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DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT • 8 ST. FELIX STREET • BROOKLYN, NY 11217 Close Up 6 Cauleen Smith speaks from her soul and Thandie Newton scores big in the movies. 10 World View Bridgett M. Davis returnedfrom the 1994 Cannes Film Festival with disturbing revelations about the state ofAfrican American cinema.

Black Film Review 12 Film Clips Volume 8, Number 2 FESPACO... Windows on the World explores the Galapogos 10th Anniversary Issue Islands... 95'...John Carstarphen takes a humorous look at Corporate & Editorial Offices 2025 Eye Street, NW Black romance...Danny Glover does storytelling. Suite 213 Washington DC 20006 Tel. 202.466.2753 FEATURES Fax. 202.466.8395 e-mail 14 In Our Own Image [email protected] SHERI PARKS Editor-in-Chief Why African American women are a vitalforce in the film industry. Plus Leasa Farrar-Frazer the Daughters ofthe Diaspora Filmography. Consulting Editor Tony Gittens (Black Film Institute) Art Direction & Design 16 Keys to the Kingdom Lorenzo Wilkins for SHADOWORKS PHYLLIS K. KLOTMAN AND JANET C. CUTLER. Contributing Editors Jacqueline Shearer was the personification ofcultural truth, commu­ Patricia AUfderheide nity activism and the celebration oflife. In a final conversation she Thomasina Sligh TaRessa Stovall shares her convictions and insights. Contributors Natalie Bullock 20 Recall and Recollect: Excavating the Life History of Eloyce King Patrick Gist Julia Chance GLORIA J. GIBSON-HuDSON Janet K. Cutler Eugenia C. Daniels The life ofa foremother ofBlack cinema is brought to light. Bridgett M. Davis Kwame-Cumale Fitzjohn Gloria J. Gibson-Hudson 22 Beyond Black and White TJ Johnson Phyllis R. Klotman JULIA CHANCE Sheri Parks Gianella Garrett's African American and Italian heritage inspired her to explore one of Jerry White America's most complex legacies in her documentary film Between Black and White. John Williams Lesette Heath 24 Music Video: With Love From Jazz Lee Co-Publisher LEASA FARRAR-FRAZER One Media, Inc. Eric Easter, CEO Melodie McDaniel andJazz Lee Alston combine their enormous talents and take on domestic violence. Plus a conversation with video pioneer Lionel Martin. National Advertising Sheila Reid One Media, Inc. 202.466.4716 DEPARTMENTS Black Film Review (ISSN 0887-5723) is published four times 4 Letter from the Editor 28 TechWatch: The Alliance ofBlack a year by One Media, Inc. in association with the Black Film 4 The Mail Entertainment Technicians' Shirley Institute of the University of the District of Columbia. Subscriptions are $13 per year for individuals and $25 for 8 Campus: NYU's Tisch School ofthe Moore andMarie Carter. institutions. Requests and correspondence should be sent to P.O. Box 18665, Washington, DC 20036. All other correspon­ Arts/American University School of 29Multi Media: Movie and video dence should be addressed to the editorial offices listed Communications. guides are as near as your computer above. No part of this publication shall be reproduced without consent of the publisher. 18 Review: Boaz Yakin proves an apt screen. This project was made possible in part by a grant from the player in the ghetto film genre. 34 Resource Exchange Media Arts Fund, created by the National Alliance of Media 27 Television: What's on and what's off Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Art, and supported by the Georgia Council for the Arts. in TV land. Cover Photographer: H. Braithwaite; Stylist: P. Chaffers; Concept: BFR NOW ON CD-ROM E. Easter, L. Farrar-Frazer; Props: Bono Film & Video Black Film Review is now availalable on CD-ROM through EBSCO Publishing's Academic Abstracts service. To purchase a subscription or Services afor a free 60-day trial, contact: EBSCO Publishing, P.O. Box 2250, Peabody, MA 01960, USA. Or call 1.800.653.2726. BLACK FILM REVIEW/3 FROM THE EDITOR THE MAIL

With this issue, Black Film Review celebrates its tenth year as a journal focusing on Black Dear BFR, film and filmmakers. Anniversaries are a time to celebrate and they also give pause for I thoroughly enjoyed your last issue. Of particular reflection; a time for assessment of what has passed, then charting the future. interest were the interviews with the African filmmak­ ers, David Aschar, Jean-Marie Teno,and Jean-Pierre Bekolo. The past has not been without it's character-building struggles as is the case with most small arts organizations. onetheless, Black Film Review is excited by what we see in our future While the distributor(s) for their films may be common and that of Black cinema. It is not, however, an excitement naive of the very real challenges knowledge in our nation's capital, it is not in Clovis, New Mexico. As a relative newcomer to African and present for the many working professionals, those just starting out, and independents and African-American film, I have a lot of catching up to professionals in training. Rather, our excitement applauds the existence and renaissance of do and would like to see these films. Black cinema and our participation in the powerful act of images making that reflects, Can you help me out? Thanks. inspires and re-images our experiences, in spite of obstacles. Ty Hall Clovis, NM To express our enthusiasm and desire to address concerns important to the continued pro­ duction of films relevant to the Black experience, Black Film Review has made a number Gladly Contact California Newsreel, 149 9th Street, of changes. Dedication and commitment characterize our tradition of bringing you the best Suite 420, San Francisco, CAl 94103, 415.621.6196, fX.415.621.6522. of film analysis and critique. Building on that tradition, we have broadened our focus to include topics ranging from new technologies, to distribution and funding strategies, and ••••• trends in television and video production. These changes establish BFR's newly defined Dear BFR, mission of creating a dialog and synergy between the worlds of scholarly film criticism, the film industry and related fields, and the dynamic world of popular Black culture. In addition Thank you for your continual support; not only with Sankofa but with independent cinema pre & present to our new design and expanded format, we are also now on-line at [email protected] and BFR. We were very pleased with the article written by available on CD-ROM. E. Assata Wright. Additionally, Haile on the cover of Vol. 8, #1 was very timely. It was a historically signifi­ cant statement of respect by a magazine that hails Our cover concept, shot by photographer Hilton Barthwaite, was inspired by Eric Easter. the contributions and accomplishments of indepen­ Props were graciously donated by Bono Film and Video Services, Inc. in Arlington, Virginia. dent filmmakers while other periodicals turn their attention to commercial cinema. A special thanks goes to our summer intern, Lesette Heath, whose skills contributed great­ ly to this issue. We wish her tremendous success in her senior year at Hampton University. As we spread our wings and fly to other cities across the country, the distribution process that Sankofa is undergoing continues to be such an eye opening To our steadfast and expanding family of readers: Thank You. BFR enthusiastically looks experience, both for us as well as our audience. It forward to its next ten years of service which will place us solidly in the middle of the first proves that necessary struggle is never in vain. decade of the new millennium. See you there. Ada Marie Babino Mypheduh Films, Inc. New York/Washington, D.C.

Black Film Review welcomes mail from its readers. Leasa Farrar-Frazer, editor Please send your letters to: Black Film Review, The Mail, P.O. Box 18665, Washington, D.C. 20036. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. 4/BLACK FILM REVIEW )

Congratulations to BLACK FILM REVIEW on your Tenth Anniversary from Quincy Jones-David Saltzman Entertainment THE MANY LAYERS OF CAULEEN SMITH

film is grainy, and the camera movements are frequently jumpy. "My work is very crude. I'm not interested in slick­ ness," Smith says. Like the work of Coleman and his avant garde colleagues, Chronicles feels like the creation of some­ one emotionally engaged with the work -- too emotionally engaged to worry about simplifying her vision or making it

gun to work in video and plans to what she calls "The Sapphire o video has its benefits because tribute. Video editing and other ore expensive than film but for of the creative process takes place. y friendly to improvisation. "I can't in such a linear way," Smith says iting and the advance planning ludes that she can "use video etch thing" her video work "informal essays...to work out some theoretical ideas." This skepticism with the medium, however, is scarcely vis­ ible in the first installment of the Sapphire tapes, titled The Message. The piece is essentially a video portrait of a shirtless man hanging around in a second story apartment. There is again a layered sound track with Smith discussing how she feels on an emotional, sensual, and political level about filming this man, and how this relates to her desire for him.This track is laid over ambient sound of her instructing him in what to do and how to pose.The images are jumpy and hand-held, and the composition is frequently awkward, only letting us see parts of the man's body, making him seem fragmented. It quickly ION to the screen with an filmmaker's alter-ego Kelly Gabron, who supposedly tells the becomes clear that the camera movements are as unsteady as all experiemental. Others, story of Smith's next film. She observes that Smith pleads with her confidence in her ability to gaze respectfully at the man, ould say she soul-speaks with the complexity and us to go back and tend to it, then takes one last tentative look and the compositions as awkward as her expressions of guilt of an elder. at her sisters.And we are left with our memories. and pleasure in recording the movements of his body. leen Smith, 25, has earned a place among the freshest, Her next film, Chronicles of a Lying Spirit by Kelly Gabron She has shown work at community centers and dance rant of contemporary experimental media artists. Even (1992), further illustrates Smith's tendency to work in layers, clubs, venues not generally considered welcoming to experi­ 's only made three piece~, the longest one a whop- although this time the result is far more dense and challenging. mental film but which are more accessible to people who s, she's got a "k,,~ y of work that rivals any- The screen is filled with cut-out images and typewritten text might not otherwise see this genre of work. "People are happy ative use of the medium arranged in a fragmented manner. Two voice-overs are going to see it," Smith says of the reception of her work in these ulti-Iayered, sensual and a simultaneously, each telling a different version of the life of spaces. Of those unaccustomed to dense or visually odd work dynamic examp e f'rR;~" o"'ngoing struggle to create images that Cauleen Smith.The pictures frequently contain racist images, and she says, "when I try to be sincere...they'll hang in there... peo­ speak eloquently of the African American experience. one of the stories, told by a male vo~e, is just a long list of pie know it's an artistic vibe". She also says that young people, Smith's first film, Daily Rains (1990), deftly blends lyrical cliched and stereotypical stories of African American struggle. who she thinks are very visually sophisticated, are capable of imagery with documentary styles to explore everyday experi­ The other voice-over, however, is Smith's own voice, and tells a really embracing her films. Being of the MTV generation does ences of racism. The film moves between carefully arranged simpler and more poignant story. A young girl grows up in the have its positive elements. Smith says that she herself has been tableau of women standing in sparsely furnished spaces, with suburbs, watches a lot ofT\/, struggles with identity, and eventu­ heavily influenced by the large amount of TV she watched slides projected on or near them. It then moves to lyrical images ally decides that bein an artist can be a valid form of political when she was a kid (in an article in The Independent, she of two girls playing in a field and sequences of three different struggl " my shame and guilt," she described herself as a "Sesame Street", "Electric Company" women looking directly at the camera describing their first baby). experiences with racism. In addition to a young woman of per­ Smith's brief career as a filmmaker hints at great promise. haps 17 years and a middle aged woman, Smith uses herself as She is an artist who is highly aware of the power of her medi­ an interview subject. um and determined to make her films reflect the concerns of Daily Rains' style is certainly experimental, but never everyday life. Her work fulfills some of the radical aspirations obscure. Sequences are constructed carefully and linger long of the avant-garde. It re-defines the language in a way that enough to give the viewer a real sense of their painterly beauty. makes viewers (not just fellow avant garde artists) re-evaluate The interviews are very simple and all seen in a single shot, with their own experiences and the way that they look at repre­ the women rambling a bit to get to the meat of their story. A sentations of those experiences. key part of the aesthetic, we see the women talk about the ordeals of everyday life in a way that is unrehearsed and con­ Jerry White is on the staffof the Neighborhood Film/Video Project versational. Supplementary notes to the film are written by the and the Philadelphia Festival ofWorld Cinema. 6/BLACK FILM REVIEW o THE MOVE WITH THANDIE NEWTON

AT 'P¥-O E YEARS OLD, British actress It's a very simple story about the strength ofthe Thandj~ ewton.already has five feature films to human spirit and overcoming this kind of oppres­ her c~~8it andtqs~qrkingon her sixth. With Flirting, sion," reflected Newton when asked how The The Young AmericIJns, Loaded, lefferson in Paris, Journey of August King differs from other films Inti ire under her belt and The about slavery made over the years. "It shows the loney ofAugust resently in production, she color of their skin right down to the bone and you y well constitut ther British invasion. see two people. Ultimately it is about humanity." In The Journ ugust King, Newton plays Born to African and English parents and raised ay(JlJng run-awa~ nnalees. Based on the in Africa for a portion of her childhood, Newt€f . novel by John Ehle, the Addis/Wechsler Pictures in the enviable position of having several fil production also stars Jason Patrie and Larry Drake scheduled for release back to back. She'll no doub and is directed by John Duigan. create quite a stir in the next year when The Young Set in 1815 amidst the splendor of the western Americans, Loaded, and Jefferson in Paris (in which North Carolina countryside, The Journey of she plays the coveted role of Sally Hemmings), are August King traces the physical and interpersonal released in the US in quick succession. trek of a lonely mountain man, played by Patrie in Due to graduate with a degree in the title role and Newton's character, whom he har­ Anthropology from Cambridge University next bors. When wealthy plantation owner, Olaf spring, Newton was a trained dancer until an Singletary, played by Larry Drake (L.A. Law) dis­ injury at sixteen ended her dreams of becoming covers that two of his slaves have fled, he lures the professional. Her introduction to the film indus­ community into an intensive manhunt. August try was a matter of being in the right place at the encounters the terrified Annalees along a country right time. In 1989 she attended an audition on a road, conceals her in his wagon thus embarking on fluke and caught the attention of the casting a harrowing journey. director for Duigan's Flirting. This resulted in BLACK FILM REVIEW/? NEW YORK UNIVERSITY·S TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Adisa/A Clear Vision

Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell/Word from the Helm Adisa. The Yoruba derived name means "one who makes his meaning clear." The man behind the name captures the spirit and essence the name evokes. He is one concerned Since its founding in 1967,Tisch has become a haven for many struggling and commit­ with the merit of his work, the integrity it represents, the message it delivers. ted young artists. And undoubtedly the Film Department has experienced the most suc­ As a politically and socially correct young brother, Adisa's meaning is quite clear to cess. With illustrious alumni, including Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and Oliver Stone, Tisch anyone who listens. It is his mission to make a difference through film, or as he more aptly has earned itself an impressive reputation in both the professional and academic arenas. puts it, "dedicate the rest of my life to making films for and According to Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell, hundreds of film school applications flood the about Blacks." admissions office yearly, but only a select few are chosen. (Tisch chooses 50 students for Adisa attributes watching '70s blaxploitation movies as its graduate program and 1,000 for its undergraduate program.) peaking his interest in filmmaking. "I got a sense there was Dean Campbell, formerly New York's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs and one-time something more to filmmaking." Later came Spike Lee's executive director of Harlem's Studio Museum, says those who are chosen, "give us some She's Gotta Have It. "I was totally taken with the artistry of sense of what they have to say, they know what their voice is." She adds, "We look for it. At the time I was under the magic of Hollywood so I did­ someone who is independent, who is willing to engage in hard n't even know that there were Black directors out there." work, and wants to commit themselves to a life in the arts." Now he's proud to add his name to the list of those After the film department has selected its students, with creative control behind the camera. Of his films, he Campbell believes it does an excellent job of preparing them says, "I don't like portraying Black people as victims, the to compete within the industry. "Our film school prepares stu­ oppressed [within society]. I struggle with ways to tell sto­ dents to go into the world with the best artistic portfolio and ries that will give us power." with a host of marketable skills. There is no one way to get Maybe this accounts for his not-so-wonderful experience as a music video director into the industry, there are many points of entry. Our students for artists such as Big Daddy Kane and Positive K. "All they wanted to show was sex and understand their range of options." booty.The element of filmmaking I've always loved is that I can create.The element of play Campbell credits the rise of young people choosing to was missing." He recalls, after viewing the finished product, "Record producers would say study film to the power of the medium itself. "Film and video we loved it, but can you put some more booty in it." To say he wasn't challenged as an artist have become so ubiquitous. Our students see the immediate would be an understatement. But he doesn't rule out the possibility of directing future access people have to it." According to Campbell, Tisch's location is a significant asset as videos. If A Tribe Called Quest or Public Enemy called and requested his "skills" he would well. "NYC is the cultural capital of the world. It is not a one industry town, there are so jump to the offer. many facets. NYC offers a mini global panorama and NYU makes full use of its resources. After his brief fling with the world of music videos, the New York University film grad We share a symbiotic relationship with NYC. We like to think of the city as our campus. has stood firm on preparing an honest body of work people will accept for its inspirational NYU fuels and charges the city and [vice-versa]." messages. The focus of his student film, Garden of Love, was the plight of crack addicted In her fours years as dean, Campbell has witnessed only film students who are origi­ babies while A View From Here dealt with a handicapped kid who faces his difficulty in quite nators emerge.There appears to be no one patented formula for success, which in a sense a remarkable way. Both films have received honors such as the BACS Independent and is what distinguishes a Tisch student from any other. One never knows what to expect. Of Student Filmmakers Competition Award and recognition from the Black Cinema Society. student work she says, "Every year at the screenings, we're always surprised." Adisa credits NYU's film school with giving him a foundation, but believes, "Any film school, as long as it has cameras and good teachers can prepare you. You also have to be focused, dedicated and determined. I think it is overly optimistic on anyone's part to think Jermaine Encarnacion/Catching the Train to Success the school is going to make the filmmaker." Since finishing film school last year, the Oakland, Ca. native hasn't let the proverbial Working in a movie theater during his adolescence is where Jermaine Encarnacion grass grow under his feet. He is currently under contract with Disney to direct three fea­ first encountered the dynamics of the film world.Viewing the dramatic situations portrayed ture films. (It seems the Disney powers-that-be were overwhelmed by his thesis film, Notes on screen, Encarnacion knew he could bring his own reality before an audience. in a Minor Key.) His face has graced the pages of VIBE Magazine, while Director John "I try to make my films personal, things I'm interested in, how I would react in a situ­ Singleton has shared his insights on the film industry with the young up and coming film­ ation. If you look at my films, my signature is how I influence the acting. My main character maker. Of Singleton,Adisa says, "I found him to be very approachable." And if you look close is going to be a young Black male in a dramatic situation. The actor is representing me," enough when Higher Learning hits theaters, you might catch a glimpse of Adisa in a small according to Encarnacion. role. Encarnacion's student film, F- Train is such an example.The film focuses on three young Others in his position might find themselves succumbing to the "I'm getting paid syn­ men, one Black, one White, one Asian, who confront racial stereotypes while stuck in a drome" because of such immediate mainstream success. But not Adisa, you sense he has a stalled subway car. According to Encarnacion, in the end, the higher purpose. "I want to be able to look at my work and revel in the fact that it has merit. three realize their backgrounds are not so different after all. Anything I attach my name to has to be honest." "They grew up listening to the same music, watching the same television shows, and everything." He explains further, "While in the subway car, they found a way to get along, but after the NYU·S TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS car pulls off, each goes off into his own separate world." The GRADUATE FILM DEPARTMENT UP CLOSE film recently garnered the Carl Lerner Social Significance award and a coveted spot in NYU's annual First Run Film The philosophy of the department itself rests on the premise that one learns Festival. by doing. The majority of the students who apply are interested in dramatic Aside from his success with F- Train, Encarnacion interned films, and come primarily to learn to write or direct. The program is a three year in the South of France during the Cannes Film Festival last course of study, with each year running from September to May. summer. Of his experience, he says, "It was very unique. A lot The Graduate Film and Television Program accepts only 50 students each of industry people were out there. I learned a little about year to its three-year Masters of Fine Arts program. The program concentrates on how things are done business-wise." writing, directing, producing and editing, and culminates in production of a the­ sis film in the form of a dramatic short or documentary. With hopes of becoming a much sought after director and writer of feature Master-teacher workshops in directing are held twice a month. Most recently, films, Encarnacion says much of the inspiration behind his filmmaking comes from real life. alumni Martin Scorsese ('68), Spike Lee ('82), and Nancy Savoca ('82) returned "I get inspired just by human issues. I deal with universal issues, not just one type of cul­ to Tisch as master teachers. For further information or correspondence, contact: ture." Annesia Campbell, Graduate Admissions Coordinator/Graduate Film Currently Encarnacion's focus centers around NYU's spring semester when he begins Department at 212.998.1780. work on the "feared" thesis project.

