Newsstand Sales Through 1/31/89 • Crisis in Black Independent Film • Special Section:· Evolving African Cinema. • Interviews with African Filmmakers • African Films from Filnifest DC •

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••, ------~ - ----

I Vol. 4 No.4' Fall 1988 $2.50 -- - - -

Co-produced with the Black Film Institute of the University of the District of Columbia OU'RE INVITED TO JOIN US AS WE DISCOVER AN UNKNOWN AMERICA

FASCINATING PEOPLE ASTONISHING EVENTS IANDMARK DISCOVERIES

Act now. Reserve your passage on a voyage ofdiscovery with AMER­ ICAN VISIONS. Become a sub­ scriber and join us on a trip into the unknown-an exploration of the wonderfully rich history, culture and life ofblack America. Subscribe now and receive six bi-monthly issues of AMERICAN VISIONS, and you, as a reader, will journey with us through the terrain ofAfro­ American culture-its past, pres­ ent and future. It's a trip that will surprise and stimulate, as we dis­ cover-and rediscover-what it means to be black in America today. Subscribe When you subscribe to AME R­ Now to ICAN VISIONS, you'll also be enrolled as a member ofthe Visions American Visions Foundation, lending your support to its vital efforts to promote and Six Bi-Monthly support Afro-American culture. Issues for $18 You will also be entitled to all benefits and privileges ofmember­ ship (discounts on books and rec­ ords; special travel packages; invi­ -....__ericanVtSions tations to seminars and exhibits), all designed to interpret and reveal THE MAGAZINE OF AFRO-AMERICAN CULT RE the black presence in America. All P. O. Box 51200 Boulder, CO 80321 this for $18. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Vol. 4, No. 4/Fall 1988 Black FUm Review 110 SSt., NW Washington, DC 20001 (202) 745-0455

Editor and Publisher David Nicholson Managing Editor ]acquieJones Consulting Editor Tony Gittens The Paradox of Black Independent Cinema (Black Film Institute) By Clyde Taylor Circulation Manager Black independent filmmaking could be the most vital VernedaJohnson ofcontemporary Black arts. But there is a crisis in the movement, Associate Editor/Film Critic a crisis that has gone unrecognized and unacknowledged. ArthurJohnson And the resulting films fail to involve Associate Editors the Black audience ,: p. 2 PatAufderheide; Victoria M. Marshall; Mark A. Reid; Miriam Rosen (Paris); Special Report: Evolving African Cinema Saundra Sharp;]anet Singleton; Oyde Taylor A Range ofAesthetic Aspirations Design By Pat Aufderheide Robert Sacheli Filmfest DC 88: A 10-year retrospective highlights Typography and Layout the changes brought on by a generation Sojourner Productions, Inc. ofAfrican-born filmmakers p. 4 Black Film Review (ISSN 0887-5723) is pub­ lished four times a year by Sojourner Produc­ A New World ofAfrican Film tions, Inc., a non-profitcorporationorganized By LeighJackson and incorporated in the District of Columbia. Capsules ofthe most talked about African films from This issue is co-produced with the Black Film Instituteofthe Universityofthe DistrictofCo­ Filmfest DC 88: Aimee Cesaire: The Mask o/Words, lumbia. Subscriptions are $10 a year for indi­ Black Goddess, The Choice, Yeleen, and others p. 5 viduals, $20 a year for institutions. Add $7 per year for overseas subscriptions. Send all African Filmmakers in Conversation correspondence concerning subscriptions and submissions to the above By Pat Aufderheide address;submissions mustinclude a stamped, Interviews with Sarah Maldoror, Jean-Marie Teno, Ngangura Mweze, self-addressed envelope. No part of this pub­ Arthur Si Bita, and Andree Davanture: the changing forces lication may be reproduced without written behind contemporary African cinema p. 6 consent of the publisher. Logo and contents copyright © Sojourner Productions, Inc., 1988, and in the name ofindividual contribu­ Souleymane Cisse's Light on Africa tors. By Manthia Diawara Black Film Review welcomes submissions An in depth interview with the award-winning Malian director. from writers, butwe preferthatyou first query with a letter.All unsolicited manuscripts must His new film, Yeleen, is a mythic saga about a young man be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed who must destroy the old that the new might live p. 12 envelope. We are not responsible for unsolic­ ited manuscripts. Black Film Review has This issue ofBlack Film Review was produced with the assistance signed a code of practices with the National Writers Union, 13 Astor Place, 7th Floor, New ofgrants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities York, N.Y. 10003. and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Special thanks to the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, Inc. 2 Black Film Review The Paradox Of Black Independent Cinem,a

peatedly. To which I often want to heard Pulitzer Prize-winning author reply, "Butyou got one for a camera Toni Morrison remark, "I can write By Clyde Taylor person." The economic explanation anything. But I have never been asked is used to excuse a kind of Third to write a screenplay." World Renaissance man syndrome. It is not a matter ofgiving up crea­ In repressed environments, those who tive control, but of opening the roduced, Written and have acquired anyliterades are forced filmmaking process to complemen­ , Directed by Omnibus to act as pan-literates, functioning as tary creative-critical voices. One would Artifactor. Music by physicians, poets, and political lead­ think this imperative would be com­ 'p Omnibus Artifactor. ers all at once, much like Aime Ce­ pelling to filmmakers who have ex­ StarringOmnibusArtifactor." Screen saire. Marvelous though this may be, pressed the determination to reach titles like these, as the lights go down, we mustaskwhatthe costinperpetu­ large Black audiences. One would are a symptom ofa dimness in the de­ ating a psychology of cultural Robin think this need would be immedi­ velopment ofBlack cinema. Hoods wandering around in Sher­ ately felt by filmmakers whose rheto­ The major crisis in the independ­ wood Forests ofprolonged underde­ ric embraces collectivism over Holly­ ent Black film movement is the drought velopment? Or whether complemen­ wood individualism. in production. The flutter of public­ tary literacies fo~ Black filmmaking Ifthe object ofBlackindependent ity around Spike Lee's success has are really so hard to come by? filmmaking were truly to reach the blindedmanyto the decline inrecent Thebiggestlossto theauthorcom­ broadest Black audience with narra­ years offeatures completed by Black plexin Blackcinemamaybe in narra­ tive explorations probing their reali­ independents. But the need survives tive development. This despite the ties with dialogic depth and histori­ to bring critical assessment to the high level of writing included in the cal resonance, then dialogue about independent scene, now some two movement atits best. Withfewexcep­ the film might well begin before the decades old inits recent incarnation, tions, the films that have made the film is made. Would it be preposter­ apart from our concern with this cri­ most interesting impact come off as ous to air narrative possibilities be­ sis in production. The relative lull in good writing: Charles Burnett's Kil­ fore audience panels for their feed­ production might in fact be taken as ler of Sheep, Julie Dash's Illusions, back on the story, to be modified or an opportune moment for self-ex­ etc. Parts ofHaile Gerirna's BushMarna rejected as the directorsawfit? Holly­ amination. and Child ofResistance call up com­ wood, for different motives, is far It is past time now to ask, why has parison to Baraka's plays. But few more diligentin pre-searching public the movement not shaken its auteur­ films from the movement, including response through test screenings, ism? The auteur concept of cinema, those above, could not have gained previews and the like. By contrast, launched by Parisian critics in the from the kind of collective critical the fictional films ofBlackindepend­ '50s, argues that films get their dis­ examination Black playwrights have ents are not usually storied enough tinctive qualities from the dominant given each otherforyears at readings to be discussed beforehand; and at hand of a single author, or auteur, before the Frank Silvera Workshop. the other end, their audiences are usually the director. Hence the influ­ The issue ofextending the literary likelyto be askingwhat the storywas. ential critical shift in focus from stars input into Black films was raised at a Dowe see evolutiontowardwider to directors. But its real intent and UNESCO conference preceding FES­ narrational collaboration over the last effect vvas to draw movies more deeply PACO '85 in Burkina Faso. There, decades? If anything, we probably into the orbit of the western aes­ some ofAfrica's most accomplished see a retreat from the fraternal ex­ thetic, where individualistic, author­ writers reminded their film-directing change that took place within the ial creativity prevails over perform­ brothers oftheir failure to seek their L.A. Rebellion when its filmmakers ance or collaborative art. collaboration, or to draw on the ex­ worked together at UClA. One ex­ Ofthe manyreasons why Blackin­ istingwealth ofAfrican novels, plays, ceptionis St. Clair Bourne. I recallhis dependents have become mired in and short stories. The same debate perception ofthe value ofcollabora­ authorism, the one most cited is eco­ applies with equal force to the Black tion with writers in an early 1980's nomic need. "I couldn't get the budget American scene. At a meeting of Black interview. He was charged up by the for a script Writer," they've said re- writers and critics, I recently heard prospect ofworking with a writer on Fall1988 3

