JOHN AKOMFRAH FILM RETROSPECnVE

the finest in Black British Film

Testament Touch of the Tar Brush Handsworth Songs Who Needs A Heart U.S. Tour January - May, 1993

plus, a special new book

"DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST: THE MAKING OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S FILM"

by Julie Dash inteNiew with bell hooks intra by Toni Cade Bambara photos of Arthur Jafa $20 pp BlackFiIm Contents [i]l3l!1DI3~ Volume 7, Number 3 4 2025 Eye Street, w.I Interview: Marlon Riggs Suite 213 By KA1AMu YA SAlAAM Washington, DC 20006 The controversialdocumentaridn hys bare the art andpolitics ofrepresentation. (202)466-2753 Editor IN SEARCH OF OURFAMlllES Jacquie Jones

Assistant Editor D. Kamili Anderson 10

Consulting Editor Fathers & Daughters Tony Gittens By BRIOCEIT DAVIS (Black Film Institute) Daresha Kyi's newfilm, Land Where My Fathers Died, explores the Managing Editor emotionaUy chargeddynamits between ayaungAftUan ArnerU:an Jane McKee woman, her akoholicfather andher dogmatic buyfriend Associate EditorjFilm Critic Arthur Johnson 12 Associate Editors Fathers & Sons Pat Aufderheide By ERIC fAsTER Roy Campanella II Manthia Diawara Marco WiUiams' autobiographicalfilm speaks volumes on the crisis offatherless Victoria M. Marshall B!a£kmen. Mark A. Reid Miriam Rosen Clyde Taylor 20 Art DirectorlGraphic Designer Features Davie Smith Afiican Cinema: Inside Out By FRANCDISE PFAFF Advertising Director Manthia Diawara 's AfriGlIl Cinema is the Imest, English-language volume on Sheila Reid thepolitics, aesthetics and economics ofAfrica's newest artftrm. 2 Founding Editor FillnClips David Nicholson AftUan ArnerU:an 1985-1989 14 Emmy winners, the Black Film Review (ISSN 0887-5723) is published four Generation X irrepressible St. Clair times ayear by Sojourner Productions, Inc., anon-profit HENRY WUIS GATES, JR Bourne, Neema corporation organized and incorporated in the District of Spike Lee's biopic Malcolm X: why now? Barnette and more. Columbia. It is co-produced with the Black Film Institute of the University of the District of Columbia. Subscriptions are $12 per year for individuals, $24 per year for institutions. Add $10 per year for overseas subscriptions. Subscription 18 26 requests and correspondence should be sent to PO Box Eternally Present Reviews 18665, Washington, DC 20036. Send all other ROSFMARI One False Move. correspondence and submissions to the above address; By MEALy submissions must include astamped, se~-addressed Cubanfilmmaker Glorid Rolando usesfilm to keep A.frican oral traditions alive. envelope. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. Logo and 34 contents copyright ©Sojourner Productions, Inc., and in 28 New Releases the name of individual contributors. Minority Rule A Di.fIerent Image, Black Film Review welcomes submissions from writers, By SAMI SHAWM CHErn.rr Chameleon Street, Allah Tantou, A but we prefer that you first query with aletter. All solicited Ella Shohat "reads" Israeli cinema through critical eyes as no one has ever done. manuscripts must be accompanied by astamped, se~­ Question ofColor addressed envelope. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. Black Film Review has signed acode of and more. practices with the National Writers Union, 13 Astor Place, un~L 7th Roor, New York, NY 10003. BiU Duke's action-adventurefilm, Deep Cover, explores the link between crime 35 This issue of Black Film Review was produced with the Calendar assistance of grants from the Academy of Motion Picture andB!a£k morality. Arts and Sciences Foundation, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Hu manities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Cover photo by David Lee FILM CLIPS