8/BLACK FILM REVIEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA CENTER mination and guide her ultimate passion for film. For this recent graduate ofWashington, D.C.'s American University's Film &Video School, there is no such thing as a missed opportunity, no Steven Kendall/Professor at the Movies subject too taboo, and no experience too dangerous or life threatening to explore to its fullest. Imagine a college exam which asks you to define the elements of a Spike Lee movie, note Her recent thesis project allowed Smith to put her money, or more appropriately, her the similarities between Boyz N'the Hood and Menace II Society, or true/false:Wesley Snipes life, where her mouth was, as she took to the streets of Washington, D.C. to film a docu­ portrayed drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City. Believe it or not, graduate students at mentary on teenage prostitutes. "I didn't want to do just anything, I wanted something with American University (AU) in Washington, D.C. may find themselves selecting a, b, c, or all of impact," says Smith, who called Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS) and told them the above when Steven Kendall, an assistant professor ofVisual Media at AU brings his book, of her plans to document the work they do. Without reserva­ New Jack Cinema: Hollywood's New Wave of African American Directors to syllabus form tion, they agreed. next spring. According to Smith, the documentary took four months Kendall's book consists of 28 biographies of Black filmmakers including Spike Lee, Robert to complete. Four months in a world Smith describes as horri­ Townsend, John Singleton, Matty Rich and Julie Dash. Kendall says the idea behind the book bly abusive, where youth are lost in a deadly game of drug came from what he saw as a renaissance in Black films. In 1991, while a producer for Black addiction, fast money, mind control, and no escape. "I met some EntertainmentTelevision's "Screen Scene," Kendall says he witnessed Hollywood bring us sev­ very nice, very humorous prostitutes, but they were also very eral movies such as Boyz N'the Hood and New Jack City, which started a chain reaction in the frightened and abused.The majority of them are runaways who film industry, as major studios scrambled to bring more Black urban dramas to the theater. come from abusive homes, and are [befriended] by a pimp, who According to Kendall, the "renaissance" opened doors for more aspiring Black directors to later puts them on the streets after gaining their confidence." bring their visions to the silver screen - his essential focus of the book. Filming the actual footage for the documentary proved He began work on the book the following year. Although he credits 1991 as the year for the most challenging to Smith, who could not shoot the faces "the Black film renaissance," his book begins with a profile of Spike Lee and his 1986 cult clas­ of any of the prostitutes that she met because they were sic, She's Gotta Have It. "I eliminated much of the theory and criticism involved in film because minors. She says the youngest prostitute walking the streets of D.C. is 13 years old. Smith I wanted a younger person or a beginning film student to be able to pick up the book and depended on her use of clever shooting techniques such as back shots, side views, and shoot­ understand it." ing their shoes to bring the heartbreaking images of lost adolescence to film. Outraged and During his research, Kendall was surprised to discover a commonality among the film­ disgusted at what she saw as commonplace, Smith hopes that HIPS can use her documentary makers profiled. "Each had a real passion for what they want­ to open the eyes of others to teenage prostitution. "These are kids who have the right to ed to do, each struggled and many went untraditional routes experience what normal teenagers experience." to achieve success, such as Robert Towsend, who used his Smith, a native Washingtonian, says that she will take with her some invaluable lessons credit card to finance the budget of his first film." from her brief sojourn on the streets. Smith's next project will perhaps stir up even further Kendall is excited about both his book and course, which controversy. "I am currently working with a production company. We're in the process of will be an expansion of the book, with screenings of selected doing a documentary on the 1991 Mt. Pleasant riot [which occurred in the predominately films for class discussion and guest filmmakers brought in for Hispanic section of Washington D.C.] and the issues that it brought about - housing, home­ question/answer sessions. lessness, and police brutality towards Latinos." Smith says the project came about after she Kendall, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, received his bachelor directed a music video titled, The Forbidden Tale of Pedro and Tyrone, which tells the story of arts in radioltelevision/film from Temple University. He of two kids, one of whom ends up traveling the wrong path. Her previous experience also received his master's in film and video from AU's School of includes a stint in Prague as a part of the AU Summer Film Workshop, where she assisted in Communication in 1987 and was invited to join the depart­ directing three short films. ment's faculty in 1991. Aside from his interest in New Jack With a B.A. from Bowie State University in Communications and now M.A in film and Cinema, Kendall has written and produced several programs for national cable networks video from AU, it is hard to believe that Smith even took a five year absence between stud­ including the series,The Antique Doctor for The Learning Channel. Kendall recently launched ies. "Sometimes I really regret taking that time, but it gave me the chance to work with a mutlimedia company, "Storybook Factory," which publishes childrens' books on CD-Rom, Channel 16," where she got practical experience from directing council hearings. But like all video and audio tape, as well as in the traditional hardcover. committed artists, Smith wanted to perfect her directorial skills so AU beckoned. When asked if she has any other interests outside of film, she quips, "Are you serious?" and then goes on to list music (especially jazz and r&b) and acting. She admits her all-time favorite pastime is television. "When I was younger, my brother and I would sit in front of the Valerie Smith/Filming the Dark Edge television to keep occupied." Smith attributes hours of watching television with her love for moviemaking, while citing The Learning Tree, directed by Gordon Parks, as her favorite child­ Valerie Smith is followed by echoes. Echoes of a young filmmaker -- "pay your dues," hood movie. "It was so beautifully acted. It had the ability to bring people in," which is what "never sacrifice your integrity," and "let your work be your voice." Like many of her colleagues, 29-year-old Smith ultimately yearns to do. "I want to touch people with my screenplays, I want Smith takes comfort in the echoes, allowing them to direct her visions, strengthen her deter- to make them laugh or shed tears." Lesette Heath

AU·s MASTERS IN FILM & VIDEO PROGRAM UI? CLOSE

Located in the national and international commu­ the-art equipment and multimedia facilities. Arts program in Film & Video must have a bachelor's nication capital of the world, Washington D.C.'s AlJ's School of Communication Media Center degree from an accredited college or university with a American University's Master of Arts program in Film annually showcases hundreds of films and videos of all GPA of at least a 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale) in the last 60 & Video prepares students for careers as writers, pro­ kinds. Regular programs are held with local, national, semester hours of undergraduate work. Admitted stu­ ducers, directors, and production specialists in the and international artists, CrItICS and scholars. dents are expected to complete the program within a rapidly growing fields of film and video. The program Additionally, there are frequent speakers, screenings and two year period. For more information concerning enables students to focus their studies in one or more festivals co-sponsored with the National Academy of AlJ's Film & Video Program call 202.885.2040 or write: disciplines, such as film production, video production, Television Arts and Sciences, Women in Film and Video, Graduate Film & Video Program, School of scriptwriting, and film history, theory and criticism. the Washington Film and Video Council, and various Communication, The American lJniversity, 4400 Nationally recognized as an outstanding, professionally embassies. Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016­ oriented program, AU provides students with state-of- Students interested in applying to AU's Master of 8017.