the set, to get another view of the tice their craft. They may feel, during examples. And early independent material, even for a cinema verite the interminable delays, a pressure Oscar Micheaux, the most self-made documentary where the object is to toward realizing a dense self-expres­ Black director ofthem all, was equally record direct action unrehearsed. sionthrough a fewworks rather than attached to his creative isolation. Since Let the Church Say Amen! he aimingfor a moredispersedpersonal But a certain character has been has usedwriters onmost ofhis docu­ contribution to a wider cinematic giventhe central flow ofrecentBlack mentaries, with decidedly positive context. If Black independent cin­ independent films from its origins effects in In Motion: Amiri Baraka ema had some institutional founda­ within the American university. The and Langston Hughes: The Dream­ tions, the strategy ofspreadingone's conspicuous body ofBlack independ­ Keeper. (The writerin bothinstances talents and remaining open to those ents has been called, not without was Lou Potter, unless memoryfails.) of others might appear more attrac­ reason, intellectual filmmakers. It helps But the point is not to go beyond tive. Butwhile several filmmakers have to see this description as one halfof auteurism just to make the film "bet­ shown initiative in programmingfilm an antagonistic dialogue over intel­ ter," that is, more smootWypalatable series and festivals, organizing dis­ lectualversus populist Black cinema, andcoherent. The pointis to enlarge cussion panels andworkshops, pub­ that has gone on, quite uninspired, the magnitude of productive ideas lishing newsletters, the interest in for many years. exchanged through the filmmaking joiningefforts toward organizational Looking at the products ofthe last medium of communication. It is a two decades, what do we find? That pointthat has somethingto do with a the intellectual, university-trained filmmaker's capacity and willingness he filajor crisis in cinema has had some success in to grow. winningrestrainedrespect in art and And to this point should be di-­ TBlack filfil is the culture quarters. But does not that rected the observation that Black in­ drought in production. limited success mask, and cushion, dependents as a group show superb aut the need survives to the lack ofsuccess in its stated aim-­ indifference to seeing the films of toreachtheBlackcommunityinways their contemporaries. I have left some critically assess the that advance self-definition through of them holding court at the dinner cinematicself-examination?'Havethe independent 1 scene. table to see a film oftheir colleagues efforts ofthese directors to breakthe that theyhoped to catch, some other I t is past tifile to ask, hold of official (museum, university, time. Dozens of them have still not "Why has the foundation) culture been whole­ seenCharlesBurnett'sKillerofSheep hearted? (1977), probablythe most decorated filovefilent not shaken The other halfofthis false dilemma, film ofthe movement. I can count on its auteurisnt?" false because its terms are given by one hand the times, outside of festi­ the fixed definitions ofthe dominant vals, I've seen an independent at the media order, is drawn from a glance screening ofanother. at the populist argument. Quite sim­ And more than once they have la­ collaborations, collective fundraising, plyand expectedly, the populist per­ mented, in Paris or Amsterdam, say, lobbying, the much needed work of suasion, led by directors like Melvin thattheyhad to bebrought this far to rultutal politics, has never been slacker Van Peebles, Fred Williamson, Jamal meeteach otherandsee each other's than at the fatiguing end of the Re­ Fanaka, andRobertTownsend, while work. That irony could be laid to the agan era. it may have titillated more Black door of u.s. cultural imperialism. The seeds ofauthorism may have people, .can claim little gain in pro­ Maybe. But does Ma Bell tum down been sown among Black independ­ jectingany social dialogue ofweight, calls between Black filmmakers? Or, ents in film school. Formal cinema or, less difficult to assess, in elevating by what feats of internal determina­ trainingis oneofthe defining charac­ group self-esteem, establishing posi­ tion do they expect Black viewers to teristics of the current film move­ tive images endowed with dignity, resist inertia to go see their films in ment. And most film schools train etc. (with the exception of Sweet­ random venues when they cannot theirstudentstobeauteurs, demand­ back, which remains a powerful evo­ themselves overcome inertiawhen it ing from them projects where they cation ofpolice-state brutality against gets down to films of other Black work as solo honchos. One-brain the Blackcommunity, aboutas timely independents? Might not the reve­ filmmaking, it must be admitted, also today as when itwas made). Beneath nue from Black independent films has a vigorous - history among the glib pronouncements of social rise, even approach profit, if all filmmakers who sharpened theirchops commitment, revealingly like the filmmakers cameout and paid, to see outside ofuniversities. Gordon Parks, tabloid babble ofBlack entertainers, each other's works? MelvinVan Peebles (whowenttofilm it is too easy to spot the features of The temptation toward author-cen­ school at the San FranciscoArt Insti­ thearchetypal Blackentrepreneurial tered filmmaking is fed by the lackof tute, but acts like he didn't), and hustler. chances for independents to prac- Robert Townsend come to mind as Continued onp. 17 4 Black Film Review

African., Cinema A Range of Aesthetic Aspirations

a generation of filmmakers born into inde­ pendent Africa. "EvolvingAfrican Cinema," the 10-year retro­ spective crowning the May 1988 FUmfest D.C. in Washington, D.C., did not deny the grains of truth around which those cliches have formed. But it provided a ample context for a more complete understanding, with short films, feature films, and filmmakers in attendance. 1he pan-African series may be unprecedented; recently several institutions have programmed international Black cinema, but not solely current African cinema. Given the range of films displayed, it's about time. But assem­ bling it helped explain why such a,retrospec­ tive has been so long in coming. "Most ofthese people donothave produc­ tion companies, and some do not have phones," said the retrospective's organizer, Howard University Professor Francoise Pfaff. "And By Pat Aufderheide they're in demand all the time, so they're always traveling. You make a contact with a frican cinema comes to the West en- filmmaker in Mali, and they say he is in Paris. cased inwell-intentioned cliches. There By the time youfind outwhere in Paris, he has is, for instance, the image of the gone to Japan." Fortunately for Pfaff, the A auteur-dissident, suchasSenegalese United States Information Agency provided Ousmane Sembene and Malian Souleymane logistical support to Filmfest for the African Cisse. On our mental landscapes, these fig­ series. Despite difficulties, most of the films ures (not the men themselves, but our image and filmmakers finally made it to the festival. of them) arise like sports of culture, out of African filmmakers are still grappling with barren creative and technical territory. productionconditions as unpromisingas any­ There is also an image, fostered both by where in the world, which result in no more mainstream Western reviewers and also by than a handful offeature films in a givenyear. longstanding supporters of African film as Some of those conditions are a colonial leg­ part ofa political struggle, ofAfrican cinema acy, from governments either reluctant to as solely a militantly anti-colonial effort: ear­ establish film facilities at all, or, like the Bel­ nest, perhaps angry, probably incisive, and gian and the British, rigorously controlling PatAufderheide is a anything but "entertainment." The solemnity them. senior editor ofIn These this adds to the critical treatment of African Today, as film critic Manthia Dia-wara pointed Times newspaper, and film in the West is balanced by a certain out in a FUmfest panel, Africa still lacks labs, an assistantprofessor apathy, a conviction that the viewing experi­ studios, editing facilities and, most crucially, in the School of ence will be the spinach-broccoli special ofa control over distribution. The French Minis­ Communications at film festival. And it obscures from view the tryofCooperation's grants forAfrican cinema American University. range ofaesthetic aspirations, especially within have driedup. InFrancophoneAfrica, French Fa111988 5 post-production house Atriascope, a strong supporter ofAfrican film, both for technical service and training, continues to be a crucial A New World resource. Africans also inherited grimly patronizing aesthetic curses, crudely put by a Belgian Of African Film Congo official: "TheAfrican is, in general, not mature enough for cinema. Cinematographic conventions disrupt him; psychological nu­ ances escape him; rapid successions of se­ By LeighJackson quences submerge him." Even now African­ madefilms from Ghanaand Nigeria are edited down to expectations set by long-gone colo­ his year's Filmfest DC, the celebration nial administrators, eventhough mostforeign of international film that takes place films clogging the theaters use sophisticated T eachspringinthenation's capital, paid storytelling. offhandsomely for festival goers in search of As well, political turmoil jeopardizes gov­ new and different films. In addition to the ernment funding, and freedom-of-speech com­ usual festival menu of European and Euro­ plications come with it. For instance, a coup centricfilm, the festival featured 18 films from in BurkinaFaso, andthe assassinationofhead 13African countries, includingAngola, Nige­ of state Thomas Sankara, who had heavily ria, and Burkina Faso. promotedcinema, includingthe biennialAfri­ Audience~occasionallyhadto suspend ex­ can film festival FESPACO in the capital, pectations of Hollywood-style cinematogra­ Ouagadougou, puts several recent inter-Afri­ phy or plot, but for their troubles they were can ventures in jeopardy. (During Filmfest, richly rewarded by such films as the exqui­ Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima, long resi­ sitely beautiful Yeelen, by Mali filmmaker dent in Washington, D.C., announced the Souleymane Cisse and the frothily romantic start of a fund to support Sankara's family.) La Vie Est Belle by~Belgian Benoit Lamy and What may be most surprising, then, is that Zairean Ngangura Mweza. there are so many films and filmmakers rather What follows is a briefrecap ofsome ofthe than so few; rapidly improving production African films featured inWashington's 10-day values; and so much diversity ofperspective. festival. There is, however, a consensus among AimeCesaire: TbeMaskofWords (1987), filmmakers on some basics: a search for au­ Sarah Maldoror, France. Maldoror, the grande thenticAfricanstyles ofexpression, a concern dameofAfricanfilmmakers, breakstraditional for pan-African unity in strategies, and a rec­ documentary style to create this meditation ognition of the need to develop the interna­ on the multiple roles ofAime Cesaire: Negri­ tional marketplace. tude poet, politician, anda manwhogathered This latter concern marks the evolution of emotional sustenance from the rolling hills African film as a business. The first decades of andturquoisewaters ofhis nativeMartinique. African film, born jointly with the independ­ The film opens with the sharp-edged moder­ ence struggle, were strongly marked with a nity of a literary conferen~e and then melts sociopolitical mission well-put by Sembene, into a loving, gentle evocation of Cesaire's in an interview with Pfaff: "The artist must in poetry, read byluminaries like MayaAngelou. many ways be the mouth and ears of his BlackGoddess (1978), directedby Ola Ba­ people. In the modern sense, this corresponds logun, a joint production of Brazil and Nige­ to therole ofthe griot [bard; storyteller; court ria. A young Nigerian man searches for his jester] in traditional African culture." Now, Brazilian relatives. His only clue is a carving althougheveryone agrees thatAfrican cinema brought back to Africa by his grandfather, should have its own identity, interpretations who has escaped from enslavement by Portu­ of that basic challenge can diverge sharply guese plantationowners. In Brazil, the young from the image ofsomber "African realism." man encounters lives mysteriously familiar to The African directors with whom inter­ him, and an even more mysterious woman. views follow displaythe diverse concerns and Themystical elementsofthefilm, whichspans perspectives ofAfrican filmmakers today. As several hundred years, beautifully serve the Evolving African well, they reaffirm the shared investment in a Pan-African theme. -I national and international place for authentic C nema Continued on 20 _ African film art. p. 6 Black Film Review