THREE FOR THE SHOW television last season. Carter, who and Leave 'Em Laughing, starring with someone else. And this year, also got his start acting on Mickey Rooney. Later this year, this technical category was television, beat out Launeville for Fowler's The First Thanksgiving, broadcast on Sunday night with This year, 29 Mrican Americans the honor in 1990 and has won which explores the holiday from the actors and actresses." Morgan were nominated for Emmy Emmys the past two seasons for a Native American perspective, was also nominated for the Awards, the highest number in "Equal Justice." Launeville's will air. Whoopi Goldberg series "Bagdad the history ofthe Academy of other television directing credits Donald Morgan, who took Cafe" in 1990 and the daytime Television Arts and Sciences. include "Quantum Leap," home the trophy for lighting, is TV series "Saved By the Bell" Unfonunately, though, they took "Doogie Hoowser, MD" and the only African American ever to this year. He has worked on over home only three trophies. "Equal Justice" as well as the be nominated in this category. A two dozen shows, including "The Without a doubt, the most pilots for "Pros and Cons" and former musician who literally got Golden Girls," "Benson" and familiar recipient for the "Going to Extremes." He was his start in the mailroom, "The Robert Guillaume television audience was actor­ also a producer on "Midnight Morgan has been nominated four Show."-George Hill turned-director/producer Eric Caller." times and has won twice. In 1985 Launeville, who won for Three-time local Emmy he won for "Mr. Belvedere," THE IRREPRESSIBLE directing the "All God's Chil­ winner Julian Fowler hit the along with George Dibie. This dren" episode ofNBC's dramatic ST. CLAIR BOURNE jackpot with his first national time Morgan beat Dibie and civil rights series ''I'll Fly Away." Emmy win as executive producer three other nominees, winning Launeville got his start on Veteran Mrican American on the Disney Channel movie for the "Lucky to be a Taylor television in the series "Room filmmaker St. Clair Bourne has Mark Twain andMe. Fowler, an Tonight" episode ofABC's 222," which also starred Denise been commissioned to produce attorney and former PBS "Home Improvement." Nicholas and Lloyd Haynes, and two one-hour documentaries production executive, did what "This was twice as exciting appeared in numerous sitcoms in about the political impact ofthe many Mrican Americans in as my earlier win," said Morgan. the '70s and early '80s. But it was Black athlete in international Hollywood are doing these days: "It was my first win I didn't share on "St. Elsewhere," the dramatic He developed his own project, series on which Launeville co­ getting the rights to the book starred with Denzel Washington, about Twain, overseeing the that he made his directorial writing ofthe teleplay, selling debut. He went on to direct Disney on the movie and twenty episodes ofthe show. producing it himself. His As part ofhis acceptance producing credits include the speech, the director thanked television movies Look Away, friend Thomas Carter, who which starred Madge Sinclair and recently directed Strictly Business, Ellen Burstyn, Eleanor: In Her which starred Halle Berry, for Own Wordr with Lee Remick, not being available to direct for

Filmmaker St. Clair Bourne.

2 Black Film Review sports. These films Myth and who is a leader in the first new Fellow. "Reunion" examines the Handsworth Songs, a documen­ Reality and Breaking Down the wave ofAfrican American emotionally charged and difficult tary about race and civil disorder Barriers, will be fearured in a six­ women directors to make feature issues related to AIDS in the in Britain in the '80s; and his part series entitled 'Will to Win." films, has an extensive back­ African American community. recently produced BBC docu­ Produced by London-based ground in theater, television and To assure the greatest mentary on mixed-race children Catalyst TV for the British ftlmmaking. Barnette and sensitivity in portraying the in Liverpool, A Touch ofthe Tar Broadcasting Corporation Harlem Lite are based at the complex issues confronted in Brush. All were written and (BBC), "Will to Win" celebrates studio's Culver City lot. "Reunion," producer Laverne directed by him. and examines the achievements of "Neema has tremendous Berry and "Out in Film" founder Born in Ghana and raised in Black athletes from a social and passion as an artist and fllm­ Scott Robbe have assembled a Britain, Akomfrah is one ofthe political perspective. The series, maker," said Columbia Produc­ production team that is diverse in most influential and innovative written by cultural critic and tion Vice President Stephanie terms ofrace, gender and sexual directors to emerge from the sports journalist Clayton Riley, Allain. "She has an unusually orientation. The film's messages Black British cultural renaissance will be broadcast next season on strong understanding ofthe about condom use and tolerance ofthe '80s. A key contributor to the BBC European network. material that she wants to ofthose infected with HIV were Black British film culture as a Bourne also has two address-which is to bring developed by an AIDSFILMS filmmaker as well as cultural dramatic feature projects in representation ofMrican Advisory Committee ofAfrican theorist, his work has been at the development, The Bride Price, a American women to the screen." American community leaders center ofdebates on race and contemporary romantic thriller ''I'm pleased to be at and medical and health profes­ postcolonialism for a decade. set in Senegal about a romance Columbia for many reasons," sionals. Together with the touring between an African American Barnette said. ''I'm particularly In order to secure the widest program, Third World Newsreel Peace Corps volunteer and the glad for the opportunity to tell possible audience for "Reunion," will publish an extensive daughter ofan Mrican holy man, stories on film about Black AIDSFILMS has secured monograph ofinterviews with and The AmistadIncident, based women, who have been either donations for the free distribu­ Akomfrah and essays about his on the infamous 1838 shipboard invisible or portrayed mostly tion of500 videotapes to non­ films by leading British, Ameri­ slave revolt. unfavorably on screen to date." profit organizations doing AIDS can and Canadian critics. In addition to his own Barnette is currently developing prevention outreach and is projects, Bourne is serving as the feature film project The seeking a network broadcast. THE CHOSEN executive producer on A Portrait Guide, which she has co-written ofMax, by Sam Pollard and with her husband, writer-actor­ AKOMFRAH Black to the Promised Land, Delores Elliot, which delves into comedian Reed "Live" McCants. RETROSPECTIVE TOURS Madeline Ali's moving documen­ the life ofthe legendary jazz She will direct. U.S. tary about eleven Mrican percussionist and composer, Max American teenagers from Roach. AIDSFILMS' REUNION John Akomfrah, the award­ Brooklyn who traveled to Israel Bourne began his career in winning Black British director to live and work on a kibbutz, public television in the '60s AIDSFILMS, a coalition of and a founding member ofthe captured the top spot in the 35th where his films concentrated on multiethnic filmmakers fighting London-based Black Audio Film San Francisco International Film the cutting edge ofchanging AIDS in the Black and Latino Collective, is being honored by Festival's Audience Award Poll. cultural and political movements. communities, has begun principle Third World Newsreel with a Over 54,500 filmgoers turned out for this year's festival. Other BARNETTE GETS ADEAL photography on a new television touring retrospective ofhis films. drama, "Reunion," written and The program will open in New films in the poll's top ten directed by Jamal Joseph, a York in early 1993, and will then included Satyajit Ray's The Neema Barnette, the first Mrican former Black Panther and a travel around the United States. Visitor and Michael Apted's American woman to direct a Sundance Institute Directing The series will include Incident at Oglala. television sitcom, and her Akomfrah's new feature, Who production company, Harlem Needs a Heart?; his feature debut, Lite, Inc., have reached a two­ Testament, a film about Mrican year, first-look development and exile and dispossession; production agreement with Columbia Pictures. Barnette,