BLACK FILM REVIEW/9 CANNES 1994

OBSERVI G AFRICA AMERICANS "WORKI G" THE 1994 Cannes started the annual panel because he noticed year after year that Film Festival was like bearing witness to the dilemmas of no real Black presence existed among the multitude of spon­ American Black folks in microcosm. That it unfolded in the sored events. The first year he presented the panel, he managed south of France, amidst French-speaking Africans and Black to get Unifrance to sponsor a champagne reception; in subse­ Europeans, made it no less striking. African Americans filmmak­ quent years, he's received partial funding from Kodak, but no ers suffer from the same identity crisis that African Americans in more champagne receptions. This year, without any name-recog­ general suffer from -- how best to be Black. nition stars to sit on the panel, he met resistance from both It is a struggle between that three-headed monster that sits American film organizations and corporations who had no inter­ heavily on the shoulders of all African Americans: The est in co-sponsoring the panel. Up until the day of the event, Nationalist, The Integrationist and the Individualist. All three Taliaferro was passing out flyers, hand-delivering notices to mail- ugly heads raised up at Cannes this boxes and stopping other Blacks on past May, bickering terribly amongst the streets of Cannes -- personally themselves, canceling out one anoth­ encouraging and cajoling people to er's effectiveness --unable to co-exist. show up. That conflict was most evident at Taliaferro's plight begs the ques­ the annual Black/Noir Filmmakers tion why one individual has attempt­ Conference held in the huge, ed, year-after-year, to coordinate an makeshift tent known as the American event whose most logical sponsor Pavilion -- one of the several patriotic would be the nationally established structures erected beside the city's Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF). sandy beaches for the duration of the But since BFF was not officially rep- festival. resented in any capacity at the '94 fes­ Last year the Black filmmaker's panel fea­ tival, the question is essentially moot. tured Melvin Van Peebles and his son Mario Taliaferro is convinced that the problems of (New Jack City, Posse), and writer/director Rusty Black filmmakers throughout the diaspora and Cundieff (House Party, Fear of A Black Hat). their inability to establish a significant presence at Both Spike Lee's X and the Hughes brothers' Cannes stems from their lack of a home base, a Menace II Society were all the rage back in the meeting place. Alongside the American Pavilion, states during the '93 festival. That created an there's a European Pavilion,a Japanese one, an ongoing buzz about "Black product" among pow­ African one and others, each housed in its own ers-that-be. Last year, the Kodak Conference structure, complete with its national flag flapping Center at the American Pavilion was packed tight, in the resort town breeze. Taliaferro believes TV press swarming and audience participation there ought to be one such pavilion for Black was lively. folks. He reasons that with a central This year, no stars sat on the panel. By BRIDGETT DAVIS location, a presence can be established, Spike Lee unofficially boycotted M • a meeting place guaranteed, vital infor­ Cannes, opting not to premiere mation disseminated, and a Black Crooklyn at the festival. And since American stu­ Filmmakers Panel Discussion housed under its dios in general felt dissed by the low number of Those filmmakers who did sit on the all-male own roof. It is the international film festival US films invited to Cannes '94, Hollywood was panel disagreed over the direction of Black film, equivalent of a homeland. The idea, however, has nearly non-existent. The lone Black American what defines Black film and how it fits into an yet to fly. African filmmakers, admits Taliaferro, director whose film had its world premiere at overall Black political agenda. Some believed are resistant to the idea. But they're not the only Cannes this year, Darnell Williams (I Like It Like Black filmmakers should work collectively and ones. That) wasn't on the Black/Noir Filmmakers exclusively. Still another felt he was a filmmaker "I get resistance even from Black (American) panel. She had, however, participated earlier in first, a Black one second. And still another felt the filmmakers," says Taliaferro. "I know that as a the week in the "American Directors at Cannes" solution lay in directing films for major studios filmmaker, you need an individual vision. But press conference presented by the Independent that have no Black subject matter. Everyone, nobody questions a European Pavilion. Nobody Feature Project (IFP). however, agreed with the moderator A. Jacquie ever questions the fact that they all get together." Also absent from the panel were top-name Taliaferro's sentiments. Of course, if the BFF or any other major Black actors attending the festival, Black execu­ "We should be beginning the formation of a Black film organization had a booth housed in the tives representing the festival and Black execu­ distribution system that delivers Black film from American Pavilion, not unlike the ones occupied tives representing the Hollywood studios who Cameroon to New York," said Taliaferro. "Until by both the IFP (which handles the films for all were in Cannes. Publicity for the panel, too, was we do, we're going to have these conferences over American filmmakers participating in the minimal, since it didn't get advance listing in key and over again with the same discussions, obser­ Marche) and Women In Film -- two influential publications and flyers -- a major omission for a vations... and at the end, walk out of the door feel­ American film organizations headquartered on film festival where time negotiation comes down ing disgusted." both coasts, a gathering spot for Black folks would to a deft balancing act for festival attendees, and Taliaferro, a San Francisco filmmaker, is the automatically exist. But there is no such booth. where tons of literature churned out of various organizing force behind the four-year-old The success of each year's festival is often sources daily gets read religiously. Black/Noir Filmmakers Panel at Cannes. He gauged by the number of top actors and actresses 10/BLACK FILM REVIEW roaming about, so noting how many Black actors Mariachi and Poetic Justice). Her name, however, Black filmmakers at the WIF panel presentation were spotted along the quay or at the parties and was not included in the official listing of panelists where Allain spoke? Apart from a few women in screenings provided a gauge of Black presence -­ for the event, added seemingly as an after­ the audience, Black attendance was low. Why if not influence. And since Darnell Williams -- the thought. Since Allain is arguably the most influ­ wasn't there a reception held in her honor at first African American woman ever to make a ential African American woman in Hollywood someone's villa or hotel suite? And, finally, where major studio film -- was the only Black director today, with a film in competition at the festival, was her presence on that low-key Black filmmak­ whose film was officially selected for Cannes, the the situation begs yet another question: Why was- ers' panel? number of Black actors attending Black folks were, in fact, at the pre­ the festival was tiny. Those who premiere salsa party for I Like It did make the transatlantic trek Like That, but since it was an open, were promoting one of three stu­ packed party held on a rainy night, dio films/ featuring Black charac­ few people of influence attended. It ters among its white casts: Dennis was fun, but considering the cost of Haysbert for Scott McGehee and transportation, registration and David Siegel's Suture, Giancarlo housing for the festival, it was Esposito for Boaz Yakin's Fresh, expensive fun. Cannes' film festival and Samuel Jackson for both is about business. Even at the social Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction gatherings. Especially at the social and Fresh made up the triumvi­ gatherings. rate of Black actors represented. Most nights when neither pre­ And we were decidedly mieres nor parties were scheduled, absent from certain key functions. industry people hung out in the This year, for instance, after Pulp major hotel lounges. Those occa­ Fiction premiered at the festival, sions turned out to be ideal settings (the film went on to win the festi­ for networking, introducing oneself, val's Palm D'or), Miramax held an pitching a project and connecting invitation-only party at the tony with other filmmakers. But if the Carlton Hotel. Attending this last five days of the festival were an party were not only the stars of the accurate reflection of the first five, film (John Travolta, Bruce Willis), the presence of Black filmmakers but Miramax co-owner Harvey was scarce in those hotel lounges. Weinstein. Scattered about were In the Independent Feature Film agents, producers, and other Market, the only market at Cannes sundry people who could help for US Independent films, 20 differ­ make a deal happen. The color in ent filmmakers screened their work the room was represented primar­ for distributors. Of those 20, one ily by actor Samuel Jackson and film was done by an African his best friend; a director's assis­ American. White Man's Burden, tant; a female appendage or two; directed by Gregory Hines, tells the and the musicians in the band. unconvincing story of a 30-year-old At the same time, a 10-minute white man who gets involved with a taxi ride away from the Palais du 17-year-old Black high school stu­ Festival and the hub of activity, dent and discovers that his quest to Black filmmakers of the diaspora be "The Great White Father" has were attending an open party at a tragic consequences. People walked rented villa. It was, in effect, the out of the screening. official Black social event of the Viewed individually, no one film, no festival. And it was disconnected one panel discussion, no one from the center of influence and African American star's presence, or power. Since no film is ever inde- (Top photo) Samuel L. Jackson as Jules, the hitman with a philosophical proclivity in attendance at the right party guaran­ pendent and is in fact interdepen- Quentin Taratino's Pulp Fiction. (Bottom photo) Jackson (I), John Travolta (center) as teed positive results for Black film­ Vincent Vega and Harvey Keitel (r) as The Wolf. dent upon a certain machinery makers trying to "work it" at the already in place, ghettoized net­ Cannes Film Festival. Yet, viewed working is indulgent at best. n't her presence, her accessibility, best utilized by collectively, those situations, those missed oppor­ Signs of Black folks' disconnectedness the Black filmmakers who could have benefitted tunities, offer a brushstroked impression of the showed up repeatedly. When Women In Film from it the most? festival. And the impressionistic portrait rendered sponsored its annual panel presentation, the one "I think what's independent about a movie is by Black folks for Cannes '94 is one dominated by African American woman represented was what's independent about the spirit of the movie," that three-headed monster. Stephanie Allain, senior vice president of produc­ Allain noted during her talk. "Is it a movie that tion at Columbia Pictures and the person respon­ brings people together? That's the overriding Bridgett M. Davis, assistant professor ofEnglish and sible for ushering I Like It Like That into exis­ question... I'm excited about bringing these Journalism at Baruch College, City University ofNew tence. (In previous years, she supervised produc­ movies by people of color to the mainstream." York, writes about Black artists and issues ofself-dis­ tion of Boyz 'N The Hood, Mo' Money, EI Why wasn't there stronger attendance by covery. She is presently shooting herfirst feature film. BLACK FILM REVIEW/11 FROM THE CONTINENT This pilot and first segment features Kristopher and Nicole taking off on a fantasy adventure through the The Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPA­ Galapagos Islands. Because of it's geographical ecosystem, CO), established in 1972 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the Galapagos Isands is home to a rare collection of plant life, emerged out of the initiative of African filmmakers. This animals, reptiles and birds. The islands were designated a major first world film festival, which takes place bi-annually nature preserve many years ago. during the last week of February, is viewed today as Africa's Both kids unanimously agree that filming and playing grandest periodic cultural display. It has become a unifying, with the sea lions was the best part of their trip. "It was really reflective moment and celebration for Africans and Blacks in fun," said Kristopher, a student at Miami Shore Elementary the diaspora. School. In addition to hanging out with the very friendly sea While FESPACO highlights the cinematic achievements lions, Kristopher and Nicole also explored a thousand year old of Black people, Manthia Diawara, director of the African volcano and interviewed the local people about the giant tor­ Studies Department at New York University asserts "there toises for which the Galapagos Islands are famous. Nicole, a were so many cultural and intellectual activities going on [at 5th grader this fall at South Point Elementary School, said of FESPACO] it will take more than films in competition to the language difference, "I learned more Spanish in one week evaluate any FESPACO." than I learned in five years! I could communicate more." The FESPACO audience has grown from 100,000 in Moss cites his now fulfilled dream of traveling the world 1972 to a half-million currently...and still counting. They as inspirations for this project. His desire to be a positive descend on Ouagadougou from all ends of the globe -- film­ influence for children was another. With additional thought makers, distributors, critics, cinema buffs, international tele­ and input from colleagues and friends, it became apparent to vision executives and others. This points to a growing inter­ Moss that Windows on the World had much more potential est in African cinema which a few decades ago was said to than just one 30 minute children's travel film. He would like hold no interest for Africans. Clearly, this is not true. to see Windows become a series of thirteen episodes, each FESPACO 93' was important in that it churned out an highlighting a different culture and its enviornmental con­ abundant offering of engaging African films, among which cerns. were: Ousmane Sembene's Guelwaar, Haile Gerima's To reach an even larger audience, a multi-media kit for Danny Glover with dance troupe Sankofa, Djim Kolla's Tounga, Jean-Pierre Bekolo's Quartier home and classroom use is also in development. By using the Satoto Yetu. Mozart, and Roger Gnoan-Mbala's Nom Tu Christ, which cap­ latest technology Moss hopes "... to stimulate the imaginations tured the 'Etalon de 'Yennenga', the coveted African grand and the desire for our young people, their families and teach­ prize for cinema. ers to make their personal explorations of the world in order At FESPACO 93' films from the diaspora came from to bridge the gaps of understanding." Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas. There was a strong Filmmaker and director Al Santana, best known for his African American representation with Danny Glover, Whoopi classic documentary film Voices on the Gods, is the latest tal­ Goldberg, Alice Walker and others in attendance. Spike Lee's ent to join the project team. "The word that kept surfacing Malcolm X, which was praised for its "extraordinary technical throughout the production was 'awesome,'" says Santana. "It and artistic control, " won second place for the Paul Robeson has not been until Windows on the World that I have com­ Prize for the best film for the diaspora. The award went to muned with nature in this way. The Windows project will be Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. is an inspiration for the millions of viewers who will have the On the occasion of the centenary of cinema, FESPACO opportunity to see this natural beauty through the eyes ofour 95' has fittingly as its theme Cinema and History. Historian host children." Joseph Ki-Zerbo defined the importance of history to cinema While there is no shortage of inspiration for the project, as "a kind of deposit waiting to be used in filmmaking. both filmmakers agree that funding is a major issue. However, Kwame-Cumale Fitzjohn. they feel certain that the global relevance and timeliness of Windows on the World will draw financial support from a Forfurther information: number ofsources. Until then it is the shared vision ofthe sig­ FESPACO 95' The 14th Pan-African Film & nificance ofcultural and environmental awareness and under­ Television Festival standing which drives this effort. Yet another bridge is built. Date: February 25 - March 4, 1995 Any parting advice from our young hosts and seasoned Location: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (Upper travelers about visiting the Galapogos Islands? "Yeah," says Volta), West Africa Kristopher,"wear a wet suit. The water is really cold." LFR Address: FESPACO 01 BP 2505 HOME IS WHERE THE HEART Is Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso Filmmaker Howard Moss on loca­ Tel: 226.30.75.38 John Carstarphen puts forth a ground breaking notion in tion in the Galapagos Islands. Fax: 226.31.25.09 his new film being shot in Denton, Texas: that there exists in the African American experience a world that is romantic and KIDS ON THE ROAD funny. Carstarphen's new film, Stealin' Home, is a contem­ porary, urban romantic comedy about a professional African Ever wanted to visit the Galapagos Islands? Soon you'll American woman, Ala, who is in search of the perfect man. be able to do just that with guides Kristopher Moss, 8, and Searching for the perfect mate is nothing new; that it is Nicole Mirnelli,10, youth hosts of Windows on the World, an framed in a Black romantic comedy is, considering the num­ adventure travelogue film/video for kids which features the ber of "gangster" -- read violent and destructive -- films that enviornment and culture. have filled Hollywood's coffers over the last few years. 12/BLACK FILM REVIEW When asked what inspired him to make a romantic THE NAKED TRUTH comedy Carstarphen says, "The Black experience in this country is a lot more diverse and complex than even we In Naked Acts, Cicely, an aspiring actress played by Jake­ give it credit for being. I wanted to make the kind of movie ann Jones, has shed the 57 pounds which comforted her from I wanted to see - something other than guys with guns in the emotional trauma ofa mother/daughter conflict and child­ LA and New York." And so the story goes... hood sexual abuse. Now in possession of a slamming body, One day while jogging, Ala meets Jezel and they what remains is the challenge of discarding the left-over emo­ embark on an intensely amorous relationship complete tional baggage she carries. This is the premise of filmmak­ with all the new relationship fluff -- the candles, the fire­ er/writer Bridgett Davis' first feature film, which she began place, good food, champagne and Lutha' Music. But soon shooting in New York in September. the relationship goes the route of many such rosy begin­ "Once that protective area is removed you have a very nings, erupting in The Big Fight which results in the dis­ raw emotional space from which to relate to people. It can be appearance of Jezel along with all of Ala's furniture. Ala very scary," says Davis with insightful accuracy, "and Black takes off on an hilarious yet poignant search of her lost women have a particular relationship with our bodies because lover -- and her furniture. of our particular his­ Carstarphen also wanted to present contemporary tory in this country." southern life and the African American woman in a more Davis, a writer accurate light. He admits, however, to having had stereo­ by profession, typical ideas about the south prior to his relocation to believes that that Texas from Philadelphia where he was raised. "We all have history has resulted some connection to the south beyond the slavery experi­ in distorted notions ence. This film has helped me look at that experience in a of beauty and self­ different way and there are a wealth of stories to be told." worth for many Practical as well as artist considerations influenced his Black women, exact­ decision to shoot the film in black and white. "Number ing a high price one," he states, "it's cheaper. And black and white film within the Black lends itself more to a gritty, urban aesthetic." families and com­ A graduate of Temple University's film studies pro­ munIties. "[The gram, Carstarphen also holds a graduate degree from denial of] promiscu­ American Film Institute's Directing Program. His previous ity, over-eating, work, Weekend of Our Discontent, was the winner of the domestic violence, 1993 Paul Robeson Award for Best Short at the Newark sexual abuse, self­ Black Film Festival and was nominated for a Cable Ace hatred -- all of these Award. issues stem from a Rebecca Rice, a former independent producer for Black woman's way .children's educational video production is executive pro­ of seeing herself." At a very basic level this denial informs Billy Jones, Phyllis Cicero and ducer for the project. Of Stealin' Home she says, fundamental aspects ofa woman's life. She adds, "Some Black Yevette Perry-Glass in Steal;n' Home. "Hollywood tends to marginalize minority groups by show­ women don't even look at their bodies. That's the ultimate ing only one perspective. With the Black community they denial." have chosen to show the ghetto experience over and over In part, Davis' inspiration for making a film which grap­ again." She continues, " We wanted to tell a positive story." ples this subject came from observing African women during LFF a research stint in Nigeria and Kenya in the early 80's. "There is an ease about their [African women] bodies, in the way they A CELEBRATION OF FOLKTALES carry themselves. I think it's just a different comfort level. That's another way of saying that they have a greater sense of Rabbit Ears Productions, based in Connecticut, con­ self." tinues to spotlight folktales of the world with their award­ Self-esteem for Black women - a vast issue in and ofitself winning touch. This time they moved to television. Danny - is not the only inspiration for Davis' film for which she wrote Glover, a regular to the stable of actors with whom they the script. She cites the plight of her friends in the industry work, will host Celebrate Storytelling. who contend with a shrinking number ofsubstantive roles for Celebrate Storytelling with Danny Glover will explore Black actors and the image of Black women in the media as the nature of storytelling and introduce audiences to the two problems she wanted to address. different methods of telling a story -- with dance, through An independent filmmaker's true creative grit is often music, and through art. Host Danny Glover will be joined expressed in fund-rasing for their projects. While Davis is by South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo reluctant to go into great detail about the financing of her and Batoto Yetu, a New York-based children's troupe, who film, she shied away from applying for grants from the usual will perform dance segments between video versions of sources available to independents. Instead she opted to gen­ Rudyard Kipling's "Just So" stories. erate her own capital. "It's been mostly private investors and This special is the first in a series of four prime-time my own investments. It's been very hard," she said. But, she specials being produced for PBS by Rabbit Ears added, that now is the right time for the story so she took the Productions. Each program will be feature a celebrity host risk and "stepped out into the unknown." and will focus on the art of storytelling. Check your local Naked Acts will be completed and ready for the 1995 listings. LFF film festival circuit by early next year. LFF BLACK FILM REVIEW/13 SEEI GT ROUG aURa EYES

BY SHERI PARKS

AFRICA AMERICAN WOME BRING to filmmaking women can know well enough to depict in film. Female filmmakers have an important role the rich complexities that they live. Sitting at Film is a hungry, multi-dimensional medium. It in the reinvention of film and the development the matrix of almost every major cultural divi­ is not enough to be able to describe a thing. The of an African American film aesthetic. Male sion of North American culture, they are able to filmmaker must know how it feels, how it sounds moviemakers have traditional genres to tie into see, and to help us see, the paradoxes in which times two (how the people sound, how the envi­ if they wish: the gangster movie, the western, we live. My grandmother had a saying, that ronment sounds), how it makes others react, how the war movie, the buddy movie. Female movie women could look up longer than men could it feels and looks just before it starts and after it makers, for the most part, do not. They are cre­ look down. It is one of those sayings in which the IS over. ating genres; they have to. They draw, not on wisdom peels off in layers, some political, some While it takes extraordinary talent to capture film history, but on their lives and the lives of physical or even sexual. On one layer the wis­ the way a woman talks and the way she moves, the women they know. The films they make dom is that longtime subordination brings with it there are other richer and more complex aspects speak directly to the ways Black women talk and insight. The life position of the African to us that are even more difficult to understand live. Communication research about women, American feluale brings a unique vantage point and capture. It is the difference between the including Black women, and their communica­ on race, gender and caste. Being Black makes us way a woman looks when she walks verses what tion styles show that they concentrate on rela­ know white as well as Black. Being female helps she means when she walks the way she does. tionships and details, on smaller aspects of life us know male as well as female. Being too often This is not to say that Black men do not have that lead into the larger aspects of life, what the poor makes us know the ways of the wealthy as important insights to give us about women, as tilt of a neck can mean, how the change of hair­ well as those of the needy. We have to know; our Spike Lee, John Singleton and Haile Gerima style becomes evidence of a life change. Film survival depends on it. have recently shown us. Keen talents of observa­ can show those details better than any other The recent years have shown that a perma­ tion and mimicry, along with the help of women, medium, and it is by those details that we recog­ nent and loyal audience exists for Black film, have produced some important works. Yet there nize ourselves. both for those drawing on mainstream are moments in films by women which speak to Group identity with the culture and the fam­ Hollywood formats and those which do not. me as only a woman would. These films speak ily are historically significant tools of survival for Black folks go to the movies. They interact with on things which are peculiarly female, the emo­ Black people. Increasingly, we get much of our the immediacy of oral and visual meaning with tions of being a woman in this world, the female cultural sustenance electronically. Along with an enthusiasm that continues to surprise distrib­ ways of being a sister, a daughter, a mother, a music and television, film is a particularly impor­ utors and theatre owners, who live outside of the lover, a life-mate. tant part of the aesthetic and informational lives Black culture. To successfully have an unborn child as a of Black people. Black culture is not a print There is a reason Black audiences respond narrator, as Julie Dash does in Daughters of the based culture. The majority of African with such eagerness to the films of Black film­ Dust, one must know of the relationship of a Americans consume most of their mass mediated makers. Films have long spoken about Black woman and her nearly-born child, know of the information from inside and outside the culture, people, or what passed for white America's voice deep within the woman's body who would through electronic media in accordance with the romantic or vilified version of Black people. The burst, already speaking, into this world with a tradition of an oral culture. images, however, were never like us or like any­ full-blown personality and observations from the Popularly accepted aesthetic forms can one we knew. They didn't capture the true last world. To make a film like Just Another Girl become powerful vehicles for emotional survival rhythms of our talk, or the subtle-within-broad on the IRT, one must understand romantic love as and political change. If feminist sensibilities are style of our humor, or even the colors of our traditional female adventure, understand the to enter the mainstream of Black political dis­ skins. Now we can see films by people who heady joy of romantic risk, temporarily wonder­ course, they will have to capture the imagina­ know us, who are us and who get it right at last. ful because it is so foolhardy, which drives a col­ tions of larger numbers of Black women. Film It is the same with gender. lege bound young woman to hang too tight with can depict the lives of Black women in a form Spike Lee was severely criticized several troubled young men in fast cars. that is aesthetically attractive and available to years ago when he reportedly said that Black The medium of film has the ability to show Black women, most of whom do not have regular women should tell the stories of Black women. us, to let us actually hear the voices within access to the more elite art forms. The potential While it looks as if he has moved away from his women, to know how and why they feel rather benefit of film for African American women is earlier statement with his latest film Crooklyn, than just what they say. In order to provide those particularly significant since the form can reach there is still some truth in what he said. There is internal voices, however, the filmmaker must women who are the backbone of a traditional, much in the Black female condition which only have heard those internal voices herself. respected Black female culture that operates in 14/BLACK FILM REVIEW the Black family and community, away from the The most powerful Black feminist voices must Black women in a larger world designed to keep us more privileged centers of feminism. Black come in media forms which Black women use. silent. Film can give African American women women are still rare within the academies and Stories about Black women and stories by voice as never before, and it is a voice that African the halls of "fine" art. Many of the most success­ Black women have recently shown that an audi­ American culture must have to live and prosper. ful mainstream feminist works are fine art. ence exists for seemingly unconventional films Museum and stage art are in forms that are less that speak on the ways we talk; we think; we live Sheri Parks is an Associate Professor in the American accessible and perhaps less attractive to the larg­ through time and space in our closely personal, Studies Department at the University of Maryland, er potential audience of Black women's works. non-linear social world; and the ways we live as College Park.

