BAM Presents Race, Sex & Cinema: the World of Marlon Riggs, Feb 6

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

BAM Presents Race, Sex & Cinema: the World of Marlon Riggs, Feb 6 Marlon Riggs, photo courtesy California Newsreel BAM presents Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs, Feb 6—14, 2019 A celebration of the essential queer filmmaker, his influences, and his inspirations December 13, 2018/Brooklyn, NY—From Wednesday, February 6 through Thursday, February 14 BAM presents Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs. Riggs (1957-1994) was an American filmmaker, professor, poet, and gay rights activist, who wrote, produced, and directed provocative, formally innovative meditations on representations of race, gender, and sexual identity in American culture. Organized by BAM's senior repertory and specialty film programmer Ashley Clark in collaboration with documentary filmmaker and longtime Riggs collaborator Vivian Kleiman, the series marks the 25th anniversary of Riggs’ death from AIDS-related complications, and the 30th anniversary of the premiere of his landmark work, Tongues Untied, a poetic reflection on the experiences of black, gay men in America. Race, Sex & Film will feature a full retrospective of Riggs’ films, including his documentaries Tongues Untied, Ethnic Notions, Color Adjustment, and Black Is… Black Ain’t; work by his contemporaries and influences; and the films of artists influenced by Riggs himself. This series at BAM is the launchpad for an international celebration of Riggs' work in 2019, with screenings of Tongues Untied at venues including San Francisco's Roxie Theater, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, Yale Film Study Center, Ankara’s PINK Life QueerFest, and more. In the fall of 2019, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive will present Tongues Untied, alongside a retrospective of Riggs’ video work. Series programmer Ashley Clark and program advisor Vivian Kleiman will be available for interviews; please contact Shelley Farmer with requests. Full titles and guests will be announced January 2019. For further press information, please contact: Shelley Farmer at 718.724.8023 / [email protected] Brooklyn Academy of Music 718.724.8023 (phone) BAM Film Publicity Peter Jay Sharp Building [email protected] Shelley Farmer 30 Lafayette Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11217-1486 BAM.org .
Recommended publications
  • Marlon Riggs Papers, 1957-1994 M1759
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8v19s4ch No online items Marlon Riggs Papers, 1957-1994 M1759 Finding aid prepared by Lydia Pappas Department of Special Collections and University Archives Green Library 557 Escondido Mall Stanford, California, 94305-6064 [email protected] 2011-12-05 Marlon Riggs Papers, 1957-1994 M1759 1 M1759 Title: Marlon Riggs Papers Identifier/Call Number: M1759 Contributing Institution: Department of Special Collections and University Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 112.0 Linear feet(37 manuscript boxes, 5 half-boxes, 3 card boxes, 34 flat boxes, 28 cartons, 1 oversize box) Date (inclusive): 1957-1994 Abstract: This collection documents the life and career of the documentary director, Marlon Troy Riggs, 1957-1994. The majority of the materials in the Collection are from the period between 1984 and Riggs' death in 1994, the decade of his concentrated film-making activity, as well as some more personal materials from the late 1970s onwards. The papers include correspondence, manuscripts, subject files, teaching files, project files, research, photographs, audiovisual materials, personal and biographical materials created and compiled by Riggs. General Physical Description note: Audio/Visual material housed in 90 cartons containing: 16 Film reels, 149 VHS videotapes, 437 Umatic videotapes, 602 Betacam videotapes, 50 Digibeta videotapes, I Betamax videotape, 1 D8 tape, 6 micro cassette tapes, 2 DARS tapes, 14 Hi-8 tapes, 10 DAT tapes, 8 reels 2inch video, 27 reels 1inch video, 49 DVDs, 108 audio cassettes, 48 audio reels, 2 compact discs; Computer Media: 1 floppy disc 8inch, 171 floppy discs 5.25inch, 190 3.5-inch floppy discs, and papers housed in 77 boxes, 62 flat boxes, and 11 half boxes.