Black Film Review 3 Marlon Riggs

By Kalamu ya Salaam

Filmmaker Marlon Riggs.

4 Black Film Review arIon Riggs is the be the sole determinant. Ifyou allow that, those representations that we have quintessencial then you'll end up with television. internalized that we aren't conscious of? outsider. He is, at BFR: You'll end up with what you BFR: I think it's almost impossible to once, alienated wanted to be on? understand what is going on with the from his commu­ Riggs: No, there's a difference. You'll end "new" Black cinema without understand­ ing that there seems to be an unspoken nity and, at the same time, fanatically up with the mediwn as it now too often agreement not to challenge the audience. dedicated to the upliftment ofthat same exhibits itself all the mundane, banal, Riggs: Well, you know most artists don't community, a community that often hackneyed stupidity that passes for news challenge artists. There is a level on which views him with unease. Riggs is an programming and docwnentary. You'll we engage in silence. It's an historic intellectual documentaty filmmaker who end up with that kind oftrivialization of pattern. is gay and HN positive-not quite the the experience ofour culture because And so often, especially within generally accepted image ofan important that's what people, in manyways, have mainstream media, these new £lms are community figure. been conditioned to expect from televi­ treated as ifthey are documentaries when Born February 3,1957, in Fort SIon. in fact they represent fictions. They are Worth, Texas, Riggs was reared in the So I can't let audience be the prime narratives delivered from a particular deep South and then attended a high determinant for me in terms ofaesthetics, point ofview, background and ideology, school for military dependents in Ger­ but audience is key because, ultimately, just as much as any other narrative. There manywhile his father was stationed there. the work is meaningless in and ofitself is no critiquing ofthat because they are Riggs subsequently graduated from The work achieves meaning only through coming from a "Black perspective" or Harvard University where he majored in contact with the audience. Ignoring the "the" Black perspective, and there's often history. During his senior year there, he audience would be fine for my self­ an implicit assumption that there is some decided to become a docwnentaty expression, but that's not why I do this monolithic experience that defines us. filmmaker. work. Although I may embrace the There's also a crying desire for repre­ As a result ofthe PBS broadcasts ofhis \ phrase documentary filmmaker, I seldom sentation. That's what you see when £lms, Ethnic Notions and Color Adjust­ refer to myselfas an artist. audiences refuse to allow any critique of ment, about Mrican Americans and I'm constantly thinking ofhow I will artists. I've witnessed this personally. At media, as well as the controversial gay­ tell a story so that it will seduce but also one forum, Spike Lee was asked several centered Tongues Untied, Riggs has challenge, create ruptures in the viewing questions by a number ofpeople, myself become one ofour most influential experience so that you're not brought included, about his representations in his docwnentary filmmakers. He is the along in that passive way in which many movies. The audience went wild with incarnation ofthe "witness" spirit, ofus are reduced in spectatorial relation­ hysterical outbursts to "shut up," "sit personified by the late writer James ships with media. down," "make your own goddamn Baldwin, the outsider who spoke so BFR: In music, the artist shatters the old forms in order to create the new forms, movies," "who are you, this man is doing eloquently about life on the inside. but the new form is both a rupturing the best he can, and he is giving us Not just "out" about his sexuality but and an extension. dignified images, he is doing positive also actively engaged in the struggle for Riggs: And the new forms often become work, why should you be criticizing community upliftment, Riggs refuses to the orthodoxies. That's where the cultural him?" I admit that there is often trashing allow the prejudices and homophobia of worker, ifhe or she is really on top ofit, is just for the sake oftrashing. But even the mainstream to exile him from the constantly critiquing and constantly when it is clear that the critique is trying center ofthe community. Rejecting the subverting. to empower and trying to heal certain gender ghetto, Riggs offers a perspective Obviously in mywork I'm absorbed wounds within our communities, there is ofdifference that invariably leads to a with our imagery: howwe are seen, how not any space within our culture to questioning o£ well, ofeverything. we see ourselves and howwe reproduce constructively critique. ourselves. It is important for us to There is an effort simply to shut Black Film Review: As an artist, what do constantly critique the ways in which we people up in order to reif}r these gods, if you think your responsibility is in get seduced by our own mythologies or following your own vision rather than you will, who have delivered some image relying on your audience to validate your those mythologies created for us which ofus which seems to affirm our existence work-knowing that sometimes your seem to, or in some cases actually do, give in this world. As ifthey make up for the vision may not only confuse or confound us pleasure. We must ask what is the lack, but, in fact they don't. Th'ey can but offend the audience? nature ofthat pleasure? What is the become part ofthe hegemony. I find that Marlon Riggs: Obviously, audience can't collusion with the "enemy"? What is in