African Filmmakers In Conversation

By Pat Aufderheide ean-Marie Teno, ofCameroon, partof luted water in the city and the countryside, a younger generation of African with some Italian and Catholic financing, in filmmakers, has been called "one of co-production with Cameroon 1V. lbe film J theyounghopes ofCameroonian cin­ agencyhadrunoutofmoney: theywere badly ema." He has produced several shorts, in­ run and the money was wasted. cludingthedeceptivelysimple "YellowFever So I wanted to work with Cameroon 1V, Taximan"(1985) a series ofvignettesdepict­ and some people said, "I've been toAmerica, ing urban life in Cameroon through the life so I have qualifications as a producer." It was ofa taxi driver, and "Hommage" (1985), a like talking Chinese to an Eskimo. Practical film that treats a documentary subject with people don't have the qualifications to ap­ afictionalstyle. He worksas afilmeditor in prove a project. It'slike the problems ofAfrica France, where three ofhisfilms haveshown have been concentrated in television. onFrench television. Buthisfilming is done lbe functionaries are lazy. There are lo­ in Cameroon, withoutgovernment support. callymade programs, but they are pale copies He spoke with Black Film Review associate ofEnglish and French1V. People watch French editor Pat Aufderheide during the 1988 1V in France and then try to reproduce it in Filmfest DC retrospective "EvolvingAfrican Cameroon. We are seeing the recolonization Cinema." of our country with foreign images.

BFR: Where did you get your training? ­ BFR: Do you think ofworking in video? Teno: I'veneverbeento film school. I wentto Teno: In video I wouldn't have the same a technical school, and did some video in impact. It's quicker and dirtier. Film is more France. I bought a 16mmcamera, andlearned complicatedto workin, andyou haveto think from books. In one documentary, Hommage, before you shoot. I created two characters as an homage to village andfamily. Onestudied and wentabroad; BFR: Howimportant has an older generation another stayed home as a peasant. It was ofAfrican filmmakers been to you? through their discussion that you saw the Teno: I don't think we are following in any­ contradictionsofeverydaylife inAfrica. Itwas one's footsteps. For instance, [Ousmane] done in Cameroonian French. Sembene has a big international reputation, but I think that Djebril Diop, from Senegal, BFR: Cameroon deliberately postponed the who made Tuki Buki in 1973, was much bet­ entry of television, and it's only been in the ter. Sembene was aiming his weapon at Eu­ countryfor a couple ofyears. Are there possi­ ropeand atneocolonialism. Nowthe weapon bilities for filmmakers there? must be pointed closer to home, because the Teno: RadiostartedoffwellinCameroon. But problems are within ourselves now. For in­ television has been introduced the wrong stance, in Cameroon there are two levels of way. The radio technicians have become the censorship: before making the film and after­ television technicians. But television needs a wards. training ofits own. And people come in who have high qualifications ofsome kind, butno BFR: What are the issues thatAfrican filmmakers Evolving African technical abilities. need to address? I wanted to make the film I am' working on, Teno: Freedom to speak is one of the main calledWater ofMisery; it is a mixofdocum~n­ issues. Ifwe can't speak, we won't be able to Cinema tary and fiction about the problems of pol- do anything. Falll988 7 Sarah Maldoror

Sarah Maldoror is one ofa select group of artists: women working in African cinema. Bornin Guadeloupe, trained at film school in Moscow, long a resident in Angola (she was an assistant in the filming of The Battle of Algiers) and active in African independence movements, shenowlives inParis and contin­ ues to work in film. Perhaps her best known film is Sambizanga (1972), which won the Grand Prize at the Carthage Film Festival, the InternationalCatholicFilm OfficeAward, and Sarah Maldoror was shown at FESPACO in 1973. Shot in the People's Republic of the Congo, the film is importantforAfricans to see Miami forwhat it based on events that took place in Angola, is. Andfor Africans it is important to see Maya shortlybeforeindependence. Itis the p<;>rtrait Angelou, and Alex Haley. [Both are inter­ ofa woman whose husband, a revolutionary, viewed in the film, as is Leopold Senghor, the is arrested and imprisoned, and who is awak­ former presidentofSenegal, and a founder of ened to the true meaning ofcolonial oppres­ the Negritude movement]. sion and the need for struggle. She has worked throughout the African BFR: Where did you get your film training? continent, and produced more than a score Maldoror: I went to Moscow because they ofdocumentaries. Hermost recent film, com­ gave me a scholarship. I could never have pleted in 1987, is Aime Cesaire, Le Masque done this in the States. I studiedfilmmaking in des Mots ("Aime Cesaire: 1heMask ofWords"). the best possible conditions. Produced under the auspices of the French government, it is a remarkable portrait of BFR: How did you get to work withAime Ce­ Aime Cesaire, the celebrated poet and founder saire? ofthe literary, artistic, and culturalmovement Maldoror: He has always given me permis­ known as Negritude and, for many years, sion, because he's liked my work since Sam­ mayor of Fort-de-France, the capital of Mar­ bizanga. tinique. She spoke with Black Film Reviewas­ sociate editor Pat Aufderheide during the BFR: Do you like working in documentary? 1988 Filmfest DC retrospective "Evolving Maldoror: Well, I didn't have the money to African Cinema." make fiction films.

BFR: How did you succeed in making Aime BFR: What film wouldyou really like to make Cesaire, LeMasque des Mots? ifyou had the resources? Maldoror: I got the money from the French Maldoror: I'd make a film based on Aime ministry dealing with the Overseas Depart­ Cesaire's And the Dogs Fell Silent. I have ments. It was produced through La Sept, the worked on that project for 10 years, but the educationalchannelofFrenchtelevision, and topiC ofcolonialism doesn't seem to interest FRO, Radio France Outremer. people with money. There's no money in Africa, and besides I'm from the Antilles. If BFR: The film begins in Miami, an interesting there were money, it would go first to an choice. African. Maldoror: When I learned that a conference What I'm interested in is the history of on Negritude would be held in Miami, I felt I Africa and the history ofcolonialism. People hadtogo. True, thefilm is aboutAime Cesaire, need to reach an understanding of that, and Evolving African but I wanted to define the environment. I weneed to drawon thegreat poets. Writing is wanted to define within the film what Miami indispensable for the cinema. is, as compared with Martinique. I feel it is Continued onp. 8 Cinema 8 Black Film Review

BFR: What are the problems for you in work­ u.S. public television. ing in African cinema today? Mweze taught film at the National Institute Maldoror: There is no cultural independ­ for Arts in Kinshasa, and was chief of the ence, no money to educate, no money for audio-visual section ofthe National Museum culture. The money goes to the military. If I of Zaire. La Vie Est Belle is his first feature; make a film inAfrica thatcriticizes the govern­ earlier he scripted and directed two docu­ ment, well, I can't do that. African cinema mentary mid-length films, Cheri Samba and should be a consciousness-raising cinema. It Kin Kiesse (both 1983). He spoke with Black must first beAfrican, and ifit's trulyAfrican it FilmReviewAssociate EditorPatAufderheide willinterest others. We shouldn'tcopyAmeri­ when he visited Washington, D.C. to attend cans or Japanese. It should have its own the 1988 FUmfest DC retrospective "Evolving identity. For me Sambizanga is a good ex­ African Cinema." ample. But ifI did that film today, I would make it BFR: La Vie Est Belle has been a festival hit more powerful. The womanwould have fore­ internationally; is it also popular in Africa? seen that independence would be a failure. I Mweze: The film has been running continu­ didn't realize when I was making the film that ously in Zaire for seven months, in the big independence would be a failure. theaters in Kinshasa. Once 16mm prints are If I could, I would like to do a film on finished, it will go to the small theaters on the Eritrea, to showthe horror ofAfrican leaders, outskirts. The film just came out in Burkina thattheytoleratewhatgoes on. I would show Faso. [~oted French editor ofAfrican films] that women wouldn't accept war like that, or Andree D'Avanture said she had tried to get that children die ofhunger. into a screening in Ouaga[dougou, the capi­ tal] and couldn't, it was so packed. BFR: Is filmmaking particularly hard for you as a woman? BFR: The film seems atypical, given what cir­ Maldoror: Yes! All women filmmakers, Black culationotherAfrican films have gotten in the andwhite, shareproblems. Frankly, theyhave U.S. It appears to borrow from French and to fight men in addition to the hard w~rk that American comedies. everyfilmmaker has. African male filmmakers Mweze: It is influenced by Western' models, have been particularly insensitive. The women yes. When I wrote the plot I had script train­ in Sembene's films, for instance, are never the ing from a UClA professor. Before the film I moving forces. wentovereverythingwith Benoit [Lamy].And the last version I went over with [Hollywood BFR: What other women filmmakers are work­ studio executive] Frank Daniel from L.A. But ing in Africa? I've never met an African group that didn't Maldoror: Thereis FloraM'Mbugu-Schelling, like it. Others have said this isn't an African from Tanzania, who made the documentary film. So what is an African film? A marginal on women and work, From Sun Up and of cinema? course Safi Faye from Senegal. The problem ofAfrican cinema is that it's marginal. Very often the African public does not come to see our films. Apart from the fact that theydon'thave a good distribution struc­ ture, African films for a long time have been Ngangura considered a cultural product. African films normally are shown in cultural centers, prac­ Mweze tically free. This is the first time a public has really gone to the trouble ofpaying the same moneytheywouldhave for a Rambo or a kung Zairian Nga:ngura Mweze, trained in cin­ fu film. ema in Belgium, is the co-director (with Bel­ People don't know really what they are gian Benoit Lamy) ofLaVie Est Belle [" life Is talking about when they say "African cin­ Rosy"], a comedysetin Kinshasa. Init, Zairian ema." Chlemais a language that does not exist singer Papa Wemba plays a bumbling poor intraditionalAfrican culture. Cinemais an ur­ Evolving African boywho looks for love and respect in the big ban art. city, and eventually, after many farcical mis­ BFR: Some African filmmakers, such as haps, finds it. The film has been extremely Ousmane Sembene, have called the African Cinema popular in festivals, and may be shown on filmmaker the modern griot, or bard, of his Fall 1988 9

