wait to see what an marital responsibilities to his Perhaps the most self-consciously Mrican farce produced by a many wives. The local great man responsible moment occurs in woman would look like. But it is reduced to a figure of buf­ the first few seconds of the film, would be very interesting to find foonery by the savvy girl who when a prostitute attempts to out. won't be tamed, although along engage a tavern patron, who the way the other wives begin to responds, "And what about Without You revolt. AIDS?" This question never Imagine a film with comedy III the process, the film maker reappears. and music and lots of Black folks makes the most of his lead Bal Poussiere was a smash hit at on camera at all times featuring actress' stunning physical attrib­ the 1989 Ouagadougou biennial songs made famOllS by Nina utes, providing close-ups of festival ofMrican cinema, and Simone ("Four Women"), Billy jiggling breasts and a full-screen was also popular at the 1990 Paul ("Me and Mrs. Jones") , close-up of buttocks. So even Filmfest D.C. Its vigorous popu­ Sylvester ("Do You Wanna Funk though the joke's supposedly on lism clearly has mass appeal, as With Me" and "Mighty Real") the powerful polygamist, Bal does its lowest-common-denomi­ and Prince ("Little Red Cor­ Poussiere also shamelessly ex­ nator physical humor. But many vette"), plus rap music, a hotjazz ploits the prancing figure of the international audiences may find combo, and references to Diana citified girl. The movie also tries its exploitation of its central continued on page 31

Take Control of Your Future at UDC

Stancey Stewart came to the University of the District of Columbia in 1981. His mind never showed up. Stancey was playing hard in the street. .. having big fun. His reward: Four "F's" and one "A". The playboy student became a statistic...another dropout. Doing back-breaking labor for small pay checks drove Stancey back to the classroom in 1984. Stancey got busy. And he put his priorities in order. He remembers: "At UDC, I learned how to learn! I learned how to apply myself to a task, how to improvise to achieve a specific goal, how not to rest on my achievements, and how to reach higher for the next goal." He learned to be a winner, not a statistic! The results: In May 1990, Senior Class President Stancey Stewart graduated, magna cum laude, with a For additional information bachelor's degree in journalism, one of about 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs Call UDC-2225, or write: available at UDC. Pay raises and new job opportunities were offered by his employer. His self-esteem is Office of Undergraduate Admissions, or soaring. The system is working for him now. Office of Graduate Admissions University of the District of Columbia 4200 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Stancey left behind almost 12,000 other smart people Washington, D.C. 20008 at UDC who are determined to take control of their future, too. -JJ1- . Join them! ac the smart choice EEO-AA

. 22 OSCAR MICHEAUX KATHLEEN COLLINS SPIKE LEE EUZHAN PALCY ST CLAIR BOURNE BILL GUNN MENELIKSHABAZZ ELLEN the vision. SUMTER MICHELLE PARKERSON the voice. HENRY HAMPTON MED HONDO From L.A. to London and Martinique to Mali. SOULEMAYNE CISSE YOUSSEF We bring you the world of Black film. CHAHINE HAILE GERIMA SAUN­ Black FIlm Review brings you news, reviews and in-depth interviews from the most vibrant DRA SHARP ROY CAMPANELLA, movement in contemporary film. Published quar­ II REGINALD HUDLIN CHARLES terly and recognized internationally, Black Film Review is the foremost chronicle of the efforts of BURNETT MEDHI CHAREF AVERY filmmakers throughout the Mrican diaspora. And with Hollywood commentary as well as features on BROOKS AYOKA CHENZIRA other filmmakers working outside the mainstream STANLEY NELSON SIDNEY POI­ industry, there is always something for everyone. Subscribe today, or send $3 for a trial issue. TIER ISAAC JULIEN ROBERT You won't want to miss another one. HOOKS IDRISSA OUEDRAOGA , , Black Film Review takes up where the SARA MALDROR BILL DUKE likes of Variety and Premiere leave off JEAN-MARIE TENO ARTHUR ~SI because itgives me in-depth articles and interviews about film that's happening in BITA KATHY SANDLER NEEMA the other three quarters of the world-. BARNETTE BILL FOSTER TOP­ the majority of the world. And as a new producer, it's heartening to see acelebra­ PER CAREW ROBERTTOWNSEND tion offilm that reflects my efforts and my MAUREEN BLACKWOOD JOHN perspectives. ,, AKOMFRAH MARTINA ATILLE Gloria Naylor, Author and Independent ROBERT GARDNER DEBRA Producer ofMama Day.