Black Film Review 5 what documentaries can do, and actually provokes thought. Whether you like the casting System (PBS) and your function what fiction films also can do but so often movie on that visceral level ofpleasure within it? don't, is to insert that middle ground that we often expect from a movie is a Riggs: One way to look at PBS is in terms between trashing and reification so that different question. But I thought Do The ofthe people who run it. Most ofthose one comes away with some critical Right Thing really provoked you to think, people are white, heterosexual, male, engagement with work and with artists. and, to me, that kind ofprovocation is middle to upper-middle class, in their Then, there is appreciation but also pleasurable too: to really rethink your mid-forties and above, have no under­ interrogation; nothing's accepted at face understanding ofliberation politics, of standing ofBlack people, not to mention value. There's no elevation ofthe artist community, ofthe politics ofviolence gay people, have no understanding ofthe above community as a guardian ofthe and rage, what it can achieve or not politics ofdifference and the politics of culture, someone far loftier, more achieve. One seldom, ifever, sees that in representation, have no clue whatsoever. knowing and more powerful than one's cinema in America these days. I thought Theygive lip service to multiculturalism, sel£ it was a quite noble achievement. but they often mean a multiculturalism My position is actually a reaffirma­ I think too often many ofthe young which can be easily assimilated into their tion ofour own position as audience Black male filmmakers are driven most by worldview. members, as active, For many of engaged spectators those people, my so that we are work is highly equal in the threatening. I'm relationship of obviously pushing audience and it as much as I can author. arId playing with BFR: We are forms as, for dealing with the example, Color difference between Adjustmentdoes. commerce and art. This allo~s for a In commerce. kind ofblistering communication critique ofnot only matters only up to the point of television but, getting the more importantly, consumer to buy a ofthe American ticket. To go dream, but a beyond that point, critique that seems, to move the viewer on a certain surface as a result of level, to be conven­ seeing a film to tional. IfI had engage in some Scene from Black Is, Black Ain't. gone out and activity or to all change behavior. is not the concern of the business-the possibility ofmoney, said, "Fuck the dream, all ofus, fuck it, commerce. talk shows, women, fame. Theywant to Black America, we are wrong, we are Riggs: I don't think there's a conflict represent, give them credit, some ofthe mistaken," ifI had just come out shout­ between a profitable work and an artistic narratives which have not been included ing and screaming, who would have mission behind the work. I think it is within the mainstream media, but there is listened to that? Who would have paid possible to have work that has commer­ no critiquing ofthe way in which their attention? It would have been written off cial value, that makes money, and yet own narratives are highly myopic and not only bywhites but by many Blacks. provokes people to rethink themselves confined to a highly masculinist, misogy­ BFR: Were you intending Color Adjust­ and society and by extension, rethink nist, homophobic perspective, in terms of mentto be subversive? Riggs: Oh yes, from the very beginning, their relationship to that media and the what it means to be Mrican American. and subversive in multiple directions. artform. Julie Dash's Daughters ofthe Dust That is whywe always need to have so Most people consider my critique of"The is an example. I thought Do The Right many more ofus participating in the Cosby Show" most subversive because so Thing, which to me remains the best of making ofthese narratives. Spike Lee's movies, is a film which BFR: How do you see the Public Broad- many ofus are endeared to that show.