AUGTHERS OF THE DIASPORA

A Filmography of Sixty-Five Blacl< Women Independent Film and Video-Mal

Anita Addison Eva's Man (1976) 13 mins. Savannah (1989) of Youth (1986) 8 mins. Cycles (1989) 17 mins. Trumpetistically, 5 mins. Shopping Bag Spirits and Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual 30 mins. Clora Bryant (1989) 5 mins. A Period Piece (1991) 4 mins. A Space (1981) 60 mins. Fragments (1980) 10 mins. Maya Angelou Georgia, Georgia (1972) 90 mins. Sister, Sister Powerful Thang (1991) 57 mins. Stephany Minor Keep On Moving (1993) 17 mins. (1982) 90 mins. Cheryl Dunye janine (1990) 9 mins. She Don't Fade ( 1991 ) Donna Mungen Affairs of the Political Heart (1985) 25 mins. A Madeline Anderson Integration Report I (1960) 24 mins. 23 mins. The Potluck and the Passion (1993) 22 mins. Telephone Call (1985) 13 mins. Success Avenue:Watts L.A. (1993) Malcolm X: Nationalist or Humanist? (1967) 14 mins. I Am Cynthia Ealey/Lynn Blum A Mother is a Mother (1992) 20 mins. Somebody (1970) 28 mins. Walls Came Tumbling Down (1975) 27 mins. Ruby Oliver Leola: Love Your Mama (1993) 94 mins. 29 mins. Cheryl Fabio-Bradford Rainbow Black (1976) 31 mins. Michelle Parkerson Sojourn (1978) 10 mins. ... But Then, She's Melvonna Ballenger Rain (1982) 15 mins. Nappy-Headed Elena Featherston Alice Walker: Visions of the Spirit Betty Carter (1980) 53 mins. Gotta Make This journey: Sweet Lady (1983) 30 mins. (1988) 58 mins. Honey in the Rock (1983) 58 mins. Storme: Lady of the jewel Box Toni Cade Bambara The Bombing of Osage Avenue (1988) Heather Foxworth Trouble I've Seen (1988) 90 mins. (1987) 21 mins. Odds and Ends (1993) 30 mins. 58 mins. Moniea J. Freeman Valerie:A Woman, An Artist, A Philosophy of Nadine and Marlene Patterson Anna Russell jones: Mary Neema Barnette Sky Captain (1984) 65 mins. AIDS Life! (1975) 15 mins. A Sense of Pride: Hamilton Heights (1977) Praisesong for a Pioneering Spirit (1993) 25 mins. and Black Women (1991) 30 mins. Zora is My Name (1990) 90 15 mins. Learning Through the Arts: The Children's Art Carnival Cyrille Phipps Black Women, Sexual Politics, and the Revolution mins. Different Worlds:A Story of Interracial Love (1992) 60 mins. (1978) 17 mins. (1992) 20 mins. Debra Robinson I Be Done Was Is (1984) 60 Better Off Dead (1993) 60 mins. Jackie Frazier Hidden Memories (1977) 20 mins. Shipley Street mins. Kiss Grandma Goodbye (1992) 70 mins. Camille Billops Suzanne, Suzanne (1982) 26 mins. Older (1981) 28 mins. Demetria Royals Mama's Pushcart: Ellen Stewart and 25 Years Women and Love (1987) 26 mins. Finding Christa (1991) 55 Linda Gibson Improvisation II (1975) 3 mins. Flag of La Mama (1988) 54 mins. Inventing Herself (1993) mins. (1989) 24 mins. Installation. Aarin Burch Dreams of Passion (1989) 5 mins. Spin Cycles Joanne Grant Fundi:The Story of Ella Baker (1981) 45 mins. Kathe Sandler Remembering Thelma (1981) 15 mins. A (1990) 5 mins. Iman Hameen Unspoken Conversation (1987) 24 mins. Question of Color: Color Consciousness in Black America Carroll Parrott Blue Varnette's World:A Study of aYoung Artist Pam Jones Forward Ever (1978) 4 mins. One (1982) 5 mins. (1993) 58 mins. (1979) 26 mins. Conversations with Roy de Carava (1984) 28 Leslie Harris just Another Girl on the IRT (1993) 94 mins. Joy Shannon Echo (1983) 27 mins. From Rags to Riches (1991) mins. Nigerian Art: Kindred Spirits (1990) 58 mins. Bess Lomax Hawes Pizza Pizza Daddy-O (1969) 18 mins. 90 mins. Pearl Bowser Namibia: Independence Now! (1985) 55 mins. Georgia Sea Island Singers (1980) 12 mins. Saundra Sharp Back Inside Herself (1984) 5 mins. Life is a Midnight Ramble (1993) 60 mins. Helaine Head Simple justice I (1992) 90 mins. Simple justice II Saxophone (1985) 58 mins. Picking Tribes (1988) 7 mins. Why Delle Chatman Madam Secretary (1993) 28 mins. (1992) 90 mins. Didn't You Tell Me This Before? (1992) 9 mins. Ayoka Chenzira Syvilla: They Dance to Her Drum (1979) 25 H. Len Keller Ife: A Day in the Life of a Black French Lesbian Jackie ShearerA Minor Altercation (1977) 30 mins. Eyes on the mins. Flamboyant Ladies Speak Out (1982) 30 mins. Hair Piece:A (1993) 5 mins. Prize II: The Promised Land (1990) 60 mins. The Massachusetts Film for Nappy-Headed People (1984) 10 mins. Secret Sounds Patricia Khayyam Henry Box Brown (1990) 9 mins. 54th Colored Infantry (1991) 60 mins. Screaming:The Sexual Abuse of Children (1986) 30 mins. Five Out Daresha Kyi The Thinnest Line (1988) 10 mins. Land Where My Millicent Shelton Celia (1987) 12 mins. of Five (1987) 7 mins. Zajota and the Boogie Spirit (1989) 14 Fathers Died (1991) 23 mins. Cauleen Smith Chronicles of a Lying Spirit by Kelly Gabron mins. Alma's Rainbow (1992) 85 mins. Pull Your Head to the Alile Sharon Larkin Your Children Come Back to You (1979) (1992) 6 mins. Moon: Stories of Creole Women (1992) 12 mins. 27 mins. A Different Image (1982) 51 mins. Miss Fluci Moses Vejan Lee Smith Mother's Hands (1992) 10 mins. Portia Cobb Endangered Species Ed. (1990) Installation. Who (1987) 22 mins. Dawn Suggs Chasing the Moon (1991) 4 mins. I Never Danced Are You?: An Oakland Love Story (1990) 4 mins. No justice, No Carol Munday Lawrence The Black West (1981) 30 mins. the Way Girls Were Suppose To... (1992) 7 mins. Peace: Black Males Immediate (1992) 14 mins. Portrait of Two Artists: Hughie Lee Smith and jacob Lawrence Ellen Sumter Rags and Old Love (1986) 55 mins. Kathleen Collins-Prettyman The Cruz Brothers and Mrs. (1979) 30 mins. Oscar Micheaux, Film Pioneer (1981) 30 mins. Ayanna Udongo Edges (1992) 4 mins. Malloy (1980) 54 mlns. Losing Ground (1982) 86 mins. The Cotton Club (1982) 29 mins. Yvonne Welbon Monique (1991) 4 mins. The Cinematic jazz Carmen Coustaut Extra Change (1987) 30 mins. Audrey King Lewis The Gihed (1991) 120 mins. ofjulie Dash (1992) 23 mins. Sisters in the Life (1993) 23 mins. Francee Covington The Gospel According to ... (1988) Edie Lynch Lost Control (1975) 50 mins. Remembering Wei Yi Fang, Remembering Myself (1992) 30 mins. 60 mins. Sonya Lynn Blues Story (1989) 12 mins. Sweet (1992) 20 mins. Dorrie Wilson The New Rap Language (1991) 25 mins. Michelle Crenshaw Skin Deep (1990) 8 mins. O. Funmilayo Makarah Creating a Different Image: Portrait of Fronza Woods Fannie's Film (1981) 15 mins. Killing Time Julie Dash Diary of an African Nun (1977) 13 mins. Four Women Alile Sharon Larkin (1989) 5 mins. Define (1988) 5 mins. Fired (1979) 9 mins. (1978) 7 mins. Relatives (1989) 30 mins. Illusions (1983) 34 Up!: Or How ITurned My Rage into Art (1992) Installation. mins. Daughters of the Dust (1991) I 13 mins. Praise House Jessie Maple Will (1981) 80 mins. Twice as Nice (1992) The Daughters ofthe Diaspora filmography was first published in the (1991) 30 mins. 60 mins. Cineaste film journal and is reprinted with the permission ofthe com­ Zeinabu Irene Davis Recreating Black Women's Media Image Barbara McCullough Water Ritual No. I: An Urban Rite of piler. john Williams is a writer, scholar and critic living in Oakland, CA. (1983) 30 mins. Crocodile Conspiracy (1986) 13 mins. Sweet Bird Purification (1979) 4 mins. The World Saxophone Quartet (1990) He teaches at San Francisco State in the Department of Cinema. BLACK FILM REVIEW/15 A Final Interview with Jacqueline Shearer BY PHYLLIS R. KLOTMAN AND JANET K. CUTLER

FEW PEOPLE HAVE HAD AS PRO­ Shearer candidly and thoughtful­ found an affect on the arts and ly shares her dreams and strug­ independent film community gles, a personal vision of the as Jacqueline Shearer, a com- future and insights into the munity which remaIns creative expreSSIon she stunned by her tragIc and sought to realize. This inter­ untimely passIng In VIew, conducted by Phyllis November of last year. In this, R. Klotman and Janet K. a condensed version of one of Cutler, took place in New York . . her last in-depth InterVIews, City on June 29, 1992.

Phyllis R. Klotman: Is there an African American tradition in New Left organization, in the '60s and '70s; it wasn't documentary filmmaker John Grierson honed his craft documentary filmmaking, andwhattradition do you see your­ very good at production, but it was great at exhibition. doing industrials, and that appealed to me. I liked the selfcoming out ofP The experience taught me that, more than anything notion of learning filmmaking by doing it. There was JACQUELI E SHEARER: Right away, that makes me con­ else, film is something that's used, that's seen, and that also a reverse snobbism in me that liked the idea of front my own lack of historical understanding about sparks reactions in people. I'm grateful that that was doing non-"art" films. You know, "I'm just an honest soul filmmaking. Beginning with some film festivals that I how I came to it, along with a political understanding earning a living" kind of thing, and the way that I hap­ went to overseas with Pearl Bowser, I was introduced to that filtnmaking can socialize people to be unthinking pened to do it was through this craft. I definitely saw it the likes of Oscar Micheaux, and understood that there cogs in the machine: logically it made sense to apply as a craft. It all starts from my self-apology about my not were other Black filmmakers before me. But, they tend­ those same skills to another more liberating end. My having a real, deep-rooted understanding the Black doc­ ed to center on narrative more than on documentary. own background in documentary has very much to do umentary tradition. Madeline Anderson's film was the first documentary I with film as a political tool, and with my being political­ I anet K. Cutler: But, I think that's very common, and really ever saw by a black woman, and that had a big impact ly motivated. I didn't learn film in school. I studied his­ what's interesting. How many people do you know who are self on me, along with Bill Miles' Men of Bronze, and tory -- I picked up film from friends -- and I could have taught... [William] Greaves' films. At the time I was centering gone on to be a history professor, or with different skills JS: Right! We feel we're reinventing the wheel. myself in narrative filmmaking, so while I sort of and inclinations, some kind of political organizer. But I IC: And that there is no history, no tradition, no sense ofthe noticed them there wasn't a direct relationship between hated meetings and I hated having to talk to strangers, forefather/mother of African American documentary cinema. me and them. and so I got into film. Then later, you look back and notice that there were people I began filmmaking in Boston ewsreel, a national And then I remember reading a book about how doing the same things. 16/BLACK FILM REVIEW ]S: Exactly. in the Y headquarters on the east side that no one had ]S: No, I'd never met this person before. PK: That's what Marlon Riggs said: he was majoring in his­ looked at for years. Even the domestic workers' union, PK: How did it work.? tory atHarvard, andthen he decided that that wasn 't whathe an affiliate of the AFL/CIO, didn't know about it. I had ]S: Well, it worked because we both made it work. wanted to do because it didn't speak to enough people. But he to do the research, and I hope I don't die before I can Luckily, we shared a certain temperament, we both had never seen any Black documentaries... realize it... worked with people in the same way, and we shared cer­ IC: People have been saying this over and over again. "Didn't IC: It sounds like a majorproject. tain values. It was extremely painful, but I think that see anything, didn 't go to film school, just went out there and ]S: It's a huge project, and in the course of it I came up Henry is in some ways a genius. I worked with him in did it. II against a couple of things. One is the problem of work­ the old days when he was beginning the process of ]S: I worked at the ABC affiliate in Boston, not the pub­ ing alone, and the other is the problem of my shying fundraising for Eyes so I know how long it took him and lic TV station, and I had to prove myself all the time, away from thinking that I had a voice. I wasted a lot of how persevering he was, but from my point of view, the which is, I think, also part of being a documentarian. time and money. I did extensive fundraising, and then "salt and pepper" stuff wasn't worth it. You wake up in the morning and say, "What's God gonna just went through writers who weren't able to give me I understand that he [Hampton] wanted to shake throw at me today? How am I gonna interact with it to what I wanted. Finally I had to accept the fact that I'd us up and keep us from being too in-groupy and speak­ get my story?" There was something really sort of satis­ have to write it myself. This was some of the most ing only to the converted, and using in-language. I fying about that. painful, but also the most gratifying work I'd ever done. understand that those were problems, but there was My first concentrated productions happened after I And, then, there was a big fundraising fiasco at NEH such "ownership" of the history on the part of the Black had done A Minor Altercation [Shearer's short narrative [National Endowment of the Humanities.] I'd heard producers -- there was no way you could have convinced film, 1976] with some friends on our own. Then Henry from friends that my project got the highest ranking by us that the White producers had the same emotional Hampton called me up and asked if I wanted to do films the panel. I was sure I would get the grant, and then stake. They certainly wanted to do their best. We all for Blackside [Inc.] (this was in the pre-Eyes days, when they sent my project to outside reviewers, and somehow did. But you get a different shading from a supposed he was doing government-sponsored industrials). That it wound up that I got a "No." It was very, very devas­ parity where it's not really parity. I think the mixing was made me think of the book I'd read on Grierson, and I tating, and I had to put the project away for a while. good, but I wouldn't have done it in such a blanket, thought this is great! I can hone my skills. By then I had I had just picked up the script again to go through across-the-board way because it set us all up. decided that I wanted to do narrative because of the it when I got the call from Henry about Eyes on the IC: It seems so prescriptive and it presumes a tremendous control issue. After doing a number of public affairs doc­ Prize, so I put it aside again. Since then, working on number of things about men and women and Blacks and umentaries, where I learned to turn an idea into a prod­ Eyes and The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry and Whites; it seems to put everybody into boxes. uct in a very short time, I really got tired of it and want­ the latest stuff I've done, all documentaries, I've learned ]S: Exactly, and you have to spend a lot of energy fight­ ed more control. I wanted people to be saying what I so much more about script writing and story telling, that ing to get out of those boxes, getting the freedom to talk scripted for them to say. I didn't want to dance around trying to get them to give me what I needed -- I wanted to be in control. " ...intellectually I realized that even though I thought I The films that Henry was doing for the Department of Labor and for Health and Human Services were script­ didn't have anything to say I probably did." ed films for public education or staff training, in which people would want typical characters and prototypical situations. This was how I got experience in directing in a funny way I feel more able today to deal with the to each other. I think we did, and it was tremendous that actors; I'd had a lot of experience directing crews and Addie script. Before, like other socially conscious first we did, but it just took so much energy. editors, but not perforn1ers, and this was a big step for time filmmakers, my script read like a political mani­ IC: Didn 't it set up the relationship as yet anotherjob to do on me. festo. I need to let Addie be a character who moves top ofproducing the series.? Then at a certain point I thought, "To what end am through life at her own pace because she needs to, not ]S: Absolutely. I think the story of the making of the I honing my craft? Am I going to be doing this kind of because I'm the puppeteer manipulating I look at it now film is as interesting as the film itself. The other thing thing forever?" I had gone to a couple of film festivals in and I really understand how well-intentioned and emo­ was the issue of universality. Henry was real concerned Europe and met filmmakers from Third World coun­ tionally flat it is. So, now, I'm gearing up to do that hard about making these shows accessible. I think that an tries with no resources, and I thought, "You have no work. Eyes done by an all Black team might not have seemed excuse, Jackie. Hone your craft, but push it up to anoth­ PK: Did Henry hire you for the first Eyes on the Prize.? accessible at first glance, but I bet it would have given er level." That's when I ran up against the obstacle that ]S: It was the second Eyes, and I was hired to replace a people another layer that we didn't quite get, another I still confront every day, the reason why I had really filmmaker who was fired. I had to look at a week's worth culturally assumptive layer. We had a lot of fights, the taken refuge in being a craftsperson: I didn't know if I of videotapes, and read everything in a very short peri­ fight to have a story on Malcolm for example. There was had anything to say of my own. Yet, intellectually I real­ od of time. Then I became one of the producers and was no way that the Black producers were going to do the ized that even though I thought I didn't have anything paired with another producer. We were responsible for series without that, and we won. We also won the fight to say I probably did. the fourth show -- the one on Martin Luther King's last to cover the Black Panthers. Some of the White produc­ So, I started the research project for what was years, his death, and his Poor People's Campaign -- and ers really didn't get that. They said, "Well, but the Black intended to be a short documentary that I could distrib­ the seventh show -- that looks at affirmative action in its Panthers didn't have as much membership as the ute myself, and that, through rentals, would finance my various guises, especially at Boston school desegrega­ NAACP," but that wasn't the point. first feature. But then I came to see that there was tion, and Atlanta, and the Baake case. I've done so much historical documentary -- its enough material in this little bit of film for a first fea­ PK: Who was the co-producer.? funny since I was a history major it sort ofcomes full cir­ ture, and that I might as well just lump it all together. ]S: Paul Steckler. cle. But, there's such an issue about our history. One of