ROBINSON MURIEL JACKSON ~------I WOODY KING MELVIN VAN DYES! Please start my subscription PEEBLES DUANE JONES GAS­ with your next issue enclosed is $12. DYES! Please send me a trial copy TON KABORE JULIE DASH enclosed is $3. BROCK PETERS DIDI PETERS YULE CAISE DONNA MUNGEN Name ------

RONALD WAYNE BOONE MAR­ Address ------

LON RIGGS BEN CALDWELL City --- State -- Zip ---,---- ZEINABU IRENE DAVIS MICHEL KHLEFI OUSMANE SEMBENE Clip and send this coupon with payment to Black Film Review, PO Box 18665 JAMES BOND III ELSIE HASS WIL­ Washington, DC 20036 L ~ LIAM GREAVES • AND MORE

23 by Victoria M arshall

24 t the American Film Market funding to complete her film and Honey, scripted byJamaican [AFM] , held in Beverly Hills currently in production in Can­ playwright Trevor Rhone, re­ earlier this year, more than ada while Wendell Harris, ceived critical acclaim in its 800 buyers from Asia, Eu­ winner of the GrandJury Prize at limited commercial release in rope, the South Pacific, North, the Sundance U.S. Film Festival the US, it sold poorly at AFM, Central and South America met for his first feature, Chameleon according to the sales rep. to purchase and sell the licens­ Street, was there to market a Overall, the 1990 AFM essen­ ing, releasing, national and completed film. tially featured for 'sale B-rated, international distribution and Buyers from different nations, flashy action/adventure films. exhibition ofAmerican film. for example Embrafilmes, the The majority of buyers, from Deals made at AFM, the largest Brazilian national film promo­ Japan and Europe, were looking commercial audio-visual enter­ tion organization, came to see for material to fill their rapidly tainment market in the United what sellers offered for theatrical developing video and TV pro­ States, determine access to release, video sales and television gramming industries. However, money and international mar­ broadcast in their homelands. the ending of the Cold War and kets as well as the prospects of AFM newcomerJAMPRO, the the uncertainty of the effect financial gains far down the line Jamaican Economic Develop- economic integration of Europe for a large numbe'r ofAmerican ment Agency, was on hand to in 1992 will have on the global films, some ofwhich will never sellJamaica as a technically film industry slowed buying this be seen in the US. sophisticated location site. year. In addition, many other For the occasion, the rooms The Black films marketed at companies are considering the and suites of the Beverly Hills AFM varied greatly in subject future use of laser video, high Hilton were transformed into and production value as did the definition television, live tele­ negotiating salons, dressed ' structure of their sales pitches. satellite links, and holographic palatially for those companies Perfume, RolandJefferson's soon imagery and were more cautious that could afford it and modestly to be released feature, was in their buying. for those that could not. marketed with a highlight on Not surprisingly, there were At AFM, deals are made at former Love Boat star and not many Mrican-American faces various stages of the production filmmaker Ted Lange. Lange is to be seen-besides the added process. Actress and filmmaker featured in Perfume, the story of security officers and custodial Rae Dawn Chong, for example, four middle class Black women. crews. Eventually, though, a few was there searching for a dis­ Defby Temptation, on the oth'er Black sales representatives for tributor and post-production hand, was over-promoted as a the releasing companies, lawyers, film with an "all-Black cast." bankers, producers, and journal­ AFM also featured A-rated ists made appearances. Still, films such as Driving Miss Daisy Mrican-Americans are poorly and Milk and Honey, the story of represented within this phase of aJamaican who travels to Can­ the film ,industry. ada to find work. Although Milk' To bolster and develop distri­ bution of their films, Black filmmakers might focus more on targeted market sales to foreign buyers. "Rebound marketing'" to intended American audiences might be.a welcomed result. According to many sales reps at AFM, buyers want access to more varied international, multicultu­ ral products, and less violent, more realistic, quality films are increasingly sought. IfAFM is any indication, the new and extended European markets, including former colonies, may provide new avenues for the distribution of Black films.•

Black Film Review Associate Editor Victoria Marshall is a LosAngeles-basedfreelance writer. She is also director of an international film promotion company, Reel World Imagery.