6 Black Fihn Review We see it as the most onderful kind of much more critical viewing than oc­ literally but morally. representation \ e can ha e, particularly curred. Even among my colleagues, I Riggs: That was the Catch-22 of Color those who are middle class or aspire to found they missed things, saw only the Adjustmentbecause I was dealing with that as the embodiment oftheir partic~­ conventionality and didn't see the television which does precisely that. It lar dream. The ub ersion for me had to constant subverting or that by making induces one into a semi-narcotic state, do not simpl .th a critique ofthe people conscious ofthe conventionality I mild and drowsy, so that there is nothing pleasure ill that show, but a critique of was attempting to stimulate an interroga­ intensely felt, pleasurable or painful. the whole ay we have internalized the tion ofthe aesthetics. They simply Workingwith material that, in and of myth ofthe American dream as a bought into a dissatisfaction with the itsel£ does that in manyways presented a standard bywhich we measure our own aesthetics without seeing that was a great challenge which I think in some individual and communal achievement, deliberate intent. ways we did not quite overcome. The particularly after the Civil Rights The use ofJames Baldwin quotations, narration could have gone off: but then movement, and how not simply the for example, were intended to disrupt the there would have been this kind of dream, but we ourselves have become easy flow ofnarration as well as the strange emotional dichotomy between part ofthe problem in our inability, seamlessness ofthis historical, documen­ the images which seemed happy, idyllic, indeed, our refusal to question our taty compilation. The use ofthe ques­ sustaining this extremely wonderfully objectives. I wanted to do that in a way tions-"Is this a positive image?"-was cozy world and then, on the other hand, that would seduce you because, on one intended to disrupt. Even the use ofthe this intense emotionally charged, politi­ hand, these,images we have seen from statistics about the number ofpeople cally explicit narration. The two would childhood on television seem so pleasur­ watching television at a certain time in not have meshed. able. Even when we first watched them America were intended to jolt one into In some ways I thought that the and didn't quite like them, when the consciousness of"watching" as a nature ofthe beast, television, demanded revisited, they seem nostalgic and sociological phenomenon. in some ways the use ofa narrative therefore connote a certain sort of I was !eally misguided in thinking that aesthetic style that partly played into it pleasure. I wanted to use that to under­ people would be much more self-aware but could be disruptive. The problem was cut the pleasure and provoke a critical and wo~d be sophisticated. I realize now, finding ways to disrupt it without perspective ofhow easily this medium particularly with the making ofmy new seeming hyperbolic and therefore blowing seduces. film Black Is, Black Aini; that, at times, I the analysis and alienating people. But BFR: Isn't there a point where you get will have to be much more explicit. I will you live to learn and that's why I con- not diminishing returns but indeed a have to play my tinue to think of reversal of returns in an attempt to be hand much more myselfas a student. subtly subversive? Most people consider my critique forcefully than I Each work is a test Riggs: That's what I look at now in re­ did in Color of liThe Cosby Show" most ofmyvision and viewing Color Adjustment. I wanted the Adjustment, subversive because so many of us that vision being audience to work That's part ofwhat I otherwise, things embraced by found missing in many ofthe reviews. are endeared to that show. We see will be missed. community. People did get the elementary critique: BFR: Yes, your it as the most wonderful kind of BFR: Your current Oh, he's complaining that television assumption is that project. Black Is, representation we can havel doesn't mirror the complexities ofreal the content can Black Ain't goes Black life. Well, how sophisticated an disrupt the particularly those who are middle directly to the analysis does that require? I was trying to television aesthetic, class or aspire to that as the question of community. This get at somethingwhich I thought was but television is embodiment oftheir particular project is not far more complicated. I believe that anesthesia. It blocks pain and about how we deeper critique was missed by a number dream. The subversion for me had the empathizing have been repre­ ofpeople. with pain; so, to do not simply with a critique of sented but rather BFR: Perhaps that's because the critique how we see murder can become the pleasure in that sho~ but a was encapsulated in a form that could entertainment and ourselves. not realJy carry it. a form that obfus­ even funny, critique ofthe whole way we Riggs: That is its cates that message. depending on the specific goal, but, Riggs: I think it's the form in relation to have internalized the myth -of the depiction of the as you might how people see it; it's not the form in act. It puts you to American dream" .. imagine, I am and ofitself I guess I was counting on a sleep not just