And that's the project, the working title is Addie and the PK: Was this one ofthe "salt andpepperII teams'? the things, for example, that I think Henry's con­ Pink Carnation. It's based on my research on Black ]S: We were all "salt and pepper" teams on Eyes II. We tributed to a whole other way of understanding things is women domestic workers in the 1930's. were gender mixed, too, until the only other Black the "participant historian" idea in which you can't just be There was one sentence in Gerda Lerner's book woman producer left. Her replacement was a Black an expert, you have to be someone who's lived through Black Women in White America that sent me off run­ man, so there were two men on that team, Black and it. Well, that's worth its weight in gold and it's an ning, way back in the early '80s at a time when no one White, but I was paired with a White man, Louie approach that's been used more and more in historical had written anything about this issue. I read master's Massiah was paired with a White woman, Sam Pollard filmmaking. One of the things that I remember think­ theses that hadn't been taken out on interlibrary loan with a White woman, and so on. ing when I first got into film was that if people who since the '40s and uncovered boxes of archival material PK: Didyou know Paul Steckler before working with him'? weren't used to thinking much of (Continued on page 32) BLACK FILM REVIEW/17

FRESH (New Line Cinema. Boaz Yakin, director. Starring Sean Nelson, erally his father's analogies comparing chess moves to life moves. The "chess Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson.). is more just a game" theory has been worked before, generally in grade Z mur­ der mysteries (see Christopher Lambert in Knight Moves), but the nature of FRESH, DIRECTOR BOAZ YAKIN'S DEBUT EFFORT, IS A STARTLINGLY WITTY TWIST on contem­ chess as a board version of Sun Tsu's Art ofWar is handled here with finesse. porary ghetto cinema which veils its tendency to dwell in stereotype with an effec­ Unfortunately, Fresh's strategic revelations come mostly too late. It is only after tive cover of intelligence and sensitivity.And as such, sets itself up as a classic love/hate death of his girl crush in a schoolyard shooting, after his sister succumbs to film -- certain to be castigated by some critics for its exploitative underpinnings, and cher­ Esteban's predatory seductions, after his best friend falls victim to his own naivete, and ished by others for its inventive and bold interpretation of newer jack drug culture. after his dog becomes a killer, does Fresh's plan for vengeance and liberation come togeth­ Starring newcomer Sean Nelson in the title role, Fresh illustrates the destruction of er.And in the end, Fresh is again, essentially, alone. innocence and an attempt to restore order in the life a young, Black adolescent boy who faces It is perhaps at this point that a couple of things bear mentioning: First, perhaps the power a coming of age in the heroin and coke underworld of the Bronx--a world where friends and ene­ of Fresh is not in the movie itself, but in the telling reactions of many in its review screening audi­ mies become pawns in a real life chess game of death and survival. In Hollywood pitch parlance it ences.At a late Spring showing of Fresh at Washington DC's International Film Festival (FilmFest might be called Boyz N' the H ts Searckifl1g for Bobby Fischer. DC), a post-screening Q&A session revealed morl}about the questioners than it did the film The drfj?!:slinging prote eigh heroin and cocaine dealers, because of the inor ate number of questions about one parti ,', Fresh is a crack ho h ufe their e pit bull for an for the taste of ~ qdestions were ind you, at that ent children. No genre. And ~ttvI'If from exp" r~yt lurch,Yaki ntly e me er ast ' at's 'calle 1 ineffecti~e. F as been th'~ ulJlrained use@bf Setond. Unfortunately, the ~ost m'emorable 1ine frOm the movie isP'the afore~entidhed "I'm t~jt film's first nts (and rug deal s thereafter) . is jus i er ho" s by Fresh's· r played b she Wrig brahead). uly hard clearly sync. Hen get such s "Fresh, stand u G" and" ay, to ne, even i orst mo a Black w mouthing words. So so that you gon~ be 4ia man" ancJ WGi)',fst " I'm just a dlligger ho." >l'AnG1Jthe inclusien airyet another saene the lins' tends to ~rov(lJke knowing laughter among Black audiences. Certainly there were more with a scraggly crack ho o«ering to "suck 10' dick" for a hit Uungle Fever, ~ew Jack City) is bor­ effeocive means of siRoger Ebert); "The most original filmmaker of the last decade" lemonade out of a lemon format by allowing his characters to develop and win the audiences (Washington Post). Taking nothing away from Yakin, whiteness has no doubt has something to do emotions, and by casting Samuel L. Jackson and Giancarlo Esposito, in sweetly understated and with that. It is no doubt irresistible for some critics to celebrate the ability of a White director to confidently over-the-top performances, respec­ handle Black subject matter -- a backhanded slap tively, which lend authority, balance and sensitivity. at Spike Lee's Malcolm X protestations. While it In the film, the character Fresh, a child with is true that with Fresh a White filmmaker has an absentee mother and crack-addicted sibling, made a better Black film than many Black film­ sees the destruction and bastardization of the few things in his life which sustain his growth and makers, the achievement is overstated. Fresh is a quality bit of filmmaking which displays flashes of his sanity--sister, love interest, best friend, and dog. And in a clever series of strategic moves, brilliance and strong attention to story, but it is not the definitive work on Black poor life that prompted by his near homeless, chess hustler father (Sam Jackson), begins to repair the damage some critics would have it be. by destroying those things which seek to destroy him. What it is is a competent depiction of ghetto contemporary done in a language which the A cocaine runner for hood kingpin, Corky, and a heroin runner for smack slinger Esteban masses, Black orWhite, can understand --that is, the crime genre. In that it stands in direct oppo­ (Esposito doing his best Pacino), Fresh eschews the trappings of drug hype culture and socks away sition to Spike Lee's Crooklyn, which could acccurately be called "definitive" but was done in a lan­ his profits, saving for the opportunity to buy his emotional freedom.Amidst the grown-up turmoil, guage and flavor which delved so deep into Black American memory and consciousness that its he must deal with his pre-teenage growing pains -- his reluctant adoration of a sweet girl who is effectiveness was lost to most critics (and to many Blacks who were born after 1970). not the cutest on the schoolyard, his teacher's admonitions about his tardiness, and his chubby, Taken as a whole, Fresh is a remarkable film, but one which cannot be forgiven its mistakes overanxious best friend, Chuckie, who aspires to the place of respect which drug dealing might easily. Ultimately it is notYakin's direction which makes the film. It is the superlative performances offer. of Nelson, Esposito and the so, so subtle Jackson which carry the burden of elevating Fresh beyond Confused and alone, Fresh only begins to make sense of his circumstances when he takes lit- the ordinary. Eric Easter is the co-publisher of BFR.

(Above) Sean Nelson in Boaz Yakin's Fresh, his film debut. (Below i-r) Producer, Lawrence Bender (left) with director Boaz Yakin on location. N'Bushe Wright plays Nelson's drug addicted sister. (From I-r) Nelson, Daiquan Smith, Jason Rodriguez, and Luis N. Lantigua. Samuel L. Jackson is father to Nelson in Fresh.

BLACK FILM REVIEW/19

In all likelihood, it was their devotion to God that later James Gist died of pneumonia. brought them together. Harrison describes James Gist According to Harrison her mother continued trav­ as a "self-made evangelist," while her mother was of eling with the films, a projector, and an assistant for a the Bahai faith. She explains her mother's choice of while, but soon realized she couldn't shoulder the religion: diverse responsibilities alone. The work of programmer, Bahai was a faith that embraced the idea that manager, and exhibitor was too taxing. Additionally, mankind is one - that there is no difference between amid the glamour and spectacle of the growing film black and white. They teach a doctrine by which you industry, the appeal of silent film had diminished. From treat your fellow man with love. the decade of the forties to her death, Gist continued to Despite the difference in denominations, the Gists live in Washington D.C. where she wrote a novel, occa­ agreed upon basic Christian principles that became sionally published newspapers articles, and enjoyed deeply entrenched in their productions. One of the her family. She died suddenly while on vacation in powerful religious concepts dramatized was the reali­ 1974. ty of punishment for evil deeds. In Hell Bound Train, The bits and pieces of the Gist films along with which was already complete when they were married, scraps of documentation were turned over to the Library specialized cars for distinct sins transport sinners to of Congress film division after her death. According to Hades. Modifications in the storyline title cards were Harrison many other documents such as newspaper made by Eloyce Gist that offered a more cohesive clippings, posters, pictures, and correspondence were merging of religious doctrine with dramatic elements. destroyed in a fire. The year following her death, The second film, Verdict Not Guilty, was also a Cripps writes the Library of Congress encouraging religious drama. According to Mrs. Harrison, Eloyce them to restore the films stating, "I believe there is Gist wrote the script for Verdict and also directed it. strong reason for preserving the Gist films ...as a unique She explains: record of a lost phenomenon in American social histo­ My mother was also directing the film, she was ry" (7/16/75). Because of other priorities and reduced telling the actors what to do - directing them. Mr. Gist funding, the "scraps of cinematic frames" sat idle at the and another fellow would be filming. Library of Congress for almost twenty year. Harrison's recollection of two cameras is signifi­ Homoiselle Patrick Harrison, remembers her mother's With the emergence of several lost Micheaux films involvement in filmmaking. cant since many African Americans found it difficult to and increasing pressure from scholars has come a secure one camera. However, Gist not only wrote and NAACP Roy Wilkins writes to a potential sponsor: renewed awareness of the importance of restoring the directed Verdict Not Guilty, but also appears in the Mr. Gist is a producer of religious motion pictures Gist films. The Library of Congress film division has now film. which have an entire Negro cast and for the past four made a commitment to give the films priority on their days we at the Harlem branch have done business restoration schedule. As soon as the sequential order uring the mid-thirties the couple toured with him and have found him a Negro of high calibre, has been determined, negatives will be struck and with their two films in and around also his picture "Verdict Not Guilty" represents an 16mm prints will be made available. Washington D.C. [There has been spec­ ambitious effort and one worth while seeing ulation of a third film, but its existence (5/77/33). he Gist films are indeed a unique record of has not been verified.] Their goal was not to simply Just how many screenings materialized in con­ a lost phenomenon in American social his­ entertain, but rather to try to deter destructive behavior junction with the NAACP is unanswerable at this time. tory. Unlike Micheaux and his contempo­ of their people. Sinners featured in the scenarios are What is clear is that the NAACP respected the Gists raries, the Gist films sought advancement both male and female. Their mission was one of moral work and felt that a collaboration between the two of "Negro" people by teaching and preaching reli­ and spiritual education for men and women. Hell­ could prove fruitful for both. A week later Wilkins gious values and doctrines. Similar to other African Bound Train and Verdict Not Guilty advocate Christian sends Gist a list of NAACP branches near New York American filmmakers of the time, they traveled "door-to­ values and the importance of family. with the caveat, "the branches could solicit patronage door" recognizing the potential of film to impact on atti­ Harrison occasionally travelled with her mother directly from the churches in their communities" tudes and behavior. and step-father to the various churches. She vividly (5/16/33). Wilkins and other NAACP officials From what has been uncovered about Eloyce Gist remembers their visit to Abyssinia Baptist Church in viewed the films as a potential means by which to she qualifies as an early Black feminist - she was multi­ Harlem. The usual format of the service was for Eloyce increase membership. talented and she had a vision of how to use cinema. Gist to lead the congregation in hymns while playing In the surviving correspondence between James Based on her religious faith, she believed cinema could the piano. The film would then be shown followed by Gist and Wilkins, his wife is never mentioned directly unite Black people, promote Christian values and racial a "sermon of sorts" by James Gist. Tickets were sold or by name. Her presence is implied in statements such pride, and communicate a social message. Research a collection was taken at the close of the service which as, "Thanking you kindly for the interest you have must continue on this important collection and others to was split between the Gists and the church. Harrison shown in our work," or in the biographical information uncover diasporic and intergenerational connections. specifically remembers the offering at Abyssinia stat­ prepared in which he remarks, "Mr. Gist lectures dur­ As researchers we are positioned in the present, but ing, "I remember the money - it was dollars, dollars ing the picture and some music is sung." The absence must continuously look backward for historical continu­ not change. I do remember that!" of Eloyce Gist's name from the correspondence reflects ities as we develop criticism and a discourse of Black Programming of the Gist films encountered a the era when negotiations were carried out by men cinema for the future. broader venue than Black churches. Correspondence and women remained in the shadows. dated May through June of 1933 document the inter­ James Gist's health began to fail and he reports in Gloria J. Gibson-Hudson is assistant professor in Afro­ est of the NAACP in screening the Gist films. The a letter to Wilkins, "Because of a long period of stren­ American Studies and Assistant Director of the Black NAACP sponsorship guaranteed that its branches uous work and driving more than two thousand miles Film Center/Archive at Indiana University. A draft of would cover the cost of advertisement while the Gists a month, without much rest, I was forced to stop and this paper was presented at "Black Cinema: A provided posters, tickets, the films, lectures, music and submit to medical treatment and a two weeks rest." His Celebration of Pan-African Cinema," conference held the projection equipment. Then field secretary of the health never improved substantially and several years at New York University earlier this year. BLACK FILM REVIEW/21 ...... : ..Q) aca .! "ii c c ca c;

22/BLACK FILM REVIEW New York based filmmaker Gianella Garrett explores were speaking to someone who had gone through some National Educational Film and Video Festival in these difficulties and other interracial issues in her of the same things. California, a director's citation from the Edison Media award winning debut film Between Black and White. In it, One of the things I wanted the documentary to Arts Consortium and was a finalist in the USA Film four young people talk candidly about how being bira­ address is that people can have this identity and grow Festival in Dallas. It toured with the Black International cial informs their lives. BFR talks to Garrett about bira­ up to be normal. I think there is a stereotype associated Cinema Festival in Chicago, New York and Berlin. It's ciality, what she learned from her subjects and what she with being biracial, that there's a schizophrenic kind of been getting some really nice exposure. hopes to accomplish through her debut film. duality and it never gets put on the right track for peo­ BFR: Between Black and White really sheds light on the com­ ple like this. The films that have been made on this plexities ofbiraciality. What has been the reaction to it'? BFR: What ledyou to filmmaking.? subject rarely show them as stable people who cele­ GARRETT: Really good. Even people who are not biracial Garrett: Film was always a love of mine. I started out in brate the duality of their being. It always seems to show or not involved in a biracial relationship seem to get publishing design and I art directed for about ten years, them fighting against what they are. something out of it. A woman said to me that she some­ and it came to the point where I felt the natural place to I thought the four people I selected had struggled, times felt a division in her family because her parents go seemed to be film. In the past six years I have gotten for the most part. With identity, no matter who you are, reflected two very different economic strata. very involved in dance -ballet and jazz - and working there's always going to be a struggle. I think it may be a BFR: Have there been any criticisms'? with the medium that offered music and movement was little more complicated when you have two cultures that GARRETT: Some people have said that the four people I something I felt was missing working in graphic design. are so far apart. Yet, at the same time there are ways of selected seemed too intellectually and economically BFR: So filmmaking was a naturalprogression.. coming to a point where you can be equally proud of similar, that it may have been more interesting to see a GARRETT: Yes, I studied at ew York University in their both of them. In a way [you] symbolize both for yourself greater cross-section of people both economically and evening program. and for other people that possibilities exist between two age-wise. I think that often time a biracial identity does BFR: What was the inspiration for Between Black and forces that seem so often to be played against each immediately bring to mind some sort of tragic identity, White'? other. Posing questions about the issue of race can and I was hoping that it would not be something that I GARRETT: Coming from that identity it's something sometimes become fabricated and convoluted -appear­ would find naturally in people. In fact, I got people who that's always been on my mind. To do a film project on ances versus reality, what other people see people as, in many ways were very comfortable with both worlds, a subject that I'd feel passionate about just seemed like what those people see themselves as, when those go and whenever they did experience self doubt it was real­ the right thing to do. Actually it developed from a script together and when they don't, who's right and who's ly more from what they were getting from the world as I was writing with a character who had a biracial identi­ wrong. As a visual person and as one who gets a certain opposed to what they were feeling about themselves. ty and that was one of the issues she was facing through amount of interest out of complexity, these dynamics BFR: Your film has appeared in several schools. Did you the course of the film. fascinate me. intendfor it to be on the educational circuit'? The documentary came as a result of a little bit of BFR: Your father was African American and your mother GARRETT: I was aware that it could be a worthwhile tool insecurity on my part. I felt I needed to see if anybody was Italian. How was that duality dealt with when you were to get people to talk on this subject. There is more dis­ other than myself would be interested in the subject growing up.? cussion about it than when I was a child. There's a before I got too involved with the script. As I was writ­ GARRETT: I was the oldest of three kids and they really woman who writes for Mirabella and Vogue named Lise ing the script I started talking to people and video tap­ protected us from any of the negative things that being Funderburg who has written a book called "Black, ing them and I realized that there was a lot of passion from a family like ours could bring. I think in many ways White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk About Race and behind this subject and it seemed like the right moment that was good because I didn't think about it a whole lot, Identity." This book does what Between Black and to bring it to the attention of people. I started putting all and when I did I thought about it very quietly. I always White does in a much larger, broader vein. She inter­ my energies into the documentary and let the script sit, felt the influence of both of them and felt a discomfort views people from all over the country, from many walks but I'm returning to it now. in being pulled in one direction. That was what was of life who have a Black and White identity, and talked BFR: How did you go about selecting the people who appear very interesting to me about the people in my film, the to them about race and identity. So there is more on this in your documentary.? fact that there were two who were very much brought topic coming out. There can't be enough. The time is GARRETT: Word of mouth and I put an ad in [perform­ up to think of themselves as one race - as Black - and the ripe. ing arts trade paper] Backstage stating that I was doing two others were sort of brought up like me where there BFR: What are yourfuture plans.? a documentary on interracial identity. At the time I did­ wasn't a finger pointed towards what and who they GARRETT: I am working on a full-length screenplay n't know whether I was going to focus on Black\ White were. about interracial identity but it won't be the sole theme identity, so I was just looking for anyone who had an My parents met during World War II. My mother of the story. I'll probably have a multiracial cast, maybe interracial identity to send me a headshot and to write a was new in this country, and during my first five years even a biracial protagonist. paragraph stating what this had meant in their lives. I my father traveled a lot. During those early years I had a BFR: What do you hope people will gain from viewing was stunned that I didn't get that many responses ­ very strong Italian identity. When I reached adulthood Between Black and White'? maybe about a dozen - but all the stuff I got was single the desire to know my Black side became much stronger GARRETT: I hope the people who watch it become open spaced, two-page typed letters that were very passion­ and I felt that I needed to explore that. [I felt] maybe I to the idea that people are complex. More often than not ate, with 90 percent being people in the Black/White had explored the other side too much. Now I feel as if we cannot be pegged as one thing. What comes first? identity. Out of that batch I chose two, and the other there are two sides for which I have wonderful histories Being Black? A woman? American? Of all of the adjec­ two were referred to me. and that there is more to learn from both. My brothers tives we have to identify ourselves, at different points BFR: Your subjects reveal a lot that they may not have ever are younger so we didn't really grow up talking about one may seem more important than the others. I think a shared before. How did you get them to open up the way they this. Since we've become adults we have talked about it mix of everything makes an identity and the more peo­ did.? a lot. They both identify themselves as being Black. ple look into themselves and see that, the more easily GARRETT: I think there was a natural rapport. It was BFR: Your film won last year's Rosebud award in they'll look at others that way. obviously a subject that was very near and dear to me, Washington, D.C. Have you won any other awards.? and I'd like to think that in our talks it came through GARRETT: It won third prize in non-fiction in the South Julia Chance is based in New York and is fashion editor for and people knew that they could trust me, that they Beach Florida Film Festival, a Bronze Apple in the The Source. BLACK FILM REVIEW/23 WITH LOVE FROM JAZZ LEE by Leasa Farrar-Frazer