25 No Identity Crisis

No Identity Crisis Baadasssss Song by Melvin and Mario Van Peebles (1971) is the New York: Fireside/Simon and indisputable Schuster Inc. prototype pre­ 260 pp., Illus., $9.95 (paperback). ceding Lee's by almost two by John Williams decades. Then, too, No In Melvin Van Peebles' second Identity Crisis can making~f-the-filmbook, "No be read not only Identity Crisis", the 57-year~ld as a making~f­ maverick actor-producer-director the-film book who starred as "Sweetback" in the but also as the now-legendary Sweet Sweetback s allegory ofa Baadasssss Song (1971) reemerges father's and as "Block," the tough, no-nonsense son's attempt to father ofMario Van Peebles' come to terms "Chip." with one an­ Sectioned into two parts, the other-Melvin book chronicles the making ofthe syQJ.bolizing the movie Identity Crisis from its seem­ "pull-yourself-up­ ingly wacky genesis as a script by-the-boot­ called 'To Die For" all the way to straps" genera­ its ultimate completion as a father­ tion ofthe '60s sonjoint business venture. and Mario, the Together, as partners in the children ofthe independent film production post-Civil Rights company Block and Chip, Inc., Black middle No Identity Crisis co-author Melvin Van Peeble. father and son confront do-or-die class ofthe '80s. obstacles in the gritty world of Early on, the book hints at the movie strip boards, and wonderful guerilla filmmaking. Much like father-son conflict at the root of black-and-white stills ofthose Spike Lee's making~f-the-film the film's very conception. "I had members ofthe cast, family, and book, spike Lees Shes Cotta Have It: initially thought of Identity Crisis as friends who contributed to and Inside Guerilla Filmmakin~ No a 'who-dun-it' with humorous inspired its production. Identity Crisis is a step-by-step characters, but emphasis on No Identity Crisis gives invaluable blueprint charting the nuts and intense situations," writes Mario. insight into the plight oftwo bolts ofBlack independent film 'This became an on-going point of talented artists working together as practices from pre-production to contention with Dad, who per­ a team against the maligned iInage post. ceived it as a flat~ut, nutty-eomedy oftheir people. It is also a testa­ Unlike spike Lees Cotta Have It a la Ghostbusters meets ]\;farried to the ment to the dogged strength ofthe (SLGHl), though, No Indentity Crisis Mob." blood bond holding father and fails to achieve the point ofresolu­ This fundamental difference in son together under duress and a tion Lee's book did with the story opinion between father and son's moving account ofthose who ofthe acquisition ofa distributor conception ofthe film is never nurtured it. and Shes Cotta Have Its subsequent resolved in the film itselfwhich The elder Van Peebles was commercial release. As ofthis often bounces back and forth recendy honored by the Metro­ printing, Identity Crisis still lacks a nervously between the two unsure politan Museum ofArt in New distributor. And while SLGHI, ofwhat exacdy it wants to be. York, a first for a Black filmmaker, Lee's first offour books, may be Told with wit, passion, and with a retrospective covering more considered the standard for works humor, the book features Melvin than three decades in his career. in this genre, Van Peebles' The and Mario's father-son diaries, The program spanned the now­ Making ofSweet Sweetback s illustrations ofthe Identity Crisis classic trilogy first screened at the 26 French Cinematheque-Sunlight (1958), Three Pickup Men far Herrick (1958), and A King (1958) (which was missing)-all the way to Identity Grisis (1989), written by and starring Mario. Sweetback, for which Melvin Van Peebles is best known, was shot by his one~man production company, Yeah, Inc., in 20 days in southern California with a $50,000 loan from actor-eomedian Bill Cosby and monies earned from Van Peebles' first Hollywood feature, Watermelon Man (1969). The film triggered a wave ofcheap Holly­ wood imitations known as the "blaxploitation" films as it soared on to become one ofthe highest­ grossing Black films in history. Melvin Van Peebles was born in Chicago in 1932. Mter graduating from Ohio Weslyan and serving in the military as an Air Force naviga­ tor, he moved to San Francisco where he published a photo essay about the city's cable cars, The Big Heart (1957) . Mter finding the Hollywood fIlm industry closed to Black directors, he left California for Europe where, among other things, he did graduate studies in astronomy, toured with a Dutch repertory theater company, and worked as a journalist. He fmally setded in Paris in the '60s. In 1967, Van Peebles was cata­ pulted into fame when his first feature fum, La Permission("Story of a Three-Day Pass"), premiered at the San Francisco Film Festival. As a protest against the racist Ameri­ can film industry, he attended the festival as a French delegate. The fIlm's success broughtVan Peebles to the attention ofColumbia Pictures for which he scripted Wa­ termelon Man (1969), his only film to be distributed by a major studio. In addition to being an accom­ plished fIlmmaker, Melvin Van Peebles' accolades include 11 books, four television specials, three Broadway and two off-Broad­ way Tony award-winning plays, and numerous recordings and music videos.•