Black Fihn Review 7 encountering resistance. For so long, because it becomes the measure bywhich, have arrived. most ofus have striven to maintain secret in antithesis, we define ourselves. BFR: I don't think of them as Black enclosed spaces within our histories, BFR: Do you think we are having a videos; many of them are essentially within our lives, within our psyches about significant escalation of differences around nothing more than neo-minstrel shows. They do not replicate or critique the those things which disrupt our sense of color? reality of Black life. They replicate basically self We have created narratives about Riggs: I think so, but it's often mimic, a desire to "Iive large." ourselves in which we seem to be achieving unmentioned. Look at rap videos; look at Riggs: It's the most vulgar aspects ofthe our own dream ofutopia, whether the cinema. Look at the glorification of American dream. Even those who consider personal, social, communal orwhatever. women who are light-skinned and fine­ themselves revolutionary, culturally What I am trying to do in manyways is featured: aquiline noses, thin, long, straight speaking -because that's as far as it goes, unmask us, but we are so adept atwearing hair. We'd like to believe that "Black is and it often doesn't even go that far-are the mask beautiful," but in terms ofthe representa­ the children, step-children really, ofthe The maskhas become our defensive tions that are trotted out to seduce the American dream. They believe in it and mechanism for coping not simplywith buyer, we still have a privileging oflight worship at that shrine more so than "the man" but also with ourselves. The skin. I don't think that color differences someone like Dan Quayle. He-simply uses maskhas become so affixed to us that we have suddenly disappeared because of it to maintain his own hegemonywhereas wear it unconsciously. It is so much a part sloganeering around "Black is beautiful" they, in their own limited understanding, ofus that it like a skin It's like since the '60s. Color differences mayhave is graft. actually believe in it. MichaelJackson-I'm not speaking of gone underground for a moment, but it's What I'm trying to get at in Black is, MichaelJackson simply in tenns of still there. BFR: Isn't it true that, although we may Black Ain'tis how the legacy ofthe '60s is identification with whiteness as beauty but be the objects of many of these videos, now invoked and a mythology around rather as a metaphor for the ways in which we are not actually making the images? liberation. So much ofthe struggle-not we tty to change ourselves and define our The majority of those videos are created simply against white domination-but sense ofselfso that we sustain an image of by people who are not of the rap culture. the struggles that happened within our ourselves that we feel necessary in order to Don't you think that the absence of communities around domination, live with ourselves. That seems a hideous control moots the question of the around gender, around sexuality, color, thing to say as a metaphor for how Black su~versiveness of the imagery? class, self-degradation and self-worth, are people have come to see ourselves. Riggs: The absence ofcontrol ofimagery getting erased. With the young people we BFR: Sometimes it's not necessarily a by Black people in most ofthe cultural talk to on this project, I'm trying to get at gravitation towards the dominant, the production in this country is a major what they see from that moment, what external, the white, but rather a revulsion point. But for me, who controls the against what we are. culturalproductionpr~isonlypartof they've taken and not taken from a moment which now defines their Riggs: But too often in this society, African the equation. Even ifIce T, Ice Cube, identities. It's clear that something has Americans do tend to be dictated bythe Queen latifah, Public Enemy, whoever been missed partly because ofour failure other, which is white and European, even you think is important, conscious and to educate. We are partly responsible. when we are resisting it. Ultimately I doingworkwithin popular rap culture, Despite my current awareness ofall believe, even in the centering ofone's self­ even iftheywere the proprietors oftheir the contradictions ofthe '60s, I still, in concept and the communal concept companies, ifthe plantation ethos were still some ways, measure myselfagainst the aroundAfrica and the Diaspora, Europe, internalized and they produced the kind of fortitude and the clarity ofthat moment to some degree, remains at the center bullshit that many ofthem do about in our history-not necessarily by the because the point is to resist Europe and community, family, sexuality, masculinity rhetoric, or the styles ofprotest, or the European dominance and all that Europe and femininity, I would say there would be particular strategies, but the spirit. stands for. This is mycritique ofsome of no fundamental difference except that they Throughout the history ofMricans in the the adherents ofAfrocentricity-and I would be making more ofthe moneyfrom Americas, I see that spirit moving us, stress some, because I do realize there are that production. individuals at times, entire communities many different approaches to For me, the issue is not simply control. at times. I am emboldened by that spirit Afrocentricity. In that context, It's not simply having Black faces in the to continue that legacy. Eurocentrism still becomes a defining front office. It's what goes on behind the 4D principle in our understanding ofBlack­ faces, within the minds ofthose people. ness. There is a deep investment in the Too often I think there's an assumption Kalamu ya Salaam is a writer and musicproducer in New Orleans. social order and the dominance ofEurope that ifBlack people are in charge then we