Papa Wemba as Kourou in Ngangura Mweze's '2a Vie est Belle" -

people. BFR: Do you think there is a distinctive Afri­ Mweze: This business of the griot, how do can or Zairian style in filmmaking? you reconcile it? Forinstance, the griot in one Mweze: I used"to teach film analysis, and I partofAfricais notthe sameas in anotherpart would use the films ofMarcel Pagnol I showed ofAfrica. The public to whom one addresses Fanny and Cesar and others, regional films, oneself may not know what a griot is. In people in these films spoke French with a Kinshasa, theydon'texist. The onlythingthat Marseillaise accent, but my students loved it. really concerns me is, is it a theme the public Pagnol used to say, "We are universal in the really likes? It's the same thing as in the very locaL" modem Zairian music, and in the popular theater that ends up on Zairian television. BFR: Howhas the film been received outside Africa? BRF: Zairian television is reputedly prolific. Mweze: I showed this film in Canada and Mweze: It's true that filmmakers learn in tele­ Belgium, to people who had never been to vision. There are only two Zairian producers Africa. In Belgium people who came to see who have not beentrained intelevision. Most something "from Africa" had forgotten that Zairian producers work for television. But I by a quarter of the way through and they reproach Zairian 1V for not helping African stayed to see "a film." cinema. The two filmmakers known by for­ eigners are those who have not been formed BFR: Has the film boosted the reputation of by television. The problem is that Zaire pro­ the star, Papa Wemba? duces a lot ofvariety shows and documenta­ Mweze: This film helped him a lot in his ries but not fiction films. musical career. Papa Wemba is now an inter­ That's not only Zaire but all the television national musician. He has made two trips to systems inAfrica. In Europe, when one has a Japan, and is now living in Paris. plan for a film project, you could ask a televi­ sionchannel for presales. InAfrica, almost all BFR: What do you plan to do next? the television systems receive films from Eu­ Mweze: I wantto do a more dramatic comedy rope practically free. People look at these next, and I want to direct solo. Evolving African foreign films that have no rapport with their cultural context, and that doesn't help the African filmmaker. Cinema 10 Black Film Review

Stillfrom tiLes Cooperants, " byArthur Si Bita

forgotten: that the filmmaker tells a story. Through that storyyou can make people aware ofcertain Arthur Si Bita things. But first you have to tell a story. Then the spectatorwill situate himselfin relationshipto it. That's what inspires someone who loves the cinema to make it, that the person who sees the Cameroonian Arthur Si Bita's love affair character to going to improve. withfilmgoes backto hisearliestchildhood, when he watchedfilms in hisfather's mov­ BFR: How did you get involved in cinema? iehouse. As a filmmaker, he has benefited Si Bita: I came to cinema by watching films. My from a Cameroonian government agency father is one ofthe major exhibitors in Cameroon. sponsorship ofcinema. With agency funds, He brought in silent films, Charlie Chaplin, old in 1982 he completed a feature, tiLes black and white films. The films I really loved as Cooperants", which borrows eclectically and a child were foreign films. It seemed as if each ironicallyfrom a variety ofWestern genres producer ofeach film was speaking to me. in a tale ofweD-intentioned students, a cotTUpt I think my experience wasn't so unusual. In the ex-government official, and skeptical peas­ 1950s, the films we all watched were foreign ants, all involved in a project to improve films. The artofcinematographyinvolves seeing, village life. However, the film has only re­ imitating, and then creating. We have to recog­ cently beenclearedfor release inCameroon, nize our debt to France, and to the art cinemaof because the government agency defaulted Europe. I think it was either Truffaut or Godard on Si Bita's payment. Si Bita spoke with who said that European cinema is in the head, Black Film ReviewAssociateEditorPatAuf­ while u.s. cinema is in the stomach. The French derheide during the 1988FilmfestDC retro­ tradition emphasized the importance oflooking spective i71volving African Cinema. " for structures to express art. Also, historically African cinemastarted in France, and I don't see Evolving African BFR: Why did you decide to become a any reason to deny it. filmmaker? BFR: How did Les Cooperants come about? SI Bita: For me, cinema is a vocation. There Si Bita: I wrote the plot in 1978, when I was in Cinema seems to be something we in Africa have the Ministry of Culture, and made the film in Falll988 11

1982. There's a state production structure, RevieuJ Associate Editor Pat Aufderheide Fond du Developementde Industrie Cinema­ during theFilmfestDCretrospective llJivolv­ tographique. Cameroon was the first place in ingAfrican Cinema. " Africa that began to tax distributors, and then exhibitors, for foreign films. With the money BFR: How did you become involved in Afri­ they built a theater and financed films. This can cinema? fund providedproduction moneyfor my film. Davanture: Initially I was brought into it as an editor, and as I worked with more and BFR: Didyou have problemswiththe content more African directors, I realized the com­ ofthe film? plexity of their production problems. So I Si Bita: At one point the Ministry wanted to worked with a group oftechnicians to set up censoroneofthe characters inthe script. The a multi-layered facility. We only have a few film talks abouttheabuseofpower, ofcourse. people on staff; others are taken in on a free­ I had to defend my script in front ofa commit­ lance basis. We have gotten a very modest tee, to explain that I was condemning this subsidy over the years from the French gov­ character who had abused power. I was told ernment: between 1980 and 1987, around $2 to change the character anyway. So I said I'll million FF [French francs]. change it from an ex-civil servant, to an ex­ soldier. When I began filming, no one checked, BFR: Doyou find there are problems particu­ so I left it. lar to African productions? Davanture: The problems are the same as BFR:Thefilm focuses onthe role ofuniversity with a French director, I also work with French students, andshows them aswell-intentioned directors. Ofcourse, there is an ease inwork­ and also naive. ingwith someoqe fromyourown culture. But Si Bita: I wanted to address the problems of there is always a need to come to terms with students. Generally they are either sons or each other. The nature ofthe exchange with ~grandsonsofpeasants. The question for them theAfricans can be more complex, but I listen is always, are we forsaking our roots? My film carefully. And even if I disagree, it's no big bared this question. thing beca~se finally it's the director's deci­ sion. My job is to make the conditions opti­ BFR: Whyhasittakensolongfor the film to be mum for the director to accomplish his goals. seen in Cameroon? I mayunderstanda lotaboutAfrica, butI can't Sf Bita: There was a preview of the film in understand everything, of course. I'm lucky 1984, but afterwards there was a problem because I havethegreatadvantage ofworking because I had not been paid. Finally the with people I really respect and admire. problemwas fixed a fewweeks ago, anditwill finally be shown. BFR: What was it like to work on Yeelen? Davanture: Very simple. The main difficulty BFR: What is your next project? was the problem of getting together with Si Bita: My next film is 100 percentAmerican. [director Souleymane] Cisse. He is an ex­ It's the life ofthe first American missionary in traordinarily exigent person. It was such a the 19th century in Cameroon. pleasure for all three people who worked on this film. I loved to play around with it.

BFR: Have you ever found it difficult being a Andree woman working with male African directors? Davanture: When there is trouble, it's not Davanture because I'm a woman working with men. It's becausewe'reworkingon a film we don'tlike. Andree Davanture heads Atriascope, a One time I didn't get the respect I thought I Paris-based distribution and production needed, but it was because I was working company in Paris that has become critical with a young, insecure person. Diffe~ences forAfricanfilmmakers, who depend on itas are usually worked out with good will. a postproduction site. Davanture herself You do have to be veryattentive. People don't has workedas editoron, among otherfilms, have the same senSibility throughout Africa. Evolving African Ilt'Baara, Yeelen" and IWendKuuni", and Each country is different. When there are trains Africans in post-production work, includingediting. ShespokewithBlackFilm Continued onp. 16 Cinema 12 Black Film Review

Souleymane Cisse's Light on Africa

Photo Credit: © Roy Lewis Photography Souleymane Cisse, center, dUring an appearance at the 1988Filmfest DC

By Manthia Dia"W"ara Cisse's secondfeature, UBaara "(UThe Por­ ter," 1978), is the first Africanfilm to deal with workers' unions and their rights in the emRrgingAfrican capitalist societies. The third feature, tiFinye" (tiThe Wind," 1982), won eelen (tiThe Light," 1987) is Malian top prizes at FESPACO and The Carthage director Souleymane Cisse's fourth Film Festival, the two most importantfilm Vfeaturefilm. Hisfirst, Den Muso (uThe festivals in Africa, for its cinematic depic- Young Girl," 1974), is about a muteyoung tion ofcurrentsituations includingstudent woman victimizedby boththephallocentric strikes and military dictatorship. forces of tradition and modernity. tiDen In tYeelen", Cisse thematizes the classic Muso" is a violent film with transparent conflict between the old and the new by messages: Cissee castsa muteyoungwoman setting Soma Dialla (Niamanto Sanogo), a to show thatwomen aredeprivedoftheright member ofthefeared Bambara secret soci­ to speak; at the end she takes revenge on her ety, the Komo, against his son, Nianankoro Manthia Diawara lover by setting his house on fire. He dies (IssiakaKane), who mustuse thewingofthe teachesfilm and inside the burning house and she commits Kore (a sacred tablet that to the Bambara literature in the suicide.RelativelyunknowntJutsideofMali, embodies the many levels ofknowledge) to Department ofBlack uDenMuso" contains the majorelements of destroy the Komo. Studies and French Cisse's film language: dialectics of the old tYeelen 's "structure is influenced by the at the University of and the new, the necessity ofviolence before oral literature of the Mande population of California at Santa creation and a preoccupation with the role West Africa, which includes the Bambara. Barbara. ofwomen. Like that tradition's classics, tiThe Sunjata Fall1988 13