John Williams is a writer, editor, and critic who writes for Black Film Review and the Independent. ;t(tKJ4Itb 84 ~~8ai ontinuedfrom page 19 continuedfrom page 18 out of a section of Medina commercial type of filmmaking that less been greatly appreciated by where buildings were to be would be more flourishing because it audiences in West Africa. erected. My film tells the story would generate profits? Bah: Yes, because Finye ap­ of a young girl born in Medina, Bathily: First ofall, Senegalese pealed to youth, and the same who grew up in Tablo Feraay films should be actively distributed thing was true of his motion and carne back to her former throughout the world because picture, Baara. Yet I was disap­ neighborhood to work as a releasing a fIlm solely in Mrica pointed by Yeelen. This film wa~ maid for a young Senegalese does not payoff. In Senegal the well done with beautiful images; couple currently residing in the fIlmmaker gets 25 percent ofthe however, today one can have new buildings. profits. You are told that 50 per­ beautiful images as well as a cent ofthe profits go to the city. strong and meaningful content. BFR: What about Rewa Dande So, the 50 percent that is left is Not everybody favors the mak­ Mayo? shared between producer and the ing of detective or action films, Bah: This film was primarily filmmaker. This is not a viable yet I do believe that these types meant to be a documentary. So system! We should aim at the of films can serve to instigate I went on location to Maurita­ international fIlm market, which the making of others. In Africa nia, to the other side of the means that we should follow widely we have a wealth of unexplored Senegal river. I stayed there for accepted norms. Ifwe are not able themes related to our societies three months with a friend of to hire famous actors, we should at and cultures. mine who is an agronomist. least illustrate popular and univer­ There, I realized that I could sal themes which may appeal to BFR: Could you briefly talk make a feature film. Rewo Dande international audiences. I don't J about your past, and especially Mayo depicts a very old village see. any problem in doing that. If about your training as a whose life is disrupted because fIlmmakers want to convey a filmmaker? shepherds have to become particular message, they can still Bah: I was born near the reli­ farmers after a water system is do so within these criteria.• gious city of Tivaouane. In. 1968 put in place to create and I went to Dakar to go to college, irrigate rice fields. One shep­ but I ended up not registering. I herd cannot cope with such a stopped at the French Cultural change and wants to leave his Black-owned Center, where I received some village. He eventually dies training in film. Later, I worked before the irrigation system is independent for Senegalese television and I completed. was sent to Paris for further production practical training at INA [Insti­ BFR: How much Rewa Oande company tut National de I'Audiovisuel]. I Mayo cost? subsequently came back to Bah: About $68,000 at the seeking potential execu­ Dakar where I produced televi­ time: $15,000 carne from my tive producer for sion programs. It was at that personal funds, $34,000 was low-budget feature film time that I shot La Brosse ("The provided by a Mauritanian presently in development Brush"), which was followed by development company, and stage. Arret Car ("Bus Station") . Both $17,000 was obtained through shorts were made in 1973. La the advanced selling of the non­ Please contact: Brosse depicts one day in the commercial rights of the film. AnthonyThoDlpson life of a young shoe-shiner in Belgian television and the Sene­ Dakar. Arret Car is a film on bus galese Film Fund [Le Fonds JUMP AT DE conductors in that same city. D'Aide pour L'lndustrie Cine­ matographique] also provided BFR: And then what did you do? some money to make the film. SUN FILMS, INC. Bah: In 1975, while working, I Later on, the French Ministry of made a medium-length film, Cooperation bought the motion 180 Troy Avenue entitled Tabio Feraay~ In 1976 I picture. Apt.4J resigned from Senegalese televi­ sion and, two years later, I shot BFR: Did Rewa Dande Mayo Brooklyn, NY 11213 my first film called Rewo Dande generate any profits? Mayo ("The Other Side of the Bah: Yes, some very limited (718)735-8424 River"). Tablo Feraay is the profits which barely allowed me name of the shanty-town which to start my second feature film houses people who were forced entitled Xew Xew ("Celebration

28 Begins"). Then, I had to discon­ become very successful. In the ate future of Senegalese cinema? tinue the shooting of the film end, Xady's parents make up Bah: I am optimistic about it for six months. I was subse­ with their daughter. but I think that some of the quently able to continue and people belonging to the old finish the film thanks to a BFR: You are not making films guard of Senegalese filmmakers distribution advance of some as often as you would like. How should step down and give us a $10,000 provided by SIDEC (So­ do you earn a living between two chance. They are hurting a ciete d'lmportation, de Distri­ feature films? whole generation of filmmakers. bution et d'Exploitation Cine­ Bah: Between two feature And what saddens me most is matographique) and an equal films, I try to shoot documenta­ that countries such as Mali and amount of money given to me ries and films on development. Burkina Faso, which have even by CIDC (Consortium Interafri­ Recently, the European Eco­ more limited economic means, cain de Distribution Cinemato­ nomic Community commis­ are making more films. Of graphique). Xew Xew's total sioned a series of films on trade course, it may be said that budget amounted to $136,000. and agricultural projects in Se­ Malian and Burkinabe Xew Xew was released in 1982, negal. Now I'd like to make a filmmakers get state support and well-known Senegalese documentary on Japanese prod­ and that they are making the musicians as Ie Xalam and ucts in Senegal. All of this is not same errors we did 10 or 15 Youssou N'Dour performed in it. very creative but it allows me to years ago. Yet, although their survive economically. errors may be identical to ours, BFR: What is Xew Xew's story? they may be able to find differ­ Bah: It is a film about Sene­ BFR: Would you like to add ent solutions.• galese music, whose growth I anything concerning the immedi- have been witnessing for 10 years. I have a lot of friends who are musicians. I used to spend a 17 East 17th Street, 7th Floor great deal of time with them, New York, NY 10003 m RODDCTIO1\1 (212) 675-3000 and I saw what they went (212) 675-3275 FAX through. The kids had patched­ II"P ART NER 5'13 up guitars but they stuck to for B 1 a c k and L a tin 0 I mag e S, Inc. their music, and there was a lot of action. They were really setting a good exampIe for me Join us if you ... as a filmmaker. Of course, making a film or staging a play costs more than composing and playing music. Yet, I said to We are a myself that Senegalese music, of I WATCH MOVIES not-for-profit group which we are proud, could serve that helps film and as an example to the develop­ video makers ment of other artistic fields. through low cost production BFR: Could you further elabo­ equipment rental, rate on the plot of this film? MAKE MOVIES consulting services Bah: It is the story of several (or want to~ and investor musicians and also that of Xady, searches. With our a young sociologist who belongs help, more and to the Senegalese bourgeoisie. better films by and This young woman falls in love about Black and with one of the musicians, INVEST IN MOVIES Latino people can which causes her to be rejected (or want to~ be presented to by her family. Therefore, Xady eager audiences. goes to live with the musicians and has a child. In order to support her child and finan­ cially help the musicians, the young woman works as a soci­ Call us to join or to contribute to our Production Fund! ologist. In the meantime, the musicians work very hard and