    [Show full text]
  • Marlon Riggs Papers, 1957-1994 M1759
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8v19s4ch No online items Marlon Riggs Papers, 1957-1994 M1759 Finding aid prepared by Lydia Pappas Dept. of Special Collections & University Archives Stanford University Libraries. 557 Escondido Mall Stanford, California, 94305 Repository email: [email protected] 2011-12-05 Marlon Riggs Papers, 1957-1994 M1759 M1759 1 Title: Marlon Riggs Papers Identifier/Call Number: M1759 Contributing Institution: Dept. of Special Collections & University Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 112.0 Linear feet(37 manuscript boxes, 5 half-boxes, 3 card boxes, 34 flat boxes, 28 cartons, 1 oversize box) Date: 1957-1994 Abstract: This collection documents the life and career of the documentary director, Marlon Troy Riggs, 1957-1994. The majority of the materials in the Collection are from the period between 1984 and Riggs' death in 1994, the decade of his concentrated film-making activity, as well as some more personal materials from the late 1970s onwards. The papers include correspondence, manuscripts, subject files, teaching files, project files, research, photographs, audiovisual materials, personal and biographical materials created and compiled by Riggs. General Physical Description note: Audio/Visual material housed in 90 cartons containing: 16 Film reels, 149 VHS videotapes, 437 Umatic videotapes, 602 Betacam videotapes, 50 Digibeta videotapes, I Betamax videotape, 1 D8 tape, 6 micro cassette tapes, 2 DARS tapes, 14 Hi-8 tapes, 10 DAT tapes, 8 reels 2inch video, 27 reels 1inch video, 49 DVDs, 108 audio cassettes, 48 audio reels, 2 compact discs; Computer Media: 1 floppy disc 8inch, 171 floppy discs 5.25inch, 190 3.5-inch floppy discs, and papers housed in 77 boxes, 62 flat boxes, and 11 half boxes.
    [Show full text]
  • African American Perspectives
    AFRICAN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES photo: Alex Rivera CALIFORNIA NEWSREEL Forty Films on 40th Anniversary Year 1968-2008 Race in America ZORA NEALE HURSTON: JUMP AT THE SUN Zora Neale Hurston, path-breaking novelist, pioneering anthropologist and first Producer/Writer: Kristy Andersen Director: Sam Pollard black woman to enter the American literary canon, established the African American 84 minutes, 2008, A co-production of Bay Bottom News and vernacular as one of the most vital, inventive voices in American literature. American Masters Major funding provided by the National This definitive film biography, eighteen years in the making, portrays Zora in all Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public her complexity – gifted, flamboyant, controversial but always fiercely original. Broadcasting, the Ford Foundation, the Southern Humanities Media Fund, the Maryland Humanities Council, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and the National Black Programming Consortium. photo: Carl Van Vechten, Library of Congress Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun “niggerati,” a term Zora coined. She became Her ethnographic research lay the Richard Wright’s seminal novel Native Son. A turning point in Zora’s life came when she “(Finally)a high-quality documentary to intersperses insights from leading scholars a close friend and collaborator of Langston groundwork for the books and plays which But Zora’s work is notably absent of white was falsely accused of molesting two pre- demonstrate the complex and important life and rare footage of the rural South (some of Hughes, a Mid-westerner who found in Zora secured her place as an essential voice in characters; she refused to write “protest adolescent African American boys.
    [Show full text]
  • Tongues Untied Lets Loose Angry, Loving Words the Degree of Sexual Attraction
    An Interview with Marlon Riggs Tongues Untied Lets Loose Angry, Loving Words the degree of sexual attraction. I put by Robert Anbian all those kinds of people out of my mind and made it specifically for Berkeley documentarian Marlon Riggs is people who are already engaged best knownfor his 1987 Ethnic Notions, a sympathetically by the subject of the scholarly and sobering examination of 100 black gay experience. At the AFI years of interplay between racist tensions Video Festival the audience was in the U.s. and the images ofblacks in totally the opposite of any I'd ever popular culture. An eventual critical and conceived for this ... in fact I looked at audience success, Ethnic Notions nonetheless faced much initial resistance. the audience at API that night, I said, Despite as scholarship and carefully "Well, I should look at this strategi­ measured tone, the video's expose of cal/y. This is just so it will be able to racism in American culture discomfited be shown at other film festivals .... " I many, not least of all black and white was preparing myself not to be upset liberals, who may have privately approved that people wouldn't understand, or the piece but who were reluctant to be they would sit there mutely as they publically associated with its painful saw this panoply of drag queens and images. While in lhe process ofproducing black gay men and erotic scenes and the sequel. Color Adjustment: Blacks in angry poetry and it would all go by Prime Time. Riggs look. the time 10 create another work thai comes withoUlthe them, and they'd wonder what the hell varnish oftraditional documenJary was that.