Epic", "La dispertion des Kusa", and "Karn­ led me to look for a different style in my film bili, "Yeelen depicts a stagnating and op- language. I made a newdeparture so as to see pressivesystem (theKomo cult) as unaccept­ things in a different manner, to see things able, and ca!ls for a new, prosperous era. from a different angle. _After "The Wind/ 1 I Heroes in thesenallatives undergoa voyage waIlted to change my style before people ofinitiation where they acquire the knowl­ begin to label me as a political and didactic edge and weapons necessaryfor important filmmaker. I think that that was the main social transfonnation. reason. To tell the truth, there was also a Thus in ~Yeelen", Nianankoro sojourn,s tension building around me because of my in Fuladougou (the Fulani land) where he previousfilms, anditwas clearthat, ifIwanted learn,s tofight and, most important, finds a to stayinmycountryand ~njoya degree ofthe wifewho willbeara son thatsymbolizes the freedom ofexpression, I had to lighten things future. A crucialdifference between ~Yeelen a bit, or to make a different type of cinema. "and itspredecessors in the oraltradition is in Cisse's conception of the hero. Whereas BFR: 1be film language in Yeelen is new not Sunjata, MarenJagu, andKambili represent onlyin relation to your own films, but also in the future as well as the present in their relationtootherAfricanfilms. But itis notless narratives, Nianankoro is only part ofthe political. present in ~Yeelen'," his son is the future. Cisse: Just as life itselfis varied inAfrica, film Thus it is the son, not Nianankoro, who is style too has to have several forms. To begin named Nankama ("destined for''), a title with, I said that I wantedto positthe problem also used in thepraise songs ofSunjata and in a different manner. I had to change the Kambili. transparent style I used in my other films if I ~Yeelen "is also concerned with the man­ wantedto keeppeople offmyback. I did "The ner in which the camera looks at Africans Porter," which deals with issues in a crude and their customs. Bambara dialectics are manner, without hiding anything Then, I made revealed through vital oppositions, such as , "The Wind" which, as you know, describes thepestle ofKoma and the wing ofthe Kore, the eternal revolt of youth against the status milk and water, father and son, life and quo. Clearly ~ these are current events and death, etc. Cisse also shows the manner in problems which exist everywhere in the world. which the Bambara manipulate time. They So politicians and other concerned people see time in eircular terms: the end and the were watching to see what my nextmove was origin are the same. All Cisse'sfilms end as going to be. Given that people were so sensi­ they begin, but in ~Yeelen "we are also pro­ tive to my first films, a more subtle way of videdwith a detailed description oftime in doing things was necessary to deal with these Mande' societies. delicate issues. I had to put my thesis at a Cisse films the Komo ritual from begin­ deeperlevel. I madeYeelenJ. whichto meis my ning to end, shooting most ofthe details in most political film. long takes without much editing. T/Je unin­ te1Tupted shots ofthe ritualremind the viewer BFR: The "Komo" scene in Yeelen, like the of Ousmane Sembene'~filming of the long King's court in Ceddo, is one of the best sequence in the king's courtin "Ceddo "(1977). moments I have seen in film. How did you Both sequences provide a cOtTective to the shoot that scene? anthropologicalgaze which con-stnJ,cts Afri­ Cisse: I'll tell you, it is extraordinary to dis­ cans as objects, and Cisse's camera, used coverritualscenes inwhichonehas nottaken more in an attempt to describe the "right part. It was an initiation for me. I went to the image" than to reveal a point of view, re­ "Komo" members and said to them: "Here is casts the fundamental natTative iSS1..leS of what I want to do, here is my subject, here is show and tell. how the story goes; tell me, in a specific This interview was conducted by Man­ context such as this, what type ofritual takes thia Diawara during the 1988 Film/est DC place, what}s to be done?" To be frank with retrospective "EvolvingAfrican Cinema. " you, I was blown away; it was all the pleasure and joy for me to take these scenes and to BFR: Yeelen is a new departure from Baara adopt my script to them. ("The Porter) andFinye ("TheWind") which are both concerned with contemporary so­ BFR: What were the technical problems you cio-political issues in Africa. encountered in filming the scene? Cisse: There are fundamental reasons that Cisse: The main problem was that I did not 14 .BlackFilm Review

enjoyed Saar in your other films and were aware ofhis death, the image and the sound­ trackin the scene take them away momentar­ ily from the story in order to pay tribute to Saar. His exiting image against the rising sun which is a motifin the film, connotes that he is still alive and giving life. Is the film also about Saar? Cisse: Yes, I believe so. I think that it was an exceptional case because Saar and I go way back since my first feature film; we had been strugglingtogether in Mali. He ,believed in me andfor 12 months he stuckby meto make this film. He and Bala Moussa Keita (the Fulani King in Yeelen) stopped everything else to devote themselves to the film. So it was my intention from the beginningto make the film for him. I did not know why but I wanted to dedicate the film to him. When I finished the script I took it to him and he decided to travel from village tovillage to consultwithBambara elders and learn more about the "Komo" ceremony. After that, he came back and told me that he was ready; it was then that we began shooting the film. He passed away during the shooting, leaving me with several questions that I could not answer then. I had to find a way to keep himinthe story; thatwas absolutely necessary. Thus I began to change the script around. Since Nianankoro's father onlyhad one brother, his twin brother, in the original, I told myself: "Why not, he can have a secondbrother." So I tookthe scene he was in and included him in the new story as the uncle in pursuit of Nianankoro. Niankoro (Issiaka Kane) have adequate technical facilities on the site. and his mother (Soaumba I did not have enough light to cover the scene BFR: Howwonderful! It seems to me that just Traore) bidgoodbye to as I wanted. I was limited, thus, to filming asyou had to invent a film language to suit the each other before the hero within 10 or 15 meters; I could not go further. "Komo" scene, in this scene too a contempo­ sets offon hisjourney of This led me to create a mise-en-scene which rary reality changes the narrative style of a initiation in Souleymane was more convenient and realistic for the story set in the past. Cisse's film UYeleen" means I had in place. Beside that, we had a Cisse: Thatis for sure. There are contentsthat greattime filming the "Komo" scene. The first often force us to select forms that are appro­ day, duringrehearsal, peoplearo:und mewere priate. It is onlyafter those forms are selected hypnotized and they couldnot move because that a film takes on a life ofits own, and begins they had never seen and heard the "Komo" to obeyto what one has set out to do. For me, songbefore. Those amongus who had heard film form comes out ofthis context. the song 20 or 30 years ago could not go on workingbecause ofthe emotionitbroughton BFR: Are you saying that the mastery of con­ them. So we were forced to stop work. tent precedes the mastery of form, that form comes out of content? BFR: Another unusual scene in the film is the Cisse: I believe that the mastery ofcontent is exit ofIbrahima Sarr, who played Nianankoro's crucial. I don't want to give lessons toAfrican uncle. Saar died while you were making the filmmakers on this issue. It is a controversial film and you had to transform the story to topic. But one thingis certain: Ifone does not keep him in it. But the songthat accompanies have control over the content ofwhat one is his exit refers to his death and pays tribute to making, and ifone is not mindful ofthe space him. For Malian spectators, at least, who had and the environment that surround one, I Fall1988 15

think that the film loses a lot. film. Knowledge is built and consolidated by one generation, it is destroyed by another, BFR: The film brings emotional feelings for andrecreatedbya newgeneration. This is the African spectators. I know that the story has universal aspect of the film; it does not ad­ universal themes. ButYeelen restores a sense dress the Bambara alone; it is for everybody. of pride in African spectators whose past it desc~besas embeddedin an epistemological BFR: Does this mean thatmanis notmaster of development. This image ofAfrica, because it knowledge? was not seen on film before, was desired. Cisse: I will go further and say that man Cisse: I think that that is normal. There are himselfis inside knowledge. He comes to this thousands of Malians who know about the world within knowledge and he can only "Komo's" existence but have never seen it master a part ofit. The film is concerned with performed. For tllem, the "Komo" was a se­ this smallpart thatmanis ableto control. I ask cret religion that remained as a mystery to the spectator to be careful with the small them. For the first time, a film decodes the knowledge that he had; to think about the secret ritual desclibed by the song they usu­ consequence of knowledge before engaging ally hear on the radio. The film interprets this in creative activity. ritualistic song that one is used to hearing. Thus, it invites the spectator to go deeper in BFR: Wouldyou define power, too, in similar imagining the significance of the "Komo" terms?Wouldyousaythatmanis insidepower beyond the literal meaning of the song, be- too, that he cannot control it? That power _ yond the film. One looks for the codie mean­ does not belong to man, that it traverses him ings of the song, which are most important like knowledge does? because it contains the secrets of the uni­ Cisse: No. I cannotsaythat because power is verse. My film positions the spectator in the somethingthaf'one receives and that one can midst of these secrets and keeps him/her describe in physical, material and psychologi­ busy looking, interpreting, discovering. It is cal terms. Knowledge, on the other hand, this level ofthe film that is incredibly exciting contains man; knowledge is a totality which for the Malian spectator. For the spectator includes man. who is not initiat~d, I mean the American or French or British, I am sure that the film is BFR: Whatbrings emotionalfeeling toAfrican perceived literally. I mean that this spectator spectators is the way in which the film trans­ hearsthe ritualistic song, reads its translation; fonns Western cinema's stereotypes into human but, this direct translation is not what is ex­ and complex subjects. This film comes as a pressed in the film. The sentences are codi­ vengeance against Western films which de­ fied and refer to other objectswhich obeythe nied Africans their history and culture. In rulesofa specific knowledge. Therules ofthis otherwords, it elevates the" Komo," which is knowledge can only be decoded by initiates just another barbaric ritual in anthropologi­ ofthe "Komo." cal films, to the level of science. The film valorizes and humanizes Africans and their BFR: Literally "Yeelen" means light, illumina­ pastknowledge systems. The oldwomanwho tion. Most ofthe scenes are shot early morn­ plays Nianankoro's mother is beautiful, thought­ ing with the sun rising. What is the signifi­ ful and resourceful. I am thinkingofthe beau­ cance ofthe title to you? tiful scene in the river where she sacrifices Cisse: First ofall for me, "light" is a wonder­ milk to the goddess ofwater. Such scenes are ful thing that we should always have with us. rare even in African cinema. In Western films "Light" is within us, but it is also without. If such a woman would have looked repulsive "light" is to guide our knowledge, we must with her bare breast, and ugly with holes in know how to use it the right way; we must her nose and ears. know how to control it. Man is possessed by Cisse: My objective is to erase from people's this anguish; the anguish to know, to be in mind the disdain that they have for Black control of a knowledge, and to avoid the people and their culture. Let's take for ex­ dangers of possessing a knowledge which ample the history ofhuman development; to contains the potential ofdestroyinghim. Man bemore specific the history ofAmerica. Black does notknow the limits ofscience. We know people have contributed enormously to the how to create, but we do not know how to culture ofthe United States. This is acknowl­ protect ourselves from our creations. So I edged even by those who despise Black people. posit the problem in apocalyptic terms in the Continued onp. 16 16 Black Film Review