29 CHEIKH 0 MAR SISSOKO continued from page 5 Sissoko: The son is the mother's interchange quickly. We wanted to to the theater to see social prob­ greatest support; he must defend include the body stances, the lems. And those problems fre­ her and take charge. This is part of gestures, all ofwhich are also part quentlyare dramatic. People don't Bambara tradition. The daughter ofthe dialogue. want to come to the theater to get will move away to another family I avoided close-ups and a tight depressed and weep. The way to but the son will remain and always focus generally. I know American bring them in is to have them see keep his mother at his side. The films do this, and I see it as a the problems through a story that mother is sacred. technique to ·idealize the individ­ engages them. But in each generation, the ual. My intention was to show that young come up with a different people are never isolated. I didn't BFR: What has been the reaction in attitude toward women, and this want to emphasize individuality. Mali? young man supports the liberation It's not one person but the group Sissoko: It's been shown so far ofwomen. I created this character effort that influences events. only in large towns, and I've been to show hope in the next genera­ I tried to give my characters at the showings to see how it's tion. individuality as well; Nanyuma is received by the people because I the most typical example. I wanted care-I made it primarily for them, BFR: The"crisis of Fili exposes to show her sentiments, but I although I am also interested in contradictions within tradition. wanted to integrate that into her international reaction. Sissoko: Yes, particularly in the social reality. Reactions have been very posi­ character ofher father. He has It was important for me to know tive; people have come in great moved to the city after the death that the people come to an aware­ numbers. It was released in De­ ofhis wife in childbirth. He is ness ofthe need for group action. afraid his daughter as well will When they resist the government cember 1989, and before the be- 0 ginning ofRamadan in March'it hemorrhage ifshe is excised, so he demand for a forced sale ofmillet, had drawn in 84,000 spectators. moves away from that tradition. the men and women band to­ More women than men come to But the city has its own dangers­ gether to resist in an organized see the film. And when I walk many children ofmigrants be­ way, and it works. They won a down the street women stop to come petty criminals and prosti­ victory, and that's the road to re­ congratulate me. They often say tutes. So he sends her back to the solve problems. This is the depar­ they're happy because a man village with Nanyuma when he ture for liberation. finally sees their point ofview, rejects Nanyuma's bid for support. At the start Nanyuma is isolated although I don't think I'm the only I wanted to show the bad and and people even organize against one. But it is true that so far this is the good ofthe city-it poses her. Some women come to unite the only Mrican-made feature film problems ofalienation but it can with Nanyuma, although some whose subject is the rights of also free one from tradition. Also, women also oppress Fili. At the women. There is another film you see that Fili's father is very tra­ end she leaves the village, but she from Burkina Faso called My ditional yet can also break with leaves with a man, her son. It Daughter tVill Not Be Excised dealing tradition. shows that men and women to­ only with excision; I didn't want to gether will solve the problem, that restrict my film to this one subject, BFR: Your editing style and the problem ofwomen is the but to address the rights ofwomen camera work seem consciously to problem ofsociety.• avoid that psychological intimacy generally. Pat Aufderheide is an assistant professor in the Still, people have criticized the that marks many Western entertain­ School ofCommunications atThe American Uni­ ment films. versity and a senior editorofIn These Times news­ film saying that there are many paper. other women's problems it does Sissoko: The narrative style is not cover. For instance, it doesn't part ofthe oral tradition. I wanted to conform to those traditions. I . Market your fillll get into religious oppression of services and products women in Islam or the heavy un­ edited the film with an Mrican, in equal burden ofdaily work falling Burkina Faso. Mali has no post­ to our readership by on women. You cannot do every­ production equipment. I took advertising in the next thing. But I did consciously design three assistants from Mali as well, the film so that, no matter what is to train them. We took five Black film Review going on in the foreground, the months to edit, and we discussed frame is filled with women carrying the montage at every step. We for lJ10re i JlforlJlrltioll wood, preparing food, hauling talked especially about maintain­ COIl trlct; water-eonstantly at work. ing the spirit oforal tradition. For instance, in the meeting between Sheila Reid, the commissaire and the chief, a Ad1.JertisiJlg Director BFR: The mother has a very tender 2(}2-466-2753 relationship with her son. European film would handle that