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

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Black Film Review 9

n the last day ofa visit home, Aziya Wil­ loose-talking wild man who immediately launches into a blow-by-blow account of liams decides to drop in on her estranged the "piece" he got the night before. A father. Only inside her father's home, a card game ensues, and father and daughter laugh together. For a moment, realm ofnon-stop drinking and card­ the viewer is relieved that Aziya has found at least one stretch ofcommon playing, does the audience suspect that ground with her father, short-lived as Aziya, a small-town girl turned sophisticated the moment may be. Soon the older men are drunk, and Malcolm launches NewYorker, is the daughter ofan alcoholic. into a speech on the system's efforts to Aziya's homecoming brings with it an opportu­ destroy Black men. Aziya's uncle and father, amused by this college-educated, nity for her to reexamine the world she knew long know-it-all, actually toast "to the before she adopted an Afrocentric lifestyle replete with destruction ofthe Black man." Malcolm's textbook phrases cannot dreadlocks and a Black nationalist boyfriend. So begins Land begin to challenge their real-life experi­ ences. Where My Fathers Died Because it is a Black woman's film, Land Where My Fathers Died might An innovative short film, written and which won first prize for emerging appear at first to be a Black woman's directed by and starring Daresha Kyi, filmmakers from the Black American story. But, ultimately, Land Where My Land Where My Fathers Diedforces the Cinema Society, takes the discussion of Fathers Died is a story about men, about viewer to acknowledge that death in our the state ofBlack men and family fathers and how their choices affect their society takes many forms. Aside from beyond the never-ending stream oflV children. When Malcolm reveals that he the literal loss oflife from sickness or special reports. has had a personal experience with violence, there are the less tangible but From the onset ofthe film, Aziya's alcoholism, his criticism and bitterness no less ubiquitous deaths ofself-respect, boyfriend, Malcolm, seems to be are exposed, suggesting that one ofthe offamily. Adult children ofalcoholics politically astute, well-versed in down­ most devastating effects alcoholism has know first-hand about these deaths, and for-the-cause jargon. What becomes on youngAfrican Americans is in all too many ofthem are Black men and interesting about Malcolm's politics, forcing them to reinvent themselves and women. Land Where My Fathers Died, though, is that his rhetoric doesn't deny a part ofwho they are. Malcolm which explores the emotionally charged correspond to his dealings with Aziya's can only interact with Aziya's father and dynamics between a young Black father and uncle---flesh-and-blood James from behind his camera lens, as woman, her alcoholic father and her specimens ofthe "vanishing Black male" though he fears ifhe were to get any dogmatic boyfriend, provides sensitive whom he speaks about with tremendous closer, their failure would rub off. commentary on these deaths by explor­ passion. Instead ofmaking socio­ But where does Malcolm's alienation ing Black masculinity. Most impor­ political allowances for them, Malcolm leave Aziya? When she reaches out to tantly, Land Where My Fathers Died, is condescending and harshly critical, him, Malcolm rejects her. Aziya makes commenting that he the first steps toward healing while didn't know "those kind Malcolm remains unchanged. By the ofpeople still existed." film's conclusion, Aziya and Malcolm Ironically, Aziya's uncle reconcile, but it feels too pat, too forced. and father, unschooled in And because the story has been framed politically correct con­ by their relationship, the viewer is left to spiracy theory, see right wonder about the future they represent through Malcolm. for the Black family. In the most visually 4D powerful sequence in the film, Aziya and Malcolm Bridgett Davis, assistantprofessor ofEnglish and journalism at Baruch College in New York City, meet her Uncle James, a Scene from Land Where My Fathers Died. writes about Bldck artists and issues ofseif-discovery.

Black Film Review 11 () hether or not it was intended, the first stranger. Though one cannot help but wonder whether that distance is a sign of »\> > few minutes before the opening credits the director's skill or just more evidence ii ofMarco Williams' In Search Our ofhis separation, it is riveting to watch. i) of The climax ofIn Search ofOur Fathm'!~llthe~ewer more about the director and his film than Fathers is its best moment. Williams, frustrated by years ofbeing put offby any othef: williams sits on a bed, alone, talking on the phone to his father, decides to go to Springfield a voice attached to a face he can't picture. Here this brother sits and confront him. The meeting turns out to be fascinating, like peering into in the post-disco '80s, still wearing bell-bottoms and a 'fro way the window ofthe dysfunctional family past their prime. Here this Harvard grad, with striking tentative­ next door, as we watch Williams' father attempt to give a twisted and almost ness and ineloquence, tries to convince his not-as-well-educated, scary rationalization for his lack of rolling stone, long-lost Daddy that they should get together. And responsibility. Our hearts sink along with WtIliams as the reality ofthe man he doesn't quite succeed. It is a disturbing and powerful scene with whom he has been preoccupied since childhood proves to be something which speaks volumes about the sense ofconfusion and discon­ far less than the fantasy. nection felt by too many fatherless Black men, a disconnection Throughout the ftlm, the ftlmmaker repeatedly makes the point that not all with roots, with family; with communi~ Black men without fathers will become juvenile delinquents and wife beaters. In Search ofOur Fathers is an autobio­ question "Why?" WtIliams asks his That they can become Harvard grads graphical documentary that begins in mother: "Why haven't you told me and ftlmmakers like himsel£ That, the spring of 1984 as we watch Williams more about my father?" and "Why is it somehow, men raised by single mothers attempt to arrange the first face-to-face so hard for you to talk about him?" To without male role models can be just as meeting between his absentee father and his aunts and uncles: "Why is there such "normal" as anyone else. That is mostly himself Williams lets us in on both sides a long trend ofirresponsible men, true. But in raising the point, Williams ofthe conversation. His father, receptive fatherless children, unwed mothers and makes the assumption that he is all right. at first, becomes paranoid upon learning secret pregnancies in this family?" And, However, the clearest insight the viewer that Williams is using their relationship finally, to his father: "Why, after all gets from In Search ofOur Fathers is that as a basis for a ftlm. While Williams these years, do you continue to question Williams is outraged at his plight and he evenly argues his case, his father dis­ your fatherhood and my existence?" is utterly confused about his role and the misses the ftlm idea as "counterproduc­ The questions are about himselfbut, roles ofBlack men in the family. Deep tive." His father could not have been in a sense, are also about the Black down, is he any better offthan the rest more inaccurate. community in general. It is Williams' ofthe brothers in the same boat, or has For the director, In Search ofOur attempt to discover what the breakdown he simply found a more constructive Fathers functions as both diary and ofhis family means to him and to us. means ofexpressing his anger? catharsis. The film is the chronicle of Not surprising but nonetheless The best question asked in the ftIm is seven years in the course ofWilliams' alarming is that he finds no answers. In not put by Williams but by his cousin quest to find the man he thinks will that, the ftIm is all too reflective ofour when she asks him: "How do you expect connect him with his being. It is a inability as a society and as a people to your life to change when you do find campaign which leads the ftlmmaker to find answers for the debilitating prob­ your father?" It is a question to which Boston, Philadelphia, Paris and Spring­ lems contributing to the dissolution of Williams can only answer "I don't .field, Ohio, in search ofpieces ofa family and community. know." And in those words, he speaks puzzle, a riddle all too familiar in Black Since its release, the ftlm has garnered most eloquently for all Black men who family dynamics. impressive critical acclaim, and it is well­ grew up without their fathers. CD Soft-spokenly narrated by Williams deserved. Williams deftly manages to himself, In Search ofOur Fathers is a turn his camera on himselfand his Eric Easter is the president ofNew African Visiom movie about questions, mostly the family with the objective distance ofa and the co-editor ofSongs ofMy People--Mrican Americans: A SclfPortrait. 12 Black Film Review By Eric Easter