    [Show full text]
  • GAYS and FILM: GET REEL June 17 - July 12, 1994
    The Museum of Modern Art For Immediate Release May 1994 GAYS AND FILM: GET REEL June 17 - July 12, 1994 The first international survey devoted exclusively to gay documentaries and non-narrative film and video opens at The Museum of Modern Art on June 17, 1994. GAYS AND FILM: GET REEL follows the development of the gay documentary and is designed to facilitate an understanding of the movement's history of the past thirty years. On view through July 12, the exhibition is presented on the occasion of the citywide celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, which launched the Gay Liberation Movement. The twenty-four part exhibition comprises works drawn from the independent film and video community, featuring work from the highly experimental 1960s, the more traditional 1970s and 1980s, and the new generation of directors working today. The forty-six works in the series, either by gay artists or with gay-related content, explore social and political issues which engage the lesbian and gay community, such as AIDS, anti-gay violence, human rights, history, and lesbian concerns. A number of films and videos in the series examine two divergent styles within the gay documentary field -- experimental and traditional. Early experimental documentaries include the opening film of the series, Portrait of Jason (1967, Shirley Clarke), a study of a black gay man filmed in one night at the Chelsea Hotel, which also addresses the process of filmmaking itself; Blow Job (1964, Andy Warhol), filmed in real time, shows a young man's facial - more - 11 West 53 Street, New York, N.Y.
    [Show full text]
  • NEW AGENDAS in BLACK FILMMAKING: an INTERVIEW with MARLON RIGGS Grundmann, Roy
    NEW AGENDAS IN BLACK FILMMAKING: AN INTERVIEW WITH MARLON RIGGS Grundmann, Roy. Cineaste, Dec92, Vol. 19 Issue 2/3. In his relatively short career, Marlon T. Riggs has already made an indelible mark on the documentary tradition and the state of black filmmaking in general. The self-reflexive esthetics of his videos have opened critical trenches and fueled debates on issues of authenticity, impartiality, and truth. Even such relatively straightforward works as Ethnic Notions (1987) never forgo or hide their partisan perspective, which is precisely Riggs's point. His films are politically significant because they have helped redefine agendas of black filmmaking. Riggs is not only black, he is also gay, and as a cultural observer his vision is fused to diverse aspects of black gay life. Tongues Untied (1990) is a passionate exploration of the double oppression black gay men face in our society (see review in Cineaste, Vol. XVIII, No. 1), attacking both white racism and a certain machismo conspicuously coextensive with parts of the African-American movement As much as black gay men's ethnicity makes them subject to racist oppression, their sexuality is used to deny them a share in their African ancestry. As one might expect, the right wing's response to Tongues Untied was not slow in coming, and it bore out its own racism twice over. When Riggs, by addressing issues of homophobia, sought to reformulate received notions of ethnic struggle, Senator Jesse Helms, presidential aspirant Pat Buchanan, and their ideological cohorts promptly turned their attacks against the video into an exclusively antigay, procensorship invective.
    [Show full text]
  • Thinking Otherwise: the Politics of Black Queer Filmmaking
    THINKING OTHERWISE: THE POLITICS OF BLACK QUEER FILMMAKING CHRISTOPHER G. SMITH A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER'S OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de Pedition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62424-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62424-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduce, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Rhea's Dissertation
    Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _____________________________ ______________ Rhea L. Combs Date Exceeding the Frame: Documentary Filmmaker Marlon T. Riggs as Cultural Agitator By Rhea L. Combs Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts ______________________________________________________ Matthew H. Bernstein, Ph.D. Advisor ______________________________________________________ Rudolph P. Byrd, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________________________________ Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Ph.D. Committee Member Accepted: ______________________________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School ___________________ Date Exceeding the Frame: Documentary Filmmaker Marlon T. Riggs as Cultural Agitator By Rhea L. Combs M.A., Cornell University, 1994 Advisor: Matthew H. Bernstein, Ph.D. An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts 2009 Abstract Exceeding the Frame: Documentary Filmmaker Marlon T.
    [Show full text]
  • BAM Presents Race, Sex & Cinema: the World of Marlon Riggs, Feb 6
    Marlon Riggs, photo courtesy Signifyin’ Works and Frameline Distribution BAM presents Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs, Feb 6—14, 2019 A celebration of the essential queer filmmaker, his influences, and his impact January 8, 2019/Brooklyn, NY—From Wednesday, February 6 through Thursday, February 14 BAM presents Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs, the first stop in an ongoing, international celebration of the groundbreaking artist. Riggs (1957—94) was an American filmmaker, professor, poet, and gay rights activist, who wrote, produced, and directed provocative, formally innovative meditations on representation, race, gender, and sexual identity in American culture. Organized by BAM's senior repertory and specialty film programmer Ashley Clark in collaboration with documentary filmmaker and longtime Riggs collaborator Vivian Kleiman, the series marks the 25th anniversary of Riggs’ death from AIDS-related complications, and the 30th anniversary of the premiere of his landmark work, Tongues Untied, a poetic reflection on the experiences of black, gay men in America. The series opens with Tongues Untied (1989), a radical, poetic essay film on black, gay male identity, made, in its author’s own words, to “shatter this nation’s brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference.” A lightning rod for both critical acclaim and conservative outrage—a 1991 Pat Buchanan attack ad on George H.W. Bush and the NEA used footage from the film, while referencing “pornographic and blasphemous art”—at the time of release, Tongues Untied is now recognized as an essential work of queer cinema. Vivian Kleiman and director Yance Ford will appear for an opening night post-film discussion moderated by historian Tavia Nyong’o.