30 REVIEWS continued from page 22 her singing or her comedy-the she is committing box office Ross, Tina Turner, Nikki Gio­ announcer even mispronounces suicide by failing to ground her vanni, Amiri Baraka, Vanity her name. film in middle-class white cul­ Martin Luther King, the blues, Early in the film, her manager ture. And Black audiences are Mingus and scat singing with a explains that she booked probably unfamiliar with her score by Patrice Rushen. To top Bernhard in this club because except for appearances on "The it all off, imagine beautiful Black Bernhard's ego had ballooned Arsenio Hall Show." Even so, actress Cynthia Bailey haunting so much after her Broadway many Black moviegoers will the film with mute, sporadic ap­ success and that to play before probably fail to recognize the pearances. such a cold audience would name Nina Simone as well as her This sums up about 50 percent bring her down a peg or two. famous '60s protest song, "Four of the film Without You I'm Noth­ Bernhard takes no notice of the Women." When Bernhard ing. The other 50 percent is the audience's ennui, however, and dressed in Mrican garb and sang inimitable and fresh presence of performs at full throttle through­ the song's first line, "My skin is comedienne Sandra Bernhard. out. Black..." the predominately Without You is the film adaption Only Bernhard's boldness of white audience of the screening of Bernhard's hit one-woman concept and her supreme self­ I attended laughed. Broadway show of a few years confidence could Qave But clearly Bernhard's intent is back. But instead of going the prompted her to make a film in more political than comic as she usual Broadway act-to-film route which she is not the adored sings the song in its entirety (to a of actually filming a stage per­ center. How many performers bumpin' accompaniment by the formance and interspersed with would dare portray themselves as on-stage jazz combo). Is she shots of the audience laughing a flop in their own film? Fortu­ lampooning the persona of a uproariously at her, Bernhard nately for Bernhard, her atypical, self-deluded star desperately has chosen a more daring con­ off center satire is too strong to trying to reach her onscreen cept. Though she is white and be threatened by this less than Black audience or is she grab­ Jewish and a New Yorker, her complimentary presentation of bing the attention of her yuppie concert film within a film is her talent. white film audience? Is she com­ performed before a visibly bored The other risk Bernhard has menting on a white-dominated and indifferent Black audience taken here is to fill the film to society that so routinely rips off in a nightclub in Los Angeles. the brim with references to Black culture only to throw it The audience never applauds Black music and culture. Clearly back at the Black people that originated it? If so, no wonder The editors wish to acknowledge the following donors the onscreen audience is so for their generous contributions: bored. Cynthia Bailey provides the final commentary, giving the Atlanta Mrican Film Society ~ Elizabeth Alexander silent crowd the last word on all ~ Anonymous ~ Mauree Ayton ~ Neema Barnette that has gone before. ~ A~Lelia Bundles ~ Roy Campenella~ II ~ Elden Cave Finally, Bernhard's politics­ sexual, social, and racial-seem ~ Mhye Cham ~ Joel Chaseman ~ Herbert v. Colley~ Jr. to be the whole point of Without ~ Robert H. Devine ~ Lewis Erskine ~ Kay Ferguson ~ Richard and Phyllis You. And, that's quite an agenda Ferguson ~ Bryan Fortson ~ Charles Fuller ~ Dr. Naomi M. Garrett for an American comic in an era ~ Henry Louis Gates ~ Mahle J. Haddock ~ Robert S. Hainey ~ Judi Hetrick when crotch and bathroom ~ Elizabeth Jackson ~ Charles F. Johnson ~ Charles E. Jones ~ Humphrey C. humor have become comedy Jones ~ Humphrey C. Jones~ Jr. ~ Charles Larson ~ James Alan McPherson norms, while racism, sexism, and ~ Ethel S. Meeds ~ Rodney Mitchell ~ James A. Miller ~ Spencer Moon homophobia are reaping big bucks for comedians who have ~ Gloria Naylor ~ Michelle Parkerson ~ Annell Primm~ MD ~ Diane Porter nothing else on their minds.• ~ On The Potomac Productions ~ Elaine Pounds ~ PRN Music Corp. AJ. ~ Richard L. Rivard ~ Trodville Roach ~ Roger B. Rosenbaum ~ Charles Scattergood ~ Charles Sessoms ~ C.C. Still ~ Julia Sweig ~ Piankhi Tanwetamani ~ Gina Ferguson Thomas ~ Eve A. Thompson Black Film Review Associate Editor/Film Critic Arthur Johnson is a published fiction writer ~ ~ ~ Robert Townsend Josephine S. Wade Dr. Leroy Wells and a produced playwright. PatAufderheide is ~ Winnie Williams ~ Marti Wilson ~ Paula Wright ~ Joyce Payne Yette an assistant professor in the School ofCommu­ nication at The American University and a ~ senior editor ofIn These Times newspaper and All donations to Sojourner Productions, publishers of Black Film Review, an Associate Editor of Black Film Review. are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law.