Cisse: I think that there are impor­ Souleymane Cisse tantsteps takenin thearea ofco-pro­ Fromp.15 duction between African countries: Subscribe To Senegal and Tunisia, Guinea and Tu­ The United States accepted Black nisia, Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso culture not because of a favor to and Mauretania, etc. This is goodbe­ BI~ckpeople, but because the attrib­ cause it enables the films to be dis­ utes ofthe culture were undeniable. trib9ted in the countries that co­ Thus Black people have helpedAmer­ produced them. There are more and A Scholarly Journal on Black Women icato develop itselfculturally. Part of more co-productions with Western the reason America dominates the countries because people pay more world culturally is due to Black cul­ attentiontoAfrican cinemanowthan ture. No one can deny this. We in they used to. But for those Western Africa are aware ofthis; andweknow filmmakers who use Africa as their thatourculturecancontribute tothe settings, they must know that they development ofuniversal culture. This cannotcontinue to perpetuate stere­ is why I feel justified in expressing otypical images ofthe continent They myselfthewayI do. I tell people: "Do must know that history is such that notbeashamedofyourself. You have one calmat always afford to make something to say to the world; say it, enemies. They mustrealize thattheir people willieam from it." image ofAfrica is out of date~

BFR: Yeelen won the Jury Award in BFR:Areyouembarrassedbypeople Cannes. Many critics thought that it who say that Yeelen is the best Afri­ deserved the Grand Prix and would can film? have won itifitwere notfor political Cisse: Look! I cannotprevent people reasons. What has been the distribu­ from giving their opinion about my Artists and Artisans tion history since Cannes? film. They see it as they want. As for Cisse: I was pleased with the distri­ me, I continue my research. bution in Mali. We took the film all over the country. We then took it to Announcing the Ivory Coast, after which it will go Davanture Vol. 4 Number 1 to Cameroon.All.theEuropeancoun­ Fromp.11 Make checks payable to: tries, except for the Eastern bloc, SWEr Inc./SAGE • P.O. Box 42741 have booked it. We have found a larger numbers, there's even greater Atlanta, Georgia 30311-0741 distributor in Japan too. As for the diversity. U.S., we have been negotiating for $15.00/year individuals the last 10months. Things have been BFR: Do you see a generational dif­ $25.00/institutions dragging, but I hope that we will ference amongAfrican filmmakers? soon come to something concrete. Davanture: Even though it's a mod­ estdifference, theyoungeroneshave BFR: Why do you think you are hav­ a little moretoworkwith, andthey're ing such difficulties in the U.S.? Yeelen getting greater mastery. Money's is a world-class film. always the problem. But now there's Cisse: First of all because it is an more confidence. The young direc­ African film andAmericans are afraid tors have a tendency to address the -ofAfrican films. I don't know if it is problems they know, but that still the content they are afraid of. It is means a great diversity of subject also clear that any film that is not matter. produced byAmericans does not get African directors still tend towork any consideration in the U.s. But alone, andteams are verysmall. Each whateverthe reasons, I amconfident time a film is completed, it seems like BFR: It sounds like you love your that we will succeed in representing a miracle. There's still not enough work. ourselves with our films in America. production in each country to give Davanture: It is wonderful to work them a chanceto practice. It's impor­ on a common project. It's a passion­ BFR: How about film production in tant to get African teams of trained ate, extraordinary adventure. There's Africa? What progress is being made andexperiencededitors. Andpeople something to learn every day. It's a in that area? are being trained to edit in Africa. constant journey. Fall1988 17

Black Cinema responsibility? Do we have evidence the politics of representation. The that anything would happen other film's interesting but undeliverable Fromp.3 than, say, a bigger film about Black implication is that Black imagery hair from a director mystically liber­ remains as negatively controlled as it Sothereis reasonto approachthis ated by dreadlocks, or grander hu­ was in D.W. Griffith's epic ofracism. false dichotomy from the intellectu­ manizing portraits of Black lesbians A slighting different ambiguity alist side, considering the mega-in­ from directors seekingroomfor their frames each ofhis subsequent films. credibility of the populists. Even as ownsexual expression, or laments of Joe's Bed Stuy Barbershop: We Cut we do we should guard against the the anxieties ofexile from geographi­ Heads is a tonal puzzle, a comedy danger of accepting its premises, of cally displaced directors (this last about communal pathology and cor­ seeingboth avenues as fixed tenden­ applying to Black British films), or ruption that is amusing and interest­ cies rather than dynamic, change­ portraits ofmisunderstood artists from ing but decidedly unfunny, unless able ones which, as social circum­ directors who see themselves as such? read with healthy doses ofNewYork stances and history alter, might pro­ Projects like these might be well-re­ cynicism. Yet inBedStuy you can see duce different results. It is not likely ceived in a genuinely democratic, themoveto appreciate withaffection that ~hosewho have establishedtheir pluralisticfilm culture. But theyseem theyOlUlg bloods copingin their funky, identities through one of these ave­ marginal, to me, to the historical, troubled environment, warts and all, nueswill suddenlyswitchto another. collective need ofthe Black commu­ that gets fuller playin his two follow­ (Maybe this is toobad; a bitofswitch­ nity to express itself. ing hits. The intellectualist-populist ing might be a good idea.) The view One ofthe few directors who has ambiguity ofShe's Gotta Have It lies from the street is that the intellectual had enoughofa careerto throwlight in its unresolved- tension between filmmakers all harbor some inner on the possible trajectories ofthe in­ sexploitation and fashionable gen­ desire to head for Sunset Boulevard". tellectualist-populist debate is Spike der issues. Here, Lee seems to be But this hidden aspiration, to the Lee. Retrospectively, what's ofinter­ sayingsomething about those issues, extent that it is there, and I haven't est here is the controlled, deliberate obliquely, but what? seen much evidence of it, competes ambiguity in his films between in­ Up to this point, which had brought with several others, including the tellectualist andpopulist representa­ him further than most Black inde­ gathering of fame and glory in the tions. His first film TheAnswer (1980) pendents in breaking out of the international film community. was his thesis film at New York Uni­ museum film circuit, at least as far as The problem is that without more versity, and does Rot set itself apart the art houses, Lee had offered two production, we cannot begin to guess from other intellectualist beginnings initiatives worth contemplating as what direction the intellectual direc­ of the period. Its narrative premise escaperoutes outofthe limited intel­ torswouldmove towardiftheycould dealt with a Black man hired by a lectualfilm bag. One was the need to extend and multiply their film con­ major studio to direct a remake of seriously move on, from film to film cepts. Would they, given more op­ Birth of a Nation (which didn't go not onlyin matter and motif, but also portunities and resources, try to down well with the NYU faculty, in coding for different audiences. Bed broaden the range oftheir filmic ref­ probably because it ruffled the de­ Stuy, well-liked atfilm festivals, really erence, and Black audience appeal, partment's reputation for teaching didn'tfit wellinto the museum reper­ while holding focus on the identities the film without reference to its ra­ tory. Not arty enough for the art of Black people desperately in need cism). The man's "creative differ­ houses, too short and tonally am­ of a better understanding of their ences" with the studio result in the bivalent for the popular houses, it contemporary history, as are all Klan burning a cross on his lawn. A was still too focused on entertain­ publics? Would they diversify their typically spoof-humorous story con­ mentand popularculture, that is, not service to undominated Black repre­ ceptofthe sortthatuniversitytrained library-solemn enough for the mu­ sentation, by drawing on the reposi­ filmmakers hopefully grow out of. If seum-university film series-Public tories ofstorytellingvirtuositywithin it bears a conceptual family resem­ Broadcasting System circuit where Blackculture, orperhapsbyactingas blance to Hollywood Shuffle, that most Black independent films end producer for other Black independ­ maybe becausemediarepression is a up. FromBedStuy on, Lee was bring­ ents (as St. Clair Bourne has done likely theme among beginning Black ing sensibilities and moves into his and Robert Gardner has expressed independents, more, one begins to films that came more genuinely from intent to do)? suspect, out of a sense of injury to Black street culture than from the Suppose the game-plan of the in­ their prospects than concern over cinema traditions offilm school. tellectual independents were realized: the political inequity involved. How­ The other contribution he made to producea successionoffilms each ever that may be generally, The An­ to the search for self-identity of the more popular than the last, earning swer's unbouyant attempt at satirical intellectualist orientation is respect­ them bigger budgets and opportuni­ comedy carries signs offuture popu­ ing the value of complexity and ties? What then? Bigger canvases for list possibilities unsuccessfully fused obliqueness in telling a story. Com­ self-motivated personal expression with an intellectualist concern with paredtohis output, someotherBlack within a lip-serving context ofsocial 18 Black Film Review