MUSIC VIDEO: LOVE•••NEVER THAT

(Rhyme Cartel Records/American Recordings) Distribution:Warner Brothers Records Director: Melodie McDaniel Producer:Anne Marie MacKay Cinematographer:Wyatt Theodore Troll Editor: Clark Eddy Art Direction: Sheila Johnson Stylist: Brigitte Echols Casting: Michelle Weaver

THE TRAGIC EVENT WHICH WOULD EVENTUALLY GIVE BIRTH to the soon to be released music video, Love... Never That, happened the night of December 27, 1992 when Jacqueline Alexander, a 25 year old NewYork mother of two and cousin to poet Jazz Lee Alston, became one of the approximately 5,000 women murdered that year. Alston witnessed Alexander's head being blown off. Paul Alexander, the victim's husband of eight years, is still wanted for questioning in connection with the killing.To deal with the pain and emotional devastation, Alston wrote a poem that was to become Love... Never That. "At the time I didn't want to talk to [my] family about it. I kept dwelling on it, so I kind of internalized it. In doing that, I needed a way to vent my feeling and I decided to take it to paper and pen. I came up with Love [... Never That,]" explains Alston. Filmmaker and photographer Melodie McDaniel enter the picture, through Kate Miller at American Music, after Alston's poem was set to music, thanks to the efforts of Alston's uncle and president of Rhyme Cartel Records, Ricardo Frazer. McDaniel describes her first exposure to Love... NeverThat as, "Chilling. It floored me. I really wanted to shoot the video. It was a very powerful song." Set to an urban jazz backbeat, Alston's poem is trans­ formed into a tragic anthem of bitter irony and hopelessness, one that she says is all too common for young women today. "It's a sad thing because women, young girls, think it's cute for their boyfriends to hit them and pull them around at the clubs." Alston sees this mentality as the groundwork for abuse that can result in death for many women. The video is meant to provide a warning of the possible outcome of fos­ tering abusive relationships. "Because that grows into bigger [abuse.] After pulling, he slaps you, after slapping then he punches you; and after punching you, he's going to stab you or he's gonna shoot you; and after that you're gonna die." Shot in black and white, McDaniel's careful eye allows the narrative of Love... Never That to unfold slowly and inti­ mately. Alston, as the central character and storyteller, is seen seated in her kitchen, a girlfriend pressing her hair. There are small children there and a couple of friends are over. In other words, a day not unlike many days in any given community where violence aggressively intrudes daily. McDaniel utilizes close shots and allows her camera to rest on an image, thus eschewing the flashy, quick cuts, over-done sets and color characteristic of current music videos. Says McDaniel of her approach, "We were kind of being voyeurs, listening to the story." When Alston calmly describes the murder, the effect is hypnotic and terrifying. (Continued on page 26)

24/BLACK FILM REVIEW LIONEL MARTIN

WHE BFR CAUGHT UP WITH HIM, music vid pio­ neer Lionel Martin was on his way to West Angeles to direct a video for Shaunice, then on to Philadelphia for a Boyz II Men shoot. The gruel­ ing schedule was business as usual for a director who has turned the video production process into an art. "I have a pretty incredible turnaround. I guess I have a formula, if there's such a thing, for shooting. A typical shooting day is 14-15 hours, then film to tape transfer, then off-line editing -­ which might take two days -- rough cut, then on­ line. About a week and a half total. For others it may take a month. That's just how I do it, said Martin. Over the last decade, Martin, who is in his "early 30's," has fashioned an industry out of bring­ ing style and professionalism to rap and R&B videos with his much sought-after company, Classic Concepts, which now has offices in New York and Los Angeles. "Ralph McDaniels and I started as club dee­ jays and then we developed the Video Music Box TV program, which was really strong in New York. We were playing low-budget music video. No one else was playing Black stuff and no one was doing rap. The quality of the videos we were getting left something to be desired. I told the rap industry that we could do a better job, and we tried to do it ourselves. We hadn't even formed the company yet. Our first video had a budget of $4000 -- which at the time seemed like a lot of money. We were able to get a deal, we hooked up with managers, and started doing things with little budgets -- Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie. We were basically trying to elevate the rap stuff, do a better job and tap into a market." Since that time Martin has worked with such artists as Stevie Wonder, BBD, Toni Braxton, Patti LaBelle and Whitney Houston, among oth­ ers. And he's seen more than a few changes behind the scenes on video sets. Said Martin, "I think the growth has been pretty incredible, on a lot of levels. When I started my whole crew was white. There were no Black people behind the scenes, grips, gaffers, nothing. Literally when I was on the set people thought I was a PA, not the director. Camera people would ignore me, and artists would come on the set and go, 'Oh, you're the director. If' high impact. My work is good, and I've worked Black people into the business. Every Black man With all his success, Martin still sees Black with the top artists, but still I haven't been able or woman doesn't have to be a director. AD's, video directors as having higher hills to climb. to cross over to the Guns & Roses kinds of things. gaffers, grips -- it's wide open. EE. "Budgets for Black video have increased, but But now the White directors are crossing over they're still very low for rap in comparison to and doing rap." White crossover acts. I've had offers to join with Still Martin recommends music video as a To write to Lionel Martin and Classic Concepts: other larger companies, but I've refused. I've training ground for creative young directors. "It's Classic Concepts been given work by companies who wanted me a medium where you have a lot more control. You 444 West 35th Street to be a Black director as opposed to a director. It's don't have advertisers and ad agencies on your Suite lD still dominated by the White directors. I have back. It's also a good source of bringing in young New York, New York BLACK FILM REVIEW/25 (Continuedfrom page 24) Of her choice of black and white film for the project felt," says Alston. "My cousin,Jackie Alexander, at the time [of you can love yourself [enough] that you will never let anoth­ McDaniel explains, "People say that if you're trying to make her death] was not poor." Alston would have chosen to er person hurt you," says Alston, her voice tinged with the something real why not shoot it in color. I was concerned that depict a young woman struggling with school with two neat­ emotion of having had many such dialogues with other young the color wouldn't be able to capture the mood. I look at ly dressed, well behaved children in a middle-class setting women. "Self-esteem is a bitch when it comes to females. We black and white photography as total photo realism." which is a more accurate characterization of her cousin's cir­ have to let them [young women] know that you don't let a Photography led McDaniel to filmmaking. A student at cumstances. She fears that the lifestyle portrayed in the final man treat you that way." the Art Center College of Design at Pasadena, she found the cut of the video will lead viewers to dismiss domestic vio­ McDaniel's feels equally as strong about the music video commercial department less than accepting of what she lence as something that only happens in poor or low income genre being used as an agent for social change but is circum­ refers to as her "experimentations". She eventually trans­ communities. spect about the industry's willingness to give such work air ferred to the fine art department where she was given free McDaniel, on the other hand, believes the video gets the time. "I think people should start dealing with social issues [in creative reign. Her photography came to the attention of message across in a powerful way. Her goal was to make a music videos.] I don't see any other examples of it on MTY Roberto Cecchini at Artists Company/A &R Group produc­ small film that would stand on its own; a music video in which orYH-I. It would be amazing if it aired, not just once and not tion company in Los Angeles where McDaniel, 27, lives and the hard reality of Alexander's murder would resonate long just late at night." But, she speculates,"Something like this is works. Impressed with what he saw, Cecchini suggested she after the fact. She also wanted to avoid the trendiness and the just too powerful." begin work on her professional reel, the film equivelent of a repetitive structure of current music videos. "It [the violence] Whether the video's narrative power or its use of the f­ portfolio. And, even better, he forked up spec money for her is becoming a joke; so people don't pay attention to it. [I word will serve to hinder its exposure to a larger audience to do it. In addition to Cecchini, she also credits director, wanted to avoid] another stereotyped rap or r&b video.This remains to be seen.According to Frazer, Alston's video is set Tarsem Dhandwar and production designer/director, Fatima one was a serious song." Alluding to the universality of to be released in November. Of his niece's talent he says, Andre, who she attended art school with, as instrumental in domestic violence, she concludes, "I wanted it to be very "[Her work] is the culture of today. Artistically it's the most her creative and professional development.The up and com­ timeless." McDaniel acknowledges the difficulty of artist col­ innovative and creative material that I have ever encountered, ing talent (see above credits) she used on her reel also served laborations. "It's tough, and I don't blame them because it's especially as it relates to domestic violence. It's unfortunate as production team for Love... Never That. their baby, their music." But she adds, "I think it's nice for that it's based in a reality that occurs too often in our soci­ This is not the first time that McDaniel's work has gar­ them to focus on music and let the filmmaker make the film. ety." As a filmmaker, he feels McDaniel has the originality and nered the attention of those who could move her career for- It was a touchy situation. I got all emotional about it." sensitivity to interpret the power of Alston's poetry into

ward. Last year Madonna purchased a dozen of McDaniels' The final product is the powerful result of mutual com­ moving, thought provoking images. Frazer also feels there's photographs for Christmas presents and for her personal promise by two extremely creative individuals. McDaniel much more to be expected from both artists. collection. She then requested that McDaniel shoot the now acknowledges that being creative - and shy - can be difficult While this is her first music video, Alston, who turned infamous photographs of she and San Antonio forward, when working with someone new. "We both have our little 21 in September, is no stranger to filmmaking. Before the dis­ Dennis Rodman, which were to - in a explosion of contro­ personal ideas and things. And it's hard sometime to express ruptive events of December '92 necessitated a move across versy - end up nixed from the cover ofYibe magazine. Of the it when you don't know the person that well." Of her impres­ country, she was taking audio visual classes at Bronx experience she states simply, "It was weird how all that hap­ sions of Alston, McDaniel states with admiration, "She is so Community College. She looks forward to picking up where pened." talented. You want to touch these [kind of] people. And to she left off and concentrating on the writing end of the Love... Never That is not McDaniel's first music video. look at her appearance and her whole presentation: you've process. She lists screenplays, "in which Blacks don't get killed But she says, "This is the second one that I'm proud of. When got this sweet, quiet innocent person [who] has some deep in the first five minutes," and numerous books as being on her I get these sort of things, it makes me happy to be involved in shit to say.And she doesn't walk around flaunting it. She's just list to develop. As for McDaniel, she is anxious to begin work videos." Consistent with her unique vision, her other favorite amazing." Concedes Alston, "I had to swallow my pride a lit­ on her first feature film, a character study which is in the re­ video, Cursed Woman, is one she did for an alternative band, tle bit and my creativity a little because I think the issue is a write stage. Porno for Pyros, in which the band doesn't even appear. Like bigger thing than the fact of the way the video is done. The The music video has the potential to be a forceful tool Love... Never That, it is based on a true story about a female film is not exactly what I wanted but being that everyone likes of social commentary and, therefore, for change when used street hustler who was raised as a boy. it as much as they do..." with a sensibility in this direction. Love... Never That is an The popular music industry is rife with creative con­ Despite their conceptual differences, both McDaniel and example of how this unique film genre can be constructively flicts, broken contracts, and threats of law suits and the like. Alston share the sense of urgency for getting the message of exploited. The video closes with a memorial statement hon­ With the pressured potential for wealth and all the trappings domestic abuse to a young audience desperately in need of oring Jacqueline Alexander. It remains to be seen if it will be of fame, young artists with limited knowledge of how the clear, uncompromising information. Both feel taking responsi­ shown in its entirety once it does hits the music channels. industry functions are particularly vulnerable to these con­ bility for the medium is paramount to its usefulness meeting Love... Never That addresses a very painful, and until flicts. The making of Love... Never That is not without excep­ in this aim. Says Alston, who names Nikki Giovanni, The Last recently, closeted issue in our culture. It's discomforting to tion. During the shoot in Los Angeles of Love... Never That, Poets, and Maya Angelou among her influeneces, "When you look at. But it begs the question: can we afford to continue McDaniel and Alston had what is referred to as "artistic dif­ have the mic, you have to speak for everybody. It's not just turning away from a courageous attempt at a solution in favor ferences". The conflict centered around Austin's preference me. I'm not the only one who had to sit and watch as a fam­ of the sensationalism that continues to pervade? Love... Never for a more literal depiction of the events of December 27th ily member died." As subplots objectifying women as expend­ That constitutes an opportunity for an industry to stand up versus a metaphorical or symbolic form of visual storytelling able sex objects continue to run through many films and for something more than the never ending, money-making which McDaniel favored. Both artists make valid points. "We music videos, Alston thinks self-esteem for Black women is parade of degrading images that prevail. We all need to see portray Black people as being poor, not having much or critical to reducing the incidents of domestic violence. "It Love... Never That.Then, see it again. Leasa Farrar-Frazer is the always on welfare to make the story seem so much heart takes a long time to build up self-esteem to the point where editor of Black Film Review. 26/BLACK FILM REVIEW THE GAME Is OVER, AND THE RESULTS ARE IN

By TJ JOHNSON

In Hollywood, Pilot Season is the equivalent to election year, when all ofthe shows for that's original. Word on the street is that Salt n'Pepa were actually relieved the comingfall season orfor mid-season replacements are previewedfor the networks. when this project was turned down, since their busy schedules were too tight There are surprises and disappointments, new career beginnings and more than a few to adequately handle the pressure. The audience is relieved as well. Erich Van hopes dashed. Lowe ("Where I Live") produced. Lastsummer, TV enthusiasts andcouch critics got the chance to view several ofthe Status: Dead pilots which the public rarely sees, courtesy of the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF), and co-sponsored by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Slauson Heights (CBS Prod.) and International Creative Management (ICM). The twelve pilots previewed were all Sitcom/soap in the vain of Robert Townsend's skits "The Bold, The Black executive produced by African American men and women, the most recognizable of & The Beautiful." Robert Guillaume as millionaire Crenshaw Slauson. Ron which were Reginald and Warrington Hudlin. Glass makes his return as Sheryl Lee Ralph's wretched valet. This show had There were several newcomers to the table as well. Yvette Lee, creator andproduc­ all the makings of a modern day "SOAP"( as in the Thomas/Junger/ Witt series er ofthe highly successful "Living Single", Stan Lathan andRalph Farquhar of "Roc" ). The writing was crisp and the actors which included Ann Marie Johnson as and "Dej Jam" and Pam lkasty, one ofthe original writer/producers of "In Living twins "Paprika and Sage" were all having a great time. Pam Veasey produced. Color" brought new projects for review. The following is a summary ofaudience and Status: Dead. But, Pam Veasey is being "talked to" by several producers for network reaction: new projects.