    [Show full text]
  • Poetry Is Not a Luxury:" Dis-Ing Self, Dis-Ing Archive
    Bard College Bard Digital Commons Senior Projects Spring 2018 Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects Spring 2018 "Poetry is Not a Luxury:" Dis-ing Self, Dis-ing Archive Ehm West Bard College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2018 Part of the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation West, Ehm, ""Poetry is Not a Luxury:" Dis-ing Self, Dis-ing Archive" (2018). Senior Projects Spring 2018. 405. https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2018/405 This Open Access work is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been provided to you by Bard College's Stevenson Library with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this work in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Poetry Is Not a Luxury:” Dis-ing Self, Dis-ing Archive Senior Project submitted to the Division of the Arts of Bard College by Ehm West Annandale-on-Hudson, New York May 2018 Acknowledgements There are several people who have been important to this project. First and foremost, I would like to thank my mother who has inspired me as an educator, political accomplice, woman, organizer, mother and friend. Thank you for your endless support, solidarity and feedback over this past year.
    [Show full text]
  • The Power and Potential of Performative Documentary
    THE POWER AND POTENTIAL OF PERFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY FILM by John Arthur Little A thesis essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Science and Natural History Filmmaking MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana April 2007 ©COPYRIGHT by John Arthur Little 2007 All Rights Reserved ii APPROVAL of a thesis essay submitted by John Arthur Little This thesis essay has been read by each member of the thesis committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citations, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready for submission to the Division of Graduate Education. Ronald Tobias Approved for the Department of Media and Theatre Arts Dr. Walter Metz Approved for the Division of Graduate Education Dr. Carl A. Fox iii STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis essay in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master’s degree at Montana State University, I agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the Library. If I have indicated my intention to copyright this thesis (paper) by including a copyright notice page, copying is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with “fair use” as prescribed in the U.S. Copyright Law. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this thesis (paper) in whole or in parts may be granted only by the copyright holder. John Arthur Little April 2007 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................v
    [Show full text]
  • Viewing Race: a Videoforum Publication. a Videography & Resource Guide
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 443 895 UD 033 617 AUTHOR Noriega, Chon, Ed. TITLE Viewing Race: A Videoforum Publication. A Videography & Resource Guide. INSTITUTION National Video Resources, New York, NY. SPONS AGENCY Ford Foundation, New York, NY.; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, IL.; Rockefeller Foundation, New York, NY. ISBN ISBN-1-884188-04-4 PUB DATE 1999-00-00 NOTE 85p.; Theme issue. Additional support from the Maurice Falk Medical Fund and the New York State Council on the Arts. AVAILABLE FROM National Video Resources, 73 Spring Street, Suite 606, New York, NY 10012. Tel: 212-274-1782; Fax: 212-274-0284. PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022) -- Reference Materials - Bibliographies (131) JOURNAL CIT Viewing Race: A Videoforum Publication; v4 Spr 1999 EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Films; *Mass Media Effects; Racial Bias; Racial Differences; *Racial Factors; *Videotape Recordings ABSTRACT This document lists curated films in the subject area of race. It includes essays by experts in the field and additional resources. It is the fourth in a series of suchpublications by National Video Resources. Essays and bibliographies in this volume include: (1) "Race Matters, Media Matters" (Chon Noriega); (2) "Race, Video and Dialogue" (Howard Gadlin and Jan Jung-Min Sunoo);(3) "Programming without Tears" (Don Chauncey); (4) "Using Video as a Catalyst" (Lorna Ann Johnson); (5) "Talking about Film/Talking about Race" (Lauren Kucera and Milton Reynolds); (6) "Video in the Classroom" (Debbie Wei); (7) "Exploring Race and Identity: A Case Study in Using VideR with Youth" (Laura Vural and Rachel Castillo); (8) "Making Films, Discussing Race"; (9) "Videography" (Karla Kostick)(59 films); (10) "Young Adult List" (18 sources);(11) "Feature Film List" (12 films); (12) "Organization Resource List" (Lorna Ann Johnson)(21 organizations); (13) "Media Resource List" (Julia Miller)(25 organizations); and (14) "Bibliography" (John Keene)(26 sources).
    [Show full text]