31 September SEPTEMBER 21 THROUGH OCTOBER 21- 929 Harrison Ave., Suite 104 The wealth and diversity ofvideo being made by Columbus, OH artists living in Brooklyn will be examined in The (614)299-5355 Brooklyn Museum's six-week series 'Working in Brooklyn/Video." Introduced by video artists and ," SATURDAYS, SEPTEMBER 29 THROUGH followed by discussion, these thematic programs DECEMBER 15 include tapes that express personal and political The Black Heritage Film/Video Festival: poets, writers points ofview while experimentirlg with the capabili­ and performers. Also a special tribute to Bill Gunn ties ofthe video medium. All programs are offered at (1931-1989). 2 p.m. in the Museum's Education Division located on the first floor and are free with Museum admission. The Landlord; Script by Bill Gunn. Directed by Hal Ashby. Sept. 16 - Image, Music, Text;Jem Cohen, guest Personal Problems; Directed by Bill Gunn. speaker Blacks andJews; Produced and directed by Ishmael Sept. 23 - Media = POUJer, Ardele Lister, guest speaker Reed. Sept. 30 - tvhat is a Good Woman? Kathryn High, guest speaker Silver and Gold; (Zimbabwe) Miriam Patanza. 1989 Oct. 7 - Personal Visions; Kristine Diekman, guest The People's Poet (UK/South Mrica) Mravision 1989. speaker Avenue Louis Messiah Oct. 14 - New Histaries; Rea Tajiri, guest speaker Ishmael Reed, Sonya Sanchez, Clayton Riley, Louis Oct. 21 - The Next Generation; Thomas Harris, Massiah and others will be among the guest present­ guest speaker ers. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Dara Meyers-Kingsley Rodney Lee Coordinator ofFilm and Video Programs Langston Hughes Community Public Programs and Media Library and Cultural Center J The Brooklyn Museum 102-09 Northern Boulevard 200 Eastern Parkway Corona, New York 11368 Brooklyn, NY 11238 (718)651-7116 (718) 638-5000, ext. 234 FAX (718)651-6258

