The Black Film Center/Archive Indiana University (W)rap In this issue: Q&A with L.H. Stallings 2Peter Davis Papers VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 MAY 2011 SHEET FESPACO Posters Encoded Archival Descriptions EDITOR: LESLIE HOUIN 3 Ted Toddy Poster Sam Greenlee Visits the BFC/A Collection 4 David Wall 2010-2011 BFC/A Programs & Activities 5 Black Camera 6 Call for Papers Michael Martin and David Summer Film Festivals Wall interview Sam Greenlee, author and screenwriter of The Spook Who Sat By the Door. 7 Photo by Leslie Houin “My maternal grandfather and up for my birth. And imagine South Side of Chicago to upend the my mother were light enough to the looks on the white folks’ faces social status quo. pass. My grandfather was what when I came out!” A former employee of the was called at the time a ‘race And so Greenlee’s life began United States Information Agency, man’ or someone who was for with an act of controversy and Greenlee’s experience in Iraq, the [Black] race,” reminisced Sam rebellion, a common theme which Pakistan, Indonesia, and Greece Greenlee, author and screenwriter punctuated important stages of his during the 1950s and 60s served as of The Spook Who Sat by the Door life and inspired his most cre- inspiration for his novel. However, during an interview with Michael ative works in literature and film. he is quick to note that the ghetto Martin and David Wall at the Greenlee came back to Indiana of Chicago has much more in com- BFC/A. University this past March to at- mon with these nations than other “Saint Luke’s Hospital in Chi- tend a screening of The Spook Who areas of the United States and that cago didn’t accept Blacks [in the Sat by the Door at IU Cinema. The his childhood experiences in the 1930], so he was going to break film portrays the life of Dan Free- ghetto also served as the primary down the color barrier. So, he and man, an ex-CIA agent who formu- target audience of his novel and my mother went down and signed lates an insurgency amongst the lumpen-proletariat Blacks in the Greenlee continued on page 2 The(W) rap-Sheet Q&A with L.H. Stallings Nzingha Kendall interviews Dr. LaMonda Stallings, Guest Editor of the Spring Issue 2011 Black Camera NK: You were the guest editor for represented on film. I think when it gazes that the issue aspires to do in the most recent edition of Black comes to black eroticism and sexual- its dialogue about film, cinema and Camera. Can you tell us about the ity on screen in mainstream we still video. experience? What sparked the idea have to deal with basic cinematic for this specially-themed issue on representations of blackness. NK: In addition to your work with black sexuality onscreen? Black Camera, you organized an NK: The cover of the issue features evening with experimental film- LHS: It was a great experience. The a reproduction of Aja Roache’s maker Cauleen Smith. Can you tell essays selected out of those submit- painting, Blue Lady. Can you tell us us about your engagement with the ted seemed to have some common- why you chose this particular image works she screened at the BFC/A? alities that I wanted for the issue. to introduce this special issue of the LHS: Thanks to a New Frontiers/ Because there have only been brief journal? examinations of black sexuality and New Perspectives Grant, I was able eroticism on film, I wanted the is- LHS: Well, Aja Roache is a phe- to bring in Cauleen Smith. Her films sue to try to reflect a wide range of nomenal artist from Tallahassee, tied in nicely with themes about possibilities and depth. That’s really Florida. She received her BFA from black environmental activisms and what sparked the idea for the spe- Florida A&M University and her MA the arts. Each film she screened and cial theme, the need for an extended from New York University in Inter- talked about dealt with displacement conversation on the subject. disciplinary Studies, Humanities and of people and land issues in the U.S. Social Thought. When I told her I However, the one I was most moved NK: The scope of the films ana- was looking for cover art and what by was The Fullness of Time, which lyzed in this issue cross genres the theme of the issue was, she sent really put an Afrofuturist spin on (experimental, musical, porn, me several images. All of them were Hurricane Katrina and its victims. In documentary) and national bound- great, but Blue Lady was the most regards to how she used sound and aries. Nevertheless, none of the striking piece and it aesthetically imagery in that one, very experimen- films discussed could be considered captured the way each individual tal and moving. ‘mainstream.’ Was this intentional writer seemed to articulate their own or do you think the wide range is perspectives about sexuality, eroti- NK: What are your favorite resourc- indicative of a general move away cism and black subjectivity. I think es here at the BFC/A? from monolithic representations of both Roache’s coloring of the female LHS: All of the resources at BFC/A blackness in black film? subject in a blue background, as well are my favorite. LHS: It was and was not inten- as Blue Lady’s gaze out symbolizes tional. I thought that I would select the very reimagining of bodies and some essays on mainstream films, Greenlee continued from page 1 but the essays submitted on main- film. stream films seemed to have very Though many critics peg Green- basic ideas about what eroticism is, lee’s film to be about a war against as well as limited ways of thinking whites, Greenlee describes the film about how black sexuality should be as a war of liberation of the poor of America, which goes beyond the issue of race. While the class-war Nzingha Kendall is a graduate student in AAADS and manages film was consistently pulled from the public programming at the theatres across the United States BFC/A. because of the feared a revolution- Sam Greenlee ary protest, Greenlee, along with a during an interview at large audience, was able to view the the BFC/A. film at IU Cinema. 2 Photo by Leslie Houin VOL. 2, ISS. 2 The Peter Davis Collection con- stitutes over thirty years of activi- ties by Peter Davis as a producer, Peter Davis Papers director, scriptwriter, cameraman and editor of documentary films beginning of the century. has been working towards the con- on social and political issues. Davis’ The Peter Davis films and sound solidation of the Davis Collection films include interviews with many recording are stored at Ruth Lilly this year. By organizing the collec- South African activists, as well as Auxiliary Library Facility due to tion by specific film topic and refin- revolutionaries throughout the the large size of the collection. The ing the EAD finding aids, Gardner world. Peter Davis Papers—photograph has made the collection more effi- cient and user-friendly for research Peter Davis has produced over negatives and prints as well as and improved speed of information 30 full length documentary films documents connected with the pro- retrieval. While the EAD finding and has contributed to the produc- duction of Davis’ films—are housed aids will not be available for a few tion of many others. During the in the BFC/A at the Herman B. months, the archivists at the BFC/A 1970s, Davis began making films in Wells Library. These documents are already able to help research- South Africa and became deeply in- trace the activities of this producer ers find important information in a volved in the anti-apartheid move- from the inception of a film idea to much more productive manner. ment. The South African material realization. in the Peter Davis Collection not Until recently, most of the docu- only spans the period of the most ments from the Davis Collection intensive struggle for human rights were kept in the same order as des- in that country, but also includes ignated by Davis. Gabriel Gardner, historical work dating from the a graduate assistant at the BFC/A, FESPACO Poster Encoded Archival Acquisitions Descriptions Michael Martin, director of the Encoded Archival Descriptions nd Gabriel recently graduated from IU BFC/A, attended the 22 FESPA- (EAD) is the standard for encoding with a Masters of Library Science. He CO in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso archival finding aids using Exten- plans to move to Duluth, Minnesota. The BFC/A wishes Gabriel the best of this past February and brought sible Markup Language (XML). luck in his future endeavors! back a plethora of film posters for The standard is maintained in the Photo by Leslie Houin the Archive’s collection. The ar- Network Development and MARC chive processed approximately 100 Standards Office of the Library of collections by submitting EAD posters which are now part of the Congress (LC) in partnership with finding aids to the Digital Library film poster collection. the Society of American Archivists. Program (DLP) at Indiana Univer- Created in 1993 at UC-Berkeley, sity. EAD established a standard for de- The DLP includes 10 reposito- scribing collections held by archives ries at IU and will be live in a few and special collections, similar to months. Researchers will be able to the MARC standards for describing find archival information through a regular books. singular source, IU Libraries.