independent films seem to suffer from he sulk into a seat on the New York they feel, about anything. an uninflected sincerity that aims them Stock Exchange, or will he have the The issue is not simply the cult of unintentionally toward the children's heartto pickhimselfup, brush offthe authorship orofintellectualism, which, hour, or seem otherwise burdened "I told you so's" and make smaller, broken down, is more accurately seen by the weight of their social thesis. independent films again? as isolated preoccupations with pur­ The flip side of Lee's risks in this How Lee navigates these hassles ist cultural nationalism on the one direction is the uncertainty of his may offer more light on the intellect­ hand and (western) aestheticism on filmic statements. populist tangle. But he has already the other. The issue is whether these Urilike most ofitswhite reviewers, demonstrated the artificiality of its understandable attach~ents can be for me this was not a problem in problematic. As have Stand andDe­ assimilated and transcended toward School Daze. Remarkably, he moved liver, The Garbage Boys and Sweet­ a more representative, relevant Black beyond the art house parameter, it­ back, not to mention Battle ofAlgi­ media representation. The impera­ self another halfway house for the ers. By comingfrom their ownranks, tive has always been the freedom of rehabilitation ofBlack consciousness, Lee poses to the intellectualist tradi­ Black people from cultural and po­ and made a studio-backed film with tion the possibility of the obsoles­ litical repression, not the success, as ,more potentsocial-political bite than cence ofits self-confining purity. He cultural trophies, of a self-selected the vast majority ofBlack independ­ has raised the possibility that it has generation of cinema artists. Right ent films, which is what that posture shrunk, so chilled from the Sambo nowthe question seems to be -whether is supposed to be about. (I need to syndrome as to surrender to Holly­ that generation can put aside its pet, confess herethatmymindwas closed wood without a fight the right of personal ideologies, pushed in their to this historical possibility, and,there­ Black people to enjoy conflict, drama, films like a celebrity's favorite char­ fore am indebted to Spike Lee for humor, poetry, while being chal­ ity, to make ~erious breaks toward opening my sense of the possible.) lenged or edified. the pressing interests of their com­ He made it more explicitly directed The university-trained Blackinde­ municants. Or will the restless de­ to Blackaudience consumptionthan pendents went into filmmaking, sev­ mands ofhistory prompt another self­ any big theater movie since Sweet­ eral of them told me in' the '70s, selectionofBlackimage-makers from back. And reading it as part of that becauseBlackpeopledon'tread. But the ranks ofcreatorsless mystified by audience, andpartofit thatwentto a theyreada bitmore, itturns out, than cinema pedagogies and less intimi­ Black college, I found its statements they go to see independent films. dated by the aesthetic criteria of neither too ambitious, numerous or One reason is that the films, many of funding panels? anything but clear. them, even in concept, lack those Noone familiar with them atwork ButSchoolDaze hasits ambiguity, qualities that encourage one to tum in their process can fail to be braced even though it doesn't strike cen­ from book to screen. You can read by the courage of the Black inde­ trally at its social-political text. By the five-line synopsis ofmany of the pendent filmmaker, even when the lacing his narrative so splashingly with fiction films coming from newer Black basis ofthat courage is an ego-driven marvelous doses ofBlackyouth funk independents and know that ain't it, lust for the rewards of successful culture, with its genital-posterior the marks of amateur literary inven­ creative self-expression. (That goes sexism blatantly flaunted (a kind of tion and self-indulgence are so plain with the territory.) It is hard to think mixyou might call hip-pop), Lee has to see. of a tougher creative situation than once again, as withShe's GottaHave In a medium thatwas built to handle the one they face. But they fail to It, sweetened reflection with enter­ it, the Black-I filmmakers have sel­ understand some of the (oral) criti­ tainmentvalues impingingon exploi­ dom lookedfor the vitality, style, and cism directed to Black cinema when tation and the indulgence of per­ pageantry of Black life, the culture's they reply that such shows an igno­ sonal erotic fantasy. appreciation of spectacle, perform­ rance of the difficulties of the proc­ Spike maystumble, Spike may fall. ance, and virtuosity. The passion of ess. Short-Sighted critidsms are some­ Spike may go for the okey-doke. The Passing Through (unchained in its times voiced which imply that the iron hand of Hollywood capitalism music but almost matched in its cine­ limitations of Black cinema are the and "marfet forces," in short, the matography), the stylist theatricality fault ofindividual film directors and media industry, have a history of ofIllusions, thefreewheel antics ofA films. Short-sightedreceptionofcriti­ makingsureinnovatorswill. The kind Place in Time, the rhythmic chant­ cal commentary fails to see that its ofmediahype Leewhipsupdemands raps ofClarence andAngel, all inex­ real significance is directed to con­ to be pacified, finally, with abject, a­ pensively captured, have too few cern for the expressive destiny of political inanity. There is something cOWlterparts in other Black independ­ Black people at a particular juncture in this society that has a need forJoe ent efforts. Livelier and more politi­ of time and not to the relative bril­ Louises to endup as door-openers at cally potent results would emerge liance or lack of it of a particular Las Vegas casinos. Spike's own per­ from just sticking a camera in Black effort. sonal moment oftruth \ViIl comewhen people's faces and asking them how 1he time may have arrived, or come his mass mediavoice is silenced. Will past due, to rethink the basis and Fall1988 19

rationales of Black filmmaking. The It is possible and meaningful now Much can be learned' in this ,re­ case may be that the discursive as­ to think of"history" as the continual spect. from two Black 13ritish films, sumptions that legitimated Black constitution and reconstitution ofthe Territories and Handsworth Songs. independence for the most recent present, as well as the past. And that Both adopt the strategy just described, stretch are in danger of lapsing into this process ofestablishing, meaning ofquestioningtherootedorder ofin­ impotent truisms and justifications for both the' present and the_ past, a formation and history~makingat the that have been largely bypassed by a major function of a~y culture,is one same time that they present new new social spectrum. that repressed peoples have been readings ofpresent-past history. 1bese This rethinkingmight begin with a forcibly excluded from, and towhich films interestingly break out of cur­ realization ofthe present situation of they usually return. as late and bash­ rentnotions ofauthorizeddocumen­ Black independence as trapped within ful participants. But the' exceptional tary style where the making the film discursive boundaries patrolled by confrontations from repressed popu­ without a narrator has become a fet­ such un-popular institutions as the lationsthroughthe 20thcenturyhave ish. Itis time to seetheinapplicability university, the national government dramatically increased the opportu­ of this fetish to;'Black creators who foundations, the museums, the west­ nities for such participation. When are not merely positing images for ern-dominatedinternational film fes- the information workers from such interpretation through the prisms of ~ ( tivals, the public libraries, and PBS. populations are laggard in making the same tired regime of social inte- Black independence is further threat­ the most ofthese opportunities, they gration, but who recognize the need ened, I believe, by the trap of the reshackle their sisters and brothers. to take overthe role ofinterpreter, or "intellectual" or artistic posture that , Itis to thewiderparticipation ofsuch at least questioner themselves. has been coded into it, which has communities, to thecontinualrewrit­ It ~ay be--andhere I am, notfalling become a means of shielding ing ofthe present as well as the past, into the' unexamined Anglophilia filmmakers from, ideas, from new that any liberative politics of repre­ surrounding the,Black Brit phenome­ historical formations, perspectives and sentation must contribute. And it is non--that the university;.trai~ilg of challenges. through such contributions that Black this crop of' filmmakers has not Having bogarded these assertions, cinema has most to offer to its times. shielded them from some ideas from I am called on to back them up with When we ask ourselves what the which U.S.' ~lack filmma~ng could some sample scrap of the kind of emergingbodyofBlackindependent , profit. ,(Black,Brits have th~ir own rethink I have in mind. films brings to this process ofwriting problemS'with auteurism.) 'Bu~, th~ Since the present generation of and rewriting the iftformational space bes't ~se of thes~' two'films rs:to alert Black independents picked up and that Black people'share with the rest ,us to, wh,at is,:already obvi9us--the,

then froze a few dusty McLuhanisms of the world, might we not come need to 'rethin~the goals, and: strate- L to serve as theoretical armament, the awayfrom suchaninquiryconvinced gies of indepen~ent Black ~lm~ ,A prospectsforrenovatingculturaland that some rethinking is in order? , decent place tq" start is'~o ask -what communicative thought have drasti­ Whatever the reason, whatever the kind of mobiliZing and,' agitation is callychanged. Onewayofseeingthat discursive borders and constraints appropriate to free Black indep'~~d­ change is as the de-institutionaliza­ responsible, ~any Black films, even ents, those,who want to be free"from tionordecolonizationofknowledge. in conception, politely accep~ their , the stra~gle~old ofthe western a~d" Which means simply that the evidence confinement outside the extraordi­ ,U.S. cultural empire~ ,, . has piled up overwhelmingly that nary reconstruction of knowledge Something is called· for, and it is "knowledge," received ideas, social taking place, the one most stimulat­ not just, the responsibility of the consensus, and cultural images have ing conversation going on inthe world filmmakers to cloSe outthe .. da~ag1l;1g ,', beenshaped by the powerful institu­ This implies that it is not enough for paradox of the present Black'inde-'" tions that control them. Which no­ a film to say that Blacks had this pendentscene. Namely, thatsituated­ body in the Black community ever neglected cultural hero, or that ,on~, ' in the .most'advan~~d,and, powerful had any excuse for not knowing. But too. Such recuperations establish medium, and explo~inga,decade,ago't this general understanding of the icons ofmuseum interest, while leav­ With transgressive, energy, it has al~ frame-up of knowledge has reached ing it to the insane prevailing infor­ lowed itself to 'become the tamest, the stage where each person in an mation structure to orient these icons leCiSt expressi~e, least'dangerous form informationoccupationmustnowbe into context as knowledge. What the ofcontemporary ~lack expression. either busy re-writing knowledge or new, activist role of the repressed automatedly reproducing, photocopy­ information work demands is not only ing really, the official story that op­ the production offresh information Clyde Taylor is,a professor,ofEng-' pressesthem. Ithasreachedthe stage but a demonstration ofhowit invali­ lish at' Tufts University and the au­ where the stances for re~presenting dates not only old information but thor ofnutnerOus articles aboutBlack cultural information that became the inherited structure of inf6rma~ Cinema. He recently received a influentialinthe 1960sare thriftshop tion itself, within the film, or play, or Rockefeller Scholar-in-Residence and ' collectibles today. whatever. 'Pord Poundationfellowships. 20 Black Film Review