SEPTEMBER 21 The Atlanta Mrican Film Society will screen the film Garbage Bays. Directed by Malian filmmaker Cheikh October Oumar Sissoko. At the Georgia Pacific Center Audito­ OCTOBER 16 & 17 rium, 1333 Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta, GA 30348. Gordon Parks will host a two-day mini-film series as FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: part ofFestival 2000. Featured filmmakers include Monica Freeman Ulysses D.Jenkins,Jr., Dinorah deJesus Rodriquez, Program Coordinator Dario Sanmiquel, Rick Tejada-Flores and Roberto The Atlanta Mrican Film Society Bedoya, and the Focus Media Collective. Festival 2000: (404)525-1136 A Celebration of Cultural Diversity will present 200 performances, 50 events and 1,000 artist overall. SEPTEMBER 25 THROUGH 28 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Prized Pieces, Int'l Video/Film Competition. Awards Festival 2000 ceremony and festival on November 8,9,10 and 11. 1182 Market Street, Suite 210 Prized Pieces events recognize, honor and showcase San Francisco, CA 94102 excellence in black television and film production. (415) 864-4237 Competition deadline is Sept. 14 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: OCTOBER 29 Jackie Tshaka, Prized Piece Coordinator Third World Newsreel's Advanced Production Work­ National Black Programming Consortium shop provides intensive, hands-on training in 16mm 32 CI ass i fi e d s filmmaking and video production for people ofcolor .. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~­ and economically disadvantaged emerging film and video makers. The workshop schedule is designed to NATIONALEDUCATIONALFllM Black-owned independent pro­ accommodate working people. Prior film, video or AND VIDEO FESTIVAL is call- duction company seeking po­ related experience is recommended. Participants ing for entries for its 21 st An- tential executive producer for should be able to attend regular meetings and meet nual competition featuring: docu- low-budget feature fi 1m pres­ production demands. The workshop is limited to 15 mentaries, dramaticfeaturesand ently in development stage. people chosen through an application and interview shorts, animation, classroom Please contact: JUMP AT process. Tuition is $300. Application deadline is programs, medical, health, train- DE SUN FILMS, 180 Troy October 1,1990. The 12 month workshop begins ing, instructional, special inter- Ave., Apt. 4J, Brooklyn, NY October 29,1990. est, made for TV, PSA's, art, 11213. (718)735-8424. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: student-made docs and narra­ Kenyatta Funderburk tives. Facultyvacancy invisual media Third World Newsreel Workshop Deadline: Dec. 1, 1990 one-year appointment in the 335 W. 38th Street, 5th Fl. Send entry forms to NEFVF School of Communications New York, NY 10018 655 13th Street at the American University. (212)947-9277 Oakland, CA 94612 Temporary, non-tenure track 415-465-6885 appointmentavailablefor1990­ 91. For info on responsibili­ November Phoenix Films presents: ties and qualifications see our NOVEMBER 5 AFAN OF BLACK CHILDREN: display ad in this issue of Black Filmmakers Hall ofFame, Inc. is calling for fi Ims and videos for African Ameri­ Black Film Review. entries to the 1991 Black Independent Film, Video can Children and Screenplay Competition. The deadline for su~ about African American BLACK ARTS RESEARCH mission is November 5. Children for All Children CENTER is an archival re­ FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Phoenix Films Inc. source center dedicated to Black Filmmakers Hall ofFame, Inc. 468 Park Avenue South the documentation, preser-' 405 Fourteenth Street, Suite 515 New York, NY 10016 vation and dissemination of Oakland, CA 94612 (800)221-1274 the African cu Itu ral legacy. (415) 465-0804 (212)684-5910 Resources include some 1300 record ings, cassettes and vide­ EARTH VIDEO OFFERS 3/4 Ed­ otapes, 500 books and jour­ December iting $25/hr with Editor. Edit nals, 250 clipping files, and a DECEMBER 1 yourself, 24 hour access, fOr BlackArts Database with over The Documentary Festival ofNew York, one ofthe $1,200 perweek. Featuring time 30,000 entries. For more info few US festivals devoted exclusively to the documen­ code-window dubs, VHS dubs, send SASE to: John Gray, tary, is now seeking works that "confront, question, audio mixer, Amiga graphics, oirecto r, Black Arts Research provoke, and explore new formal terrain and have edit list and character genera­ Center, 30 Marian Street, Nyack, strong artistic points ofview." During the festival, tor. Call (212)228-4254. NY 10960. (914)358-2089. awards will be given to outstanding video, film, made­ for-1V productions, and most outstanding work by an PRODUCTION PARTNERS in- SUBMIT FILMS &VIDEOS: emerging maker and will be attended by curators, vites you to join us if you watch Forpossiblescreening incon­ broadcastors, distributors, and documentary enthusi­ movies, make movies (or want tinuing exhibition of works ast alike. Coordinators define documentary as any to), or invest in movies (or want by Black filmmakers. Ongo­ work "whose key elements derive from reality: people, to). We're a non-profit group ing.AlIgenres. Fonnats: 16mm, events, images, sounds and text." Work must have that helps film and video mak- Super 8mm, silent/sound, 3/ been completed after September 1989. Format ers through low cost produc- 4 video and 1/2 inch VHS. 35mm, 16mm, 3/4";,1/2" (preferable). Entry fee is tion equipm~nt rental, consult- Sendworksto:'ToneyW.Merritt: $30. Deadline December 1. ingservicesandinvestorsearches Black Experiments in Film, FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: for better films by and about c/o The San Francisco Cine­ Susan Carucio Black and Latino people. Call to matheque, 480 Potrero Ave., Jonathan Stack join us or contribute to our pro- San Francisco, CA 94110. Julie Gustafson duction fund. Production Part- Include personal statement/ The Documentary Film Festival ofNew York ners, 17 E. 17th Street, NY, NY production stills. 454 Broome St. 10003. Phone (212)675-3000. New York, NY 10013 ,FAX (212)675-3275'.

33 BULK RATE US Post'!ge PAID Washington,····DC 20066 Permit No. 1031

\,::::;.. ::. :/ '::::"., .;:;.. ::::..;:::>::::=:/\:: . .::: .. -•••·~~IIIIIIIII:,•••••.ii _.: : III ~ ••••••••.•;._• Iii;".'..

Black Filmma'kers ,Hall ofFame, Inc. 1991 Black Independent Film, Video & Screenplay Competition An International Event

Call for Entries

Deadline; Novefilber 5, 1990

For entry information, contact: Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc., 405 14th Street, Suite 515 Oakland, CA 94612 (415) 465-0804