"Brother to Brother" (Warner Bros.) The World According To Noah (NBC Prod.) Produced by Yvette Lee, the sitcom starring Shawn and Marlon Wayans as Produced by Winifred Hervey two brothers trying to live together, with veteran comic actor Johnny Coming of age sitcom on life through the eyes of a 12 year old. Audience reac­ Witherspoon as their father. tion again was mixed, leaning toward the favorable. Nevertheless.. Though it was all too reminiscent of the recently defunct "Out All Night" Status: Dead in pacing, "Brother to Brother" is one of only three of the twelve African American oriented pilots. Reaction was mixed, with many agreeing on the Last Days of Russell (Twentieth TV) comic talent of Marlon, and disagreeing on the merits of Shawn's comic skills. Hudlin Brothers. A family drama akin to the old Lance Kerwin senes. Sources say Shawn, however, has real potential to break out of the family's Unenthusiastic response. comedy tradition and land as a dramatic actor. Status: Dead Status: This one goes to the newly formed WB Network (which mayor may not gel ifTime Warner cuts a deal for NBC in the next three months» and Under One Roof (CBS Prod.) looks to a January 1995 run date. Produced by the celebrated director and producer Thomas Carter, the pilot which starred James Earl Jones, Joe Morton and Vanessa Bell Calloway "Duane Martin Project" (TriStar) about a Black Seattle family was the class of the pilot season, with realistic por­ The working title, of course. A sitcom starring the affable Duane Martin trayals and a very real-time pacing. Picks up where Laurel Avenue left off. as a young PR executive struggling as a new husband and father is obviously Morton and Calloway were brilliant, and James Earl Jones was...well, James influenced by Boomerang, but didn't score well with the audience or the net­ Earl Jones. work. Produced by concert promoter and "Out All Night" producer Alan Status: Killed then risen from the ashes. According to sources, the CBS Hayman. people (after some introspection) approached several other Black producers Status: Dead about the need for a greater Black presence on the network, preferably in a family drama. Rather than selfishly seizing the opportunity, many of the pro­ "Hollywood Wash" (TriStar) ducers deferred to the "Under One Roof' project as the best thing available. Car Wash for the 90's. Nostalgia is one thing, but the movie was enough. CBS rethought, and now the program has been picked up for six episodes as a We'll pass and so did the networks. Alan Hayman again. mid-season replacement. Status: Dead Uptown Undercover (Universal) "Pearl's Place to Play" (TriStar) The television project from Uptown records exec Andre Harrell tells the Comedian Bernie Mac as a coffee shop/convenience store owner. Bernie story of two hip hop cops from Harlem, one Black, one Latino. Not surprising­ Mac is a great talent who's timing is incredible and the premise is nice. Some ly, the only program with a regular focus on violence and pathology was the audience members, however, were upset at the conflict of characters in the only program to be picked up on one of the four major networks (Fox). While show, namely Mac's ex-wife is a dark-skinned woman who bore him a very the pilot lagged a little, one can expect good things and maybe even a few new dark and boisterous daughter. But his new wife, played by the very funny things. This may also be the first time a Black-focused television show sound­ Angela Means, a tall, light-skinned, long haired socialite and their very nice, track gets to be mass marketed. intelligent fairer-skinned son are just peachey. Stan Lathan and Ralph Status: A solid go and now retitled as "New York Undercover." But it Farquhar, producers. remains to be seen whether Fox will continue to allow a strong Black charac­ Status: The show is dead, but Bernie Mac's performance has created a ter to be the driver behind the series. Keep your eyes peeled for battle buzz among the networks execs, many who feel Mac is ideal to carry a sitcom between Harrell and net execs around midseason over the inclusion of a heart­ -- just not this one. throb white character in a featured role. Just a prediction.

Salt & Pepa Project (Disney TV) Chris & Chris (TriStar) A sitcom, I think. Two single mothers trying to make it on their own.. now Kid N' Playas an advertising team. Bosom Buddies redux without the BLACK FILM REVIEW/27 drag. Enough said. August in the Washington DC BET studios. vocal CrItiCISm of PBS, network president Ervin Status: Dead Duggan said, "A persistent problem for PBS is that • Reports underground suggest Time Warner may producers and on-camera personalities who pro­ Other projects in the pipeline with African be considering a pull out of their stake in BET, in gram ideas are not accepted...sometime resort to American featured performers include: the revital­ order to back a competing Black music channel. the public media or to political means in attempts ized Cosby Mysteries starring Bill Cosby; another The channel is old news, the possible pull out isn't. to alter the result." DC Congresswoman Eleanor WB project with Robert Townsend with the Holmes Norton described Duggan's response as extremely unfortunate working title of Father • Big hopes were wrapped in the announcement of "screechingly defensive." Knows Nothing; ABC's Me and the Boys; the sub­ the Eugene Jackson et al. World Africa Network, stantially whitened (and weakened) M.A.N.T.I.S. which promised to fill the programming gaps left by • The classic Black cookbook Spoonbread and on Fox, and returnees Deep Space Nine, Family BET (which are many). However, WAN is quickly Strawberry Wine enters PBS rotation as a cooking Matters, Def Comedy Jam, Martin and Living getting off on the wrong foot with initial produc­ show in mid '95. The show is hosted by author and Single. tions which include Greek Step shows and other former Vogue model Norma Darden. Currently in equally anti-intellectual fare. the fundraising stage, the producers have raised IN OTHER TV NEWS: enough for development and script. Total budget is •A consortium of Black media owners led by $500,000 for 13 half-hour episodes. • The BBC produced PBS show Rough Guide is Essence Communications were disappointed in pissing off not a few people this season in their their bids for PCS wireless wave bands at the recent • Blackside Inc. returns to PBS in '95 with treatment of Black American urban life in the FCC auction. Lured by FCC hype about minority America's War on Poverty, currently in production. trendy Generation X travel show. discounts, several minority groupings prepared for WGBH Boston presents the program which has In trips to Washington and Miami, in particular, bids of under $10 million, when in actuality choice received $4 million in funding from the Ford the show's hosts placed extraordinary emphasis on bands garnered winning bids of $60-80 million. Foundation, Mott Foundation and the MacArthur the pathologies of Washington's Southeast com­ Essence's Ed Lewis and other met later with Foundation. Five one-hour episodes are slated. munity and Miami's Liberty City, while discount­ Commerce Secretary Ron Brown to put pressure on Blackside is also in development on Blackside ing Black participation in the cities' politics and the FCC to create band set asides for minority bid­ Classic Children's Tales, a 13-episode multiculti economy. ders and even deeper discounts. D.C. -based attor­ folktale production. The Washington segment was notable heinous. In ney, Thomas Hart, who represents Essence on the that program at least 10 minutes of the 25 minute bidding, says the company will participate in a spe­ • WGBH is also behind the production of Africans segment was dedicated the poverty and murder cial minority set-aside narrow-band auction in April in America, a documentary on African involvement rate of a section of DC which represent approxi­ of 1995. in the creation of America. Budget is at $7 million mately 10% of a city with a 75% Black population. with major funding by CPB, NEH, PBS, and the • Despite gentle protests from the Congressional Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. Scheduled for • BET is still slated to premiere BET on Jazz in Black Caucus, PBS continues to reject a slot for 1997. January 1995. Tapings for its live to tape concert Charlayne Hunter Gault's Rights & Wrongs pro­ performances were held the first two weeks of duced by Danny Schecter. Of Hunter-Gault's' very TJ Johnson is a writer living in Los Angeles. TEe HW ATe H

SHIRLEY MOORE/A SURE BET MARIE CARTER/AN ABET PROFILE In a field traditionally dominated by men, Shirley Moore has Marie Carter spends her days and quite often, her nights engaged in a found her niche "in a man's world." Moore entered Universal favorite Hollywood pastime -- the art of making others beautiful.As a make­ Studios in 1974 as the industry's first Black female Property up artist for the film and television industry, Marie Carter has established Master. Throughout her career, Moore had worked on the sets of herself as a recognizable behind-the-scenes force in Hollywood. She has gar­ several innovative and award-winning television shows and films, nered work on such films as Harlem Nights, Coming to America, Stomping including, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Thea, The Rockford Files, Hill at the Savoy, and HBO's The Josephine Baker Story, for which she received Street Blues, Ghost Dad, and Boyz 'N the Hood. a Cable Ace Award. Carter's numerous television credits include:The Montel Moore's greatest triumph in the entertainment industry is her role as presi­ Williams Show, Falcon Crest, Motown 20 & 30,Alfred Hitchcock, and Daddy Dearest. dent of ABET (Alliance of Black Entertainment Technicians). Founded in 1987, One of Carter's more amusing experiences in the industry occurred on the set ofThe Life ABET is the first organized formed, which consists of behind-the-scenes person­ of Marilyn Monroe. After the film company had waited nearly three hours for a performer to nel who worked on productions within the entertainment industry. ABET's pur­ arrive as a chauffeur, Carter secretly disguised herself (with the help of the wardrobe depart­ pose is to aid, assist, provide, and promote Black technicians in the motion picture ment) as a man. The director was so overjoyed to "see" the man arrive that he shot the scene and entertainment industry through education, networking, and promotional activ­ immediately. No one realized until afterwards, when Carter revealed herself as the chauffeur. ities. Its talent pool ranges from production managers to production assistants and With such impressive artistry, Carters' workmanship remains in constant demand. She includes services ranging from public relations to catering. Moore has managed to finds herself juggling studio time between Universal, Paramount, Disney, and 20th Century Fox. fill over 500 jobs through her organization's job bank and referral service. Her work has also carried her to several exotic locals around the U.S. and abroad. Aside from Devoting much of her time to community service, Moore participates in make-up artistry, Carter is also skilled in the areas of prosthetics and special effects. ABET's annual L.A. City Summer Youth Program, which exposes youth to career Carter is an esteemed member ofABET and was recently honored with an ABET Pioneer opportunities in the entertainment industry. She also makes several appear­ award for her outstanding achievements as a make-up artist. Carter received her masters ances at area schools and professional organizations as an industry spokesper­ degree in fine arts from Bishop College and obtained three degrees in make-up artistry from son. Moore is the proud recipient of First Pioneers Awards from ABET and the Elegance International Academy of Professional Make-up Artists. A native of Oakwood, Eastman Kodak. Texas, Carter currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. 28/BLACK FILM REVIEW THE SILVER SCREEN ON COMPACT DISC New CD-ROM Programs Offer Info for Critics and Enthusiasts

By EUGENIA C. DANIELS

Movie and video guides on CD-ROM can be both an exciting and exasperating experience. If you are looking to reference films, create lists, research a genre, or get basic biographies of stars, the discs are a great help, with offerings of using digitized video with sound and still photos. Three discs I tested included CINEMANIA '94 (Microsoft $79.95/Windows only), MOVIE SELECT (Paramount Interactive), $59.95/Windows and MAC) and VIDEO HOUND MULTIMEDIA (Visible Ink Software, $79.95, Windows Only). Unlike many games and edutainment discs found on the market, the instal­ lation for each was quick and easy using Windows. Note, however, that the quality of stills, videos, and sound bites vary with your computer system. I tested the three discs on a Compaq 486 with Super VGA monitor (NEC MultiSync 3FRGe) and SVGA card, a 16-bit sound card and NEC MultiSpin 3X CD-ROM reader--basically high-end hardware. If you are looking for a host of interactive entertainment, duplicate or upgrade to a similar package. If your intent is to simply source information, then a 386 (with or without sound card) will do fine.

CINEMANIA 194

Microsoft's CINEMANIA '94 is truly a movie archivist's delight. The disc is packed with

reviews by noted critics Leonard Maltin, Pauline Kael, and Roger Ebert and features bios,

movie clips, cast and credit lists, 900 movie stills, and 2,000 star portraits.

Like other Microsoft programs, the best feature is the ability to jump between files,

or call up definitions using "links." For example, type in the keyword "MICHEAUX"

in the word search, and two topics appear. Call up the Oscar Micheaux bio,

and you will find in the text a reference to D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation"

highlighted and underlined in blue. The highlighted text (the link) can

now be clicked, and a movie still appears for easy reference. Return

to the Micheaux bio and click on the word "typecast" and up pops

a definition, all without leaving the original screen.

If you really want to jump around, call up the Award List

which features the names of Oscar winners in every cate-

gory from 1927 to 1992. Call up any actor, director or movie title and

find even more bios, awards, film clips and other information.

The Filmography window lists directors' and actors' feature films, and an additional

feature offers film clips which contain about 30 seconds of digitized footage (many in

color) and dialogue.

The serious researcher or archivist will benefit from ListMaker, a tool to categorize

movies by genre and add comments. Those who are less serious can click on the All

Media button, which eliminates the intellectual stuff and gets right to every soundbite, film

clips and celebrity photo.

BLACK FILM REVIEW/29 VIDEOHoUND In addition to its rating system (from Woof! to Excellent) VideoHound VideoHound is, as its title implies, a guide to videos that comes with provides its own bios written in an upbeat, user-friendly style. Selecting its own rating system. VideoHound's strength is that it uses a technology an actor or director's name will call up a "videography," the same as known as "hypertexing," which allows the "hound" to fetch files at a much CineMania's filmographies. faster rate than CineMania. Speed, however, is relative to the amount of information on the disc. Unlike CineMania, VideoHound's 22,000 title video guide on CD-ROM MOVIE SELECT does not contain the One thing you won't find in CineMania or VideoHound is that Oscar-win­ detailed bios or the ner Denzel Washington narrated a kidvid, "John Henry," for Rabbit Ears extensive Academy Video. That movie -- as well as music videos by Prince, Whitney Houston, Award list. But Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, and other VideoHound is not Black musicians - and tons of how-to geared toward guides, make Movie Select's 44,000 the archivist or title guide almost worth the invest­ critic, and it is ment. not meant to be What's missing is digitized a CineMania movie scenes, movie stills, por­ clone. While it traits, and sound bites. There features direc­ are, however, 12 digitized tors, winners of movie previews at about 3 major Oscars, 1/2 minutes each that are and cast lists, it fairly up-to-date best serves the user ("Boomerang," with its Search Temp"). Criteria, which lets you One of the know what videos are in more laborious color or close-captioned, the tasks is thumb­ tape format, and the year ing (or click­ released. In other words, no surprises ing) through the once you have the video in hand. Many references also feature box cov­ massive title guide ers, so you know what to look for in a store or catalog. Other eye and ear using its alphabetized candy include the 3,500 star portraits, 400 motion picture stills, and a system. Say you're looking for Sound Effect category. "To Sleep with Anger" starring Additional VideoHound attractions are its 650 movie categories and Danny Glover. Type in SLEEP, and you'll search options. But sometimes this can be so overwhelming that it draw a blank. As a matter of fact, SLEEP becomes pointless. Take the urban horror flick "Candyman" for example: doesn't even turn up Julia Roberts' "Sleeping with the movie is listed under "Supernatural Horror," "Folklore," and the Enemy." Maybe "SLEEPING" will call up the Enemy, "Mythology." But some of the more cogent and useful categories include you think. No dice. If you choose to take the time (zzzzzz) to kid vids, exercise videos, and Japanimation. scroll through the ABC's, both movies eventually turn up.

THEY ALL FALL DOWN

For all the multimedia infotainment that CineMania packed into its CD-ROM, it does a decent, if not comprehensive, job of representing African American achievements. VideoHound and Movie Select, by comparison, are just lists and are not meant to inform disc cruisers on important figures in film history. For example, CineMania has a fairly lengthy bio of Micheaux that includes a filmography of nine listings. Not bad. (Stepin Fetchit, however -- who has the benefit of being linked to references to white actors such as Shirley Temple -- has 28 listings.) CineMania also gives Spike Lee 54 films and actors as cross references in his bio. But, and there's always a but, although Lee is called one of the most "important young filmmakers," he is also called "controversial." So I quickly looked up Oliver Stone, remembering the ruckus caused by Born on the Fourth of July and JFK. Not once was the word "controversial" mentioned in Stone's bio. He was listed as a "forceful" director who tackled themes with "evident skill" and "commitment." (VideoHound, by the way, calls Lee "flagrantly talented" but "arrogant." Hmmm.) Where VideoHound and Movie Select boasted of 22,000 and 44,000 titles, respectively, the latter did not recognize director Julie Dash, and the former listed only two movie titles for Micheaux, sans bio. To the credit of its voluminous archives, the Hound dug up five films in its "Africa" category. An unfortu­ nately low number, but not terrible considering the source. We could do without the jungle sound effects, though. Smaller missteps also tend to grate on you. Previews on Movie Select for Searching for Bobby Fisher feature Laurence Fishburne, but the movie is not mentioned in his videography. Essentially, these three highly-touted CD-ROM movie guides show many others are waiting to be created. Eugenia C. Daniels is Home Entertainment Editor for the Chicago Tribune.