A World of African Film Fromp.5

The Choice (1986), directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso. Two recurring themes ofthe African films presented at Filmfest DC were the ties offamily and the fragility oftradi­ tion. Both themes were presented in this film, which careens from humor to tragedy to modest triumph as it tells the story of a family whose members decide to leave their desic­ <:ated homeland for the big city, only to find ultimate contentment on a quiet country plot. Les CooperanlS (1982), directed by Arthur Si Bita, Cameroon. This The family in Idrissa Ouedraogo's "The Choice. " film about a group of Cameroonian students who set out to bring a vil­ Issa the Weaver (1984), directed bumpkinwho tacklesbigcitylife with lage into the 20th century, and a by Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso. only his singingtalent. The film was av parallel tale about a Cameroonian There is little dialogue in this film. delicious rondelay of familiar types: bureaucrat who seems to have out­ But that was fine: the images are beautiful ingenue and.her scheming colonializedeventhe colonizers, had powerful and beguiling. Also about mother, shrieking harridan-wife, the slick pace of a modern Holly­ choices, it is the story~ of a young browbeaten and mischievous hus­ wood production. But the glitter of family man, trained in the traditional band-.' -Singer Papa Wemba lent ,his the film's resolution occasionally craft of weaving, who rejects his considerable charm and voice to the undermined the complexity ofthe is­ profitless craft for the more lucrative frothy mix. sues addressed in the film: self-suffi­ ways ofthe clothJng merchant. Yeelen, 1987, directed by Souley­ ciency, modernism versus tradition, Love Brewed in the African Pot mane Cisse, Mali. A masterpiece. corruption, feminism. (1980), directed by Kwaw Ansah, Each frame sat before the audience From Sunup (1985), directed by Ghana. Audiences were perhaps most like a carefully composed painting Flora M'mbugu Schelling, Tanzania. puzzled by this highly melodramatic done in the purest ofcolors--ostrich­ Thisdocumentaryfocuses ona group tale of a well-born girl named Aba egg white, browns, fire reds. It is of women who join forces to earn who marries an auto mechanic. She perhaps too simple to say that this is money brewing beer. The film and a tells him her love for him is pure, as a film abouta youngmanwho tries to subsequent discussion of the film their marriage descends from bliss to destroy his father before his father evoked strong responses from the madness. The striking, almost old­ destroys him. This is a film about the audience, some ofwhom found troub­ fashioned histrionics didn't sit com­ power ofnature and man's efforts to ling the tension between the indus­ fortablywith the largelyAmericanau­ control it; a film about a society fu­ trious women and insouciant men. dience, but the sly digs at middle­ eled by myth; a film about a son's Homage, directed by Jean Marie class pomposity worked well. empowerment, maturation as a threat Teno, Cameroon. This almost surre­ Princess Yennenga (1986), pro­ to an older generation. The haunting alistic documentary was shown in­ duced by Claude Le Gallou, a joint endleft audiencesin a shockedhush. stead of another Teno film, Yellow production of Burkina Faso and Fever Taximan. No one was disap­ France.A beautifully crafted 12-min­ pointed for long. The film was lushly ute cartoon, painted in bold yellows Leigb]ackson, a fonnereditor of personal, a dialogue between two and oranges and reds, about a prin­ American Visions magazine, is men, childhood friends, one ofwhom cess who teaches her father that a .aWashington writer and editor. opted to stay in their small town and woman can "be beautiful, bear chil­ the other who left. As they discuss dren, do the cookingand go to war." off-camera events that took place in La Vie Est Belle (1987), directed the village duringthe traveling man's by Ngangura Mweze and Benoit lamy, absence, the camera meanders a joint production of Zaire and Bel­ through the village, recording what gium. Audiences lovedthis film about he really sacrificed. the adventures of a hapless country Support the Vision and Voice ofBlack Filmmakers ... Support BlackFilm Review

BlackFilm Review beganwith the intention ofproviding a forum for critical thought concerning the images ofblacks in American film. Since then, the publication has broadened its coverage to include Black independent filmmakers and their productions Hollywood as it affects Black images, and independent film from Africa and throughout the African Diaspora. Whenwe began publication, we thought subscriptionswould coverprinting, mailing, and other associated costs. It is now clear subscriptions alone will not. We have thus decided to seek support from individuals and organizations who are concernedwithBlack cinema andwhobelieveBlackFilm Reviewis needed. Three categories ofsupport havebeen established: Benefactor, $100; Frie_nd, $50; and Supporter, $25. Each includes a subscription to the magazine. Friends and Benefactorswill also receive a Black Film Review t-shirt, as well as notice ofspecial BFR-sponsored events. Please help us to continue to publishbysendingyour check or moneyorder, made payable to SojournerProductions, Inc., to: Black Film Review, 110 SSt., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. lbe editors wish to acknowledge the following donors for their generous contributions:

Anonymous MableJ. Haddock Annelle Primm, MD Patricia Auerbach Robert S. Hainey Diane Porter S.A. Boone Judi Hetrick Trodville Roach Deborah A. Brown Judity Hill Ka'ni Roberts Lisa Buchsbaum Joan H. Jackson Lucy Rosenbaum A'Leila Bundles Charles F. Johnson Roger B. Rosenbaum Lorenzo Augusta Calendar II Earl T. Johnson Stefan Saal Roy Campanella, II Charles E. Jones Charles Sessoms MbyeCham Charles Larson William and Elaine Sinlons Joel Chaseman Sandra Lee Kenneth Small Cathy Claussen Spike Lee C.C. Still Herbert V. Colley, Jr. Phyllis Logan Piankhi Tanwetamani Dr. Rita B. Dandridge Eugene Lovick Eve A. Thompson 1be Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund James Alan McPherson Keith Townsend Lewis Erskine Ethel S. Meeds Robert Townsend Kay Ferguson Rodney Mitchell Josephine S. Wade Richard and Phyllis Ferguson James A. Miller Minnie Williams Bryan Fortson Spencer Moon: Marti Wilson Hector Freeman Cornelius G. Moore Women Make Movies, Inc. Dr. Naomi M. Garrett Margaret L. Penn Paula Wright

Sojourner Productions, Inc., has been declared a tax-exempt organization by the Internal Revenue SelVice.

r------, Black Fihn Revie"W" is a labor ofLove•.•• ... but, just like the song says, "romance Enclosed is 0 $10 0 $20 (check one) for a one.year (check one) individual 0 institutional 0 subscription. without finance is a nuisance." Black Please send to: f filmmakers, the black festival scene, and African and Third World films and filmmakers NAME------aren't just curiosities; they're part ofthe most vital movement in contemporary film. And ADDRESS where else are you going to read about them? ------A one-year subscription to BlackFilm Review, four issue is only $10, about the cost oftwo CI1Y------STATE ZIP movie tickets. Institutional subscriptions, Thank you for prOViding an envelope. If you'd prefer not libraries, departments offilm, corporations, to tear the page, send the appropriate information on a etc., are $20. Overseas subscriptions are $7 separate sheet with your check or money order. additional, and must be paid in U.S. funds, All subscriptions begin with the next available issue. Send international money orders, or checks drawn orders to Black Film Review, 110 SSt., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 on U.S. banks. L ~ Sojourner Productions, Inc. BULK RATE US Postage Blac/{,Film Review PAID 110 S Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20066 Permit No. 1031 . Washington, D.C. 20001

Address Correction Requested .~ •..•.•.•.••..•...•...•...... _.....•...•... -----

A Journal.of Afro-American and African Arts and Letters

.Now published by , The Johns Hopkins University Press

Callaloo publishes original works by A fonun and critical studies of black' writers in the Americas, Africa, and the Carib­ for black bean. The journal offers a rich medley writers of ficti'on, poetry, plays, critical essays, cultural studies, interviews, and' visual worldwide. art. Callaloo publishes the ;-only an­ "Through Callaloo I notated bibliography on criticism and writers in Chicago will scholarship on black literature. Special get some idea of what is happening in Senegal, issues of the jo.umal feature. anthologies and black writers in of the life and work of noted black Brazil or South Africa writers. can see what is being written in NevJ York." - Charles H. Rowell Editor

CALlALOO is published quarterly. . Please enter my subscription today: $IS/year individuals $3O/year institution o .Check or money order enclosed 0 Bill VISA 0 Bill MasterCard Card no. Exp. date

Signature

Name

Street

City, State, Zip

Send orders to': The Johns Hopkins University Press, Journals Publishing Division, 701 W. 40th St., Suite 275, Baltimore, MD 21211

Prepayment required. Subscribers in'Canada and Mexico add $5.50 postage; other subscribers out­ ; side the U.S. add $11.00 air freight. Payment must be drawn on a U.S. bank or be by international money order. Maryland residents add 5% sales tax. 87 fA