BFR is now available on CD-ROM through EBSCO Publishing's Academic Abstracts service. To purchase a subscription or for a free 60-day trail, contact: EBSCO Publishing, P.O. Box 2250, Peabody, MA 01960, USA. Or call 1.800.653.2726. 3D/BLACK FILM REVIEW BOUTIQUE (Continued from page 17) themselves, saw that their lives Kingdom,'you know." It makes sense. things that I like about filmmaking is that you have con­ were worthy enough to be up there on the silver IC: That's great. And, its a whole lot sexier than ilLegal trol over every atom. I mean, it's there because you screen, then that would help to prop up their self­ Remedies. II wanted it to be there. So, it's perfect for those of us who esteem. A Minor Altercation was pretty much predi­ ]S: I think the music is a signature. I've also gotten a lot love lists and being compulsive. I can just do all these cated on that idea. of favorable comments on the soundtrack in The grids and think about things from all different points of PK: lackie, do you think that we could tell which segments of Massachusetts 54th for "The American Experience" view. But I worry about The 54th; I know that it's real­ Eyes you worked on, by virtue of some signature of yours, series. "The American Experience" people were a little ly useful in the classroom, and I know that motivated and, ijso, how.? worried that I wasn't going to do a score, that I wanted audiences really like it, but I think, frankly, that it's ]S: My role was primary on the Boston story. The way to do the same thing I did with Eyes instead of doing more dense than it should have been, because I was just Paul and I worked it out was that one of us would take wall to wall stuff. But I did do wall to wall stuff and the too reluctant to surrender any of the purview that was ultimate responsibility for one, and the other for the music was actually good. I mean, we liked it in the edit­ mIne. other -- by way of not going insane. In the one that ing room; it wasn't just historically accurate, it was fun to One of the pieces that I did for the museum was a Paul was primary, my role would be a combination play around with too. twelve screen video wall ["Lift Every Voice" is a perma­ executive/associate producer, helping him to realize PK: Were there problems about royalties for these things.? nent exhibition of the Birmingham Civil Rights his vision. My imprint on that one was Institute in Alabama], which I was really more structural than anything else, in interested to do just formalistically. It was terms of the beginning, middle and end supposed to be on the fight for the right to of the story. Because I had a certain vote in the 1960's, but once I did the amount of distance, I was able to be research, I had to begin it in 1865 because more ruthless in terms of chapters in the I had to back up the story about reclaiming story. the right to vote. If, God forbid, some little I'd like to think you'd know that the kid should not understand that we used to seventh show was mine, especially have the right to vote, and then we lost it, because of the music. Noone wanted to and that's what the 20th century was all get stuck with the seventh show because about. So, it wound up being a nine minute it was the '70s, and the '70s was a boring piece that scans a hundred years of history. decade. There was no music then, it was That's what I mean about doing things the all disco. The working title of my show hard way; that's always the tension in me. I was "Legal Remedies," and everyone think it's much stronger history and much thought, "Oh, that's so boring--legal better politically, but it might have been a stuff." But I've always understood that bit snazzier if I'd done a 4 1/2 minute thing music is a very important part of social that went from 1963 to 1965. I hope that history. becomes less a signature of mine, but I Music is a central way that we get have a feeling that that's always going to be over. And so for the seventh show, the there. Jacqueline Shearer and former Atlanta, Georgia mayor Maynard Jackson discuss one on affirmative action and desegrega­ issues pertaining to his experiences as mayor of a large urban city. PK: It's a little bitlike ourstruggle trying to put tion, I did a lot of research, because it all this information about African American seemed to me that there was more music documentary into a book. 1'm always afraid than just disco in the '70s. I particularly wanted stuff ]S: Well, no, what I did was rerecord them. We did the that we might leave out something that's really important. by Black women. Why not? That was one of my roles music research and got the pieces and had a music con­ ]S: But it's hard. For me it also gets back to that issue of in the series since I was the only Black woman pro­ sultant from Wooster, Ohio, a woman who knew a lot having something to say, because to the degree that I ducer. Also because of having grown up poor, I would about 19th century Black music, make selections for us. see myself as a vehicle or a channel for higher truths, always be the voice calling for attention to gender and And then we got two choirs, one from Howard that's one agenda, which is totally different from the class issues, in addition to race. You know they always University and one from U Mass, Amherst, both led by starving "artist in the garret" who may not have that kind intertwine. choir directors who knew a lot about 19th century Black of agenda, but who just wants to express him or herself. So, I did all this research and then just blanketed musical styles, to perform the pieces. So, I can see why I'm less interested in expressing myself. I n1ean, I am, the show with music that would always be appropriate, "The American Experience" people were nervous but it's ancillary to the main point of having something that would fill the Eyes bill. It was always music that because there were a lot of steps and it was complicat- to say. IC: When you see the world in complex ways, you 're stuck with it. "...1think that it more documentaries were held to nar­ PK: Andit 1nay not always be the best story. ]S: No. rative standards they'd be better." I C: That's the other thing you were talking about: the conflict between your desire to develop a story line that captivates the audience andgives the work an emotionallije, andyourdesire was current at the moment that the scene was happen­ ed, but I think it worked out really well at the end. And to keep the work from being story-centered. ing. And, there were even a few disco numbers, but it I think, frankly, that's another signature I'm less proud ]S: Well, you know, its funny, because I think that I per­ just spans a range. A couple of professors have come up of -- my mother always used to tell me -- I always do sonally do not need a strong story. I like moments and to me afterwards and thanked me specifically for the things the hard way. moments will get Iue through. Even though I'IU an avid soundtrack, which just thrills me no end. PK: My mother told me that, too. mystery reader, I don't follow plot. PK: It's number seven in the second series. ]S: You know, there's something to it, because I think I C: This is an argument I have with students allthe ti1ne, espe­ ]S: Yes, it's called the "Keys to the Kingdom." The edi­ that I gravitate toward complex ideas, and I have finally cially when we get into the question ofwhat it is that compels tor, Lillian Benson, is the one who gave me the title been able to accept the fact that I'm an intellectual. For them as viewers. I think that they find strong storylines because her family's from the south, and it's an old many, many, many years I didn't want to hear it, but I extremely important in ways that I never do. On the other timey expression. We were in a meeting once, and she am, you know. And, so, I like taking a really dense, com­ hand, surprisingly, they 're very clear about storyline in docu­ said, "Well, education and jobs -- 'The Keys to the plex subject area and breaking it down. And one of the mentary. They don 't see that much difference between docu- 32/BLACK FILM REVIEW mentary and narrative. been thinking that we segregate them in some funny way. And hard for me to separate that from the filmmaker. I look at JS: I think that's wonderful. students say, "That doesn It sound like much fun." Ifyou tell Daughters of the Dust, and I know that Julie [Dash] and IC: They see people as characters. them, "1 1m going to say this word [documentary] to you, what A.]. [Arthur Jafa] thought long and hard about their aes­ JS: I think that all of my training In narrative really does itmean.p" The first thing they III say is "boring," then they III thetic, but again, I laid that at their feet as creative people. helped when I came to do Eyes on the Prize. I was real say "educational." I guess I don't see the hook from one thing to another. nervous when Henry called me because I thought, "I JS: I remember being at a screening in D.C. of [Haile Maybe there is one, but I can't say that I see it. haven't done documentaries in years. What if I don't Gerima's] Bush Mama, the first time I saw it. When it PK: I pose the question in terms ofall the ways in which the tech­ know how to?" But this has to do with the issue of what came on, I went up to the projectionist to try to get him nology can be used 11m interested in hearing whether this is in is documentary, and why your students can't tell the dif­ to do something about the sound. Haile was really framing, in storyline or contentP Is there a gender-specific aes­ ference. I applaud that because I think that if more doc­ offended because that gritty, bad sound was very self­ theticP umentaries were held to narrative standards they'd be consciously part of what he was trying to do. JS: I feel so isolated in my own experience that it makes better. I C: Well, I understand that. liVe were showing Frederick me hesitant to generalize. But, for example, I remen1ber I've been on a lot of these peer revie,,y panels given Wiseman 's High School, and all the kids were saying "some­ in shooting The 54th, I felt that I was respectful of sub­ the opportunity to see projects COlne in at proposal, and thing's wrong with the sound track. ..can It you fix thatP" AndI jects in ways that didn't always serve me well as a film­ rough cut and fine cut. Its very helpful. I've developed had to say, "No, itIS fine. " maker. I wound up shooting too much footage. On a this theory that most documentaries are mediocre. Very PK: The audience is confused in the beginning ofBush Mama. human to human basis, I remember a few interviews few are very good, very few are really bad, but mostly They can It figure out what's happening but that's what Haile where I just felt it was real important not to fake things they're mediocre, and most of those start off with good wants. It's a different way ofpresenting a film. and make believe I was running when I wasn't, and not to ideas. That to me says that people rush off half-baked JS: Again, he's challenging assumptions, presenting a interrupt, and to let people come at me in their own way. with a good idea, thinking, "Well, it's a documentary, so different set of assumptions, production assumptions, Sometimes I wonder how much that has to do with I can invent it as I go. I'll invent it out there as I shoot you know. But now in terms of this issue of film and gender stuff. I've noticed that particularly with older it, and then what I don't get I'll fix up in the editing video, how do you pose the question? [Question: "Is women I'm extremely deferential. I think that some but­ room, and then what still needs to be fixed can be fixed there a difference in making video documentaries and ton gets pushed, you know, that has as much to do with in the mix, right?" It means that ideas get diminished film documentaries? How do you explain the differ­ my being a woman as a Black woman. But, again, you instead of enhanced because of a lack of real rigorous, ence?] I just sat on a media panel for the ew York State know, I don't know because I'm trying to be a better and conceptual thinking. Council for the Arts. And, because of budget cutbacks, better filmmaker, and I have certain values and standards, With a script... now you can have a bad script, but at least with scripted narratives you can't fool yourself. It's there on paper. There's a beginning, a middle and an end. ".. .if you are concerned about audience then TV makes It lays out what you're trying to say. So, I think that on that real simple-minded level, the difference between sense as aplace to get the message out...But if you documentary and narrative sometimes is the difference between success and failure, more than anything else. In care about image, then there's no question, film wins other words, they both should be structured; they both II should be self-conscious from the beginning, instead of hands down. just, along the way. Another similarity that I find is that of point of view. it considers grants for film and video on alternate years. and some of them are cultural, some of them are aesthet­ I think that all films are constructions, including docu­ This year it was video. So, I was really looking forward ic, but I have a hard time making proscriptions from them. mentaries. So, this n1yth ofobjectivity is so ridiculous that to a chance to see what was being done. You know, I'd like to say the Black aesthetic means that I can't believe it still takes hold as much as it does. I like I'm on the board of the Independent Television our interviews are kinder and gentler, but I don't know. to think that I don't tell lies, but that's different from Service, which is this adjunct to CPB, designed to provide I'm sure that's not true, depending on circumstances and claiming to be objective, and that's different from saying more access to underserved audiences on public TV And, individuals, so I don't know. that the world that I construct in my film is reality. since being on the Board, it' really forced me to think PK: rou Ire going back to the narrative that you wanted to tell. PK: Telling the truth from yourpoint ofview is what you do. about T~ to look at it, and to try to figure it out. And, I'm JS: Yes, but I don't want to leave documentary aside. My JS: Exactly. And I think that point of view is critical too, very glad that I've been forced to do it because I do under­ agenda in the immediate here and now is to think real but I wish people understood point of view better. I stand that if you are concerned about audience then TV hard about historical documentaries that I want to do. For always think ofwhere you stand as you look out over your makes sense as a place to get the message out, and I do example, when "American Experience" came to me with story. That's all it means. And, you have to stand some­ care about audience. But if you care about image, then the idea for The Massachusetts 54th, I said, "I don't want where. there's no question, film wins hands down. But I think to do that, but I'd love to do something on reconstruction. IC: This issue ofapersonalstance is so ilnportantin a work like television needs redemption -- it needs saving -- and with Well, that didn't fit their menu for whatever reason, but it [Marlon Rigg's] Tongues Untied that some people might have all of these channels, Inaybe the cable dream that I makes me want go back and find the reconstruction story trouble considering it a documentary. remember talking about twenty years ago is really going to that I want to tell. It's such an incredible period! JS: That's interesting. If it were literature it would be like come true. I really define myself as a filmmaker, but one So, see, that's part of the way that I'm trying to figure a lyric poem or something, right? who is learning about video just because of the industry out how to get my own voice together, but I'm always IC: It's more like poetry than it is like anything else. It's anoth­ and the audience. going to have a bigger agenda, and I'm never going be er one ofour group myths, you know. live all kind ofnod and PK: lackie, is there a Black film aestheticP And11m not dividing someone who has something to say that's divorced from say, "Oh yes, we allknow what we Ire talking about. "ButI don It it up into documentary and narrative. 11m asking the question other stuff. So, I'm always going to need a hook to hang think we do know what we Ire talking about. across the board my two cents on. JS: And it doesn't serve documentary well, because so JS: There n1ay be, but it escapes me. I remember hearing many people sort of nod out when they hear documen­ about an African film aesthetic with much longer takes, Phyllis R. Klotman is a professor in Afro-American Studies and tary. languid pace, that sort of thing. I don't know if that's true director ofthe Black Film Center/Archive atIndiana University. IC: That's exactly right. People say, "Ooh, documentary... oh, so overall, but I certainly have seen filn1s where that was I anet K. Cutler is director ofthefilm program atMontclair State there's a tradition ofAfrican American documentary." true. But in terms of an African An1erica aesthetic, Ayoka University in New Iersey. This interview will appear in its PK: They want it to be educational which is synonymous with Chenzira's Hairpiece, for example, is, I think, sparked by entirety in the upcoming book on African American documental) soporific. her inventiveness, and her imagination. Now, the cultural film and video, Struggles for Representation: African American IC: Lately after struggling to teach documentary films, lIve form is very definitely dipped in Afro-America, but it's Documentary, 1943-1993. BLACK FILM REVIEW/33 Lookingfor a screenwriter, a director, or a particular kind ofcamera, or that last investor that willpush yourproduction to completion.? Orperhaps you offer a service film­ makers and industry people need. BFR introduces this new column to facilitate networking within the independent filmmaking community. Please let us know what services you need or offer and weIll get the word out.

MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS unions. Application deadline is December 16, Contact: Natalie Bullock, c/o Red Tree 1994. For further application and requirements Productions, 1213 12th Street, NW, Suite C, The National Black Programming Consortium, contact: Assistant Directors Training Program, Wash. D.C., 20005, tel: 202.842.2099, fax: Inc.(NBPC), is a non-profit, media arts organiza­ 15503 Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA 91436-3140, 202.842.2001. tion which supports the development, production 818.556.6853. and distribution of educationally and culturally FESTIVALS specific television/film programs by and about The Creative Screenwriters Group provides Africans and African Americans. free assistance for any person wishing to join or The 33rd Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival for NBPC houses one of the largest African form a writer's group in their community. independent and experimental works is scheduled American video libraries in the country (over Interested individuals will receive informa­ for March 14-19, 1995 at the Michigan Theater in 2,000 hours of viewing.) Dedicated to tion on the writers' groups in their community Ann Arbor. The juried festival awards a total of projects/services based on the needs, demands which are seeking new members. Interested peo­ $8,000 in cash prizez. For information on the fes­ and expectations of the community and media ple should send their name, address, and tele­ tival call 313.995.5356. For special festival tour industry, NBPC's various projects include: provid­ phone number along with a description of their packages call the Ann Arbor Convention and ing technical assistance to independent produc­ writing interests and a SASE to: Creative Visitors Bureau at 313.955.7281. ers, hosting premiers and screenings, the publish­ Screenwriters Group, 816 E Street, N.E., Suite ing of a quarterly newsletter, and Prized Pieces, 201,Washington, D.C. 20002, 202.543.3438. DISTRIBUTION OPPORTUNITIES BPC's annual international video/film competi­ tion. FUNDING NEEDED MEDIAPRO, distributor of films and videos on Founded in 1981, NBPC has received The African and African American cultures for educa­ Media Awareness Award, The Communications Rites and Rhythms of the Ivory Coast, a film about tional and home markets. Also seeks works on Excellence to Black Audience Award and the the culture and customs of Ivory Coast targeting children and social/minority concerns. Creative Best Award of Excellence for its dedica­ international television audiences needs funding Contact: MEDIAPRO, 6202 Springhill Dr., Suite tion to quality and nonstereotypical African to continue shooting. 302, Greenbelt, MD 20770, tel/fax: 301.345.1852. American programming. BPC's new initiatives Contact: Atta N'Kacou & Kouakou Yao Bertin, Enclose SASE for return. include an educational outreach program, the dis­ 140, rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, France tribution of theatrical releases, and the assessing DISTRIBUTORS of new technological equipment. For more infor­ Windows in the World, travelogue film/video for mation about BPC, contact: Mabel Haddock at children, seeks funding to continue development California Newsreel: 149 9th St., Suite 420, San (614) 299-5355 or write NBPC, 929 Harrison and filming of a 13-part series which explores Francisco, CA, 94104, 415.621.6196, fx. Avenue, Suite 101, Columbus, OH, 43215-1356. world cultures from an environmental perspec­ 415.621.6522. tive. (see Film Clips) CALL FOR ENTRIES Contact: Howard Moss, P.O. Box 1394, Miami, Filmmakers Library: 124 East 40th St., New York, FL 33238-1394, tel: 305.751.6677, fx: NY, 10016,212.808.4980, fx. 212.808.4983. Humboldt International Film Festival: announces 305.759.0024 a call for entries into its 28th annual competition. Films for the Humanities and Sciences: P.O. Box All genres of work must be in super-8 and 16mm Naked Acts, feature by filmmaker/producer 2053, Princeton, NJ 08543-2053, 800.257.5126. format, under 60 mins. in length and completed in Bridgett Davis about a young actress' intimate the last three years will be accepted. For video journey towards self acceptance. Begins shooting First Run Icarus: 153 Waverly Place, New York, dub pre-screen viewing by committee: Deadline 9/1 in NY. (see Film Clips) NY, 10014,212.727.1711, fx. 212.989.7649. January 16, 1995. For original film format pre­ Contact: Kindred Spirits Productions, 322 W. 14th screen viewing: Deadline is February 1, 1995. St., #3C, New York, NY 10014, tel: 212.727.1011. New Yorker Films: 16 West 61st St., New York, NY, Entrance fee is $30.00. Festival date: March 7-11, 10023,212.247.6110, fx. 212.307.7855. 1995. Victims of Circumstance, feature by filmmaker For further details and entry form: Humboldt Patrick Charles about a college graduates struggle Phoenix Films: 2349 Chaffee St., St. Louis, MO, International Film Festival, Theater Arts to start his own legitimate business. Needs 63146,314.569.0211, fx. 314.569.2834. Department, Humboldt State University, Arcata, $10,000 to complete. CA, 95521, 707.826.4113, fx. 707.826.5494. Contact: A Brother & A Camera Filmworks, c/o Third World Newsreel: 335 West 38th Street, 5th FI, Patrick Charles, 324 Hammonton Place, Silver New York, NY, 10018, 212.947.9277, fx. COURSES/TRAINING Spring, MD 20904, tel: 301.680.3791. 212.594.6417.

Assistant Director Training Program: Designed to Documentary film on alto saxophonist Steve Women Make Movies: 462 Broadway, Suite 500, provide a basic knowledge of the organization and Coleman needs completion funds in exchange for New York, NY 10013, 212.925,0606, fx. logistics of motion picture and television produc­ substantial film credit. Also accepting donations 212.925.2052. tion, including set operations, paperwork, and the of resources (food for crew, technical assistance, working conditions and collective bargaining etc.) as needed. Principal shooting taking place in For a listing send info to: BFR Resource Exchange, agreements of more than twenty guild and New York, Allentown, PA, Chicago and Oakland. P.O. Box 18665, Washington, D.C., 20036

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