Haunting scene.from In Search ofOur Fathers.

Black Fihn Review 13 Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: The Malcolm X project has been in turnaround, in development hell, for two decades. Not for lack of talent, either. James Baldwin and Arnold Perl, David Bradley, Calder Willingham, Charles Fuller and David Mamet were attached to the project as writers at various points. What's the real reason this movie was never made-until now? Spike Lee: I just think the studios were scared ofthe fum. And the rising popularity ofMalcolm, coupled with the box office appeal ofDenzelWashington and mysel£ is what made it economically feasible for them to invest in the project. Photos by DavidLee,

14 Black Film Review Gates: David Bradley says they didn't keep firing the writers because the scripts were wrong; they fired them because the story was wrong. Lee: I would agree with that. Malcolm X was basically disputing the American dream. And ifthere's one thing Holly­ wood is about, it is selling the American dream. So Malcolm X is at odds with the images that Hollywood has always been about. Gates: On the other hand. he is the American dream: rags to riches. figura­ tively speaking. The self-made man. Very much like Benjamin Franklin's autobiog­ raphy or Booker T. Washington's ... Lee: Pulling yourselfup by the boot­ straps, self-education. There are many different stories like this, with many different ethnic backgrounds. The story they choose'to tell is cdways John Doe, Horatio Alger. It's never been about people ofcolor. Gates: How do you think about the relation between the film and the facts? For example. Bruce Perry's 1991 biogra­ phy disputes some of the standard. canonical episodes of Malcolm's story. Like the 1929 fire that destroyed the Lansing. Michigan house: Perry claims it was probably started by the father. Earl Little. And he's skeptical about the 1965 firebombing of Malcolm's house. And he doubts the activity of the Klan in Nebraska and Michigan ... Say Perry's right on some points. wrong on others. In a subtler way. any form of narrative history involves falsification or distortion of some kind; you're always shaping the facts to fit a narrative framework. But in the case of Malcolm X. there's an especially heavy political freight to carry. You got a taste of this kind of thing in the controversy over the historical veracity of Oliver Stone's JFK. The point is that while the autobiography stands as a generally truthful work. individual episodes, some pretty basic. are disputed or controversial. And my question to you. as a filmmaker. is. does that matter? Lee: It does matter; I think that's something every filmmaker or writer has to deal with when you're dealing with someone who has lived. I think Oliver Malcolm X (Denzel Washington) studies the Koran while imprisoned.

Black Film Review 15 Stone's JFKis a great movie. What he did in JFKis what he did in Born on the Fourth o/July. And I think the most important question you have to ask is, what is the intent? Our intention is not to tear down Malcolm; for us this is an act oflove. And in those cases where we had to change names, change events, or make three or four characters into one, well, I don't think that's distorting the Malcolm X story. You have to realize we're not making a documentary, we're making a drama. So you've got the same problem as a filmmaker adapting a vast novel to the screen. You can't include everything; some things you switch or turn around. I know there are people who will say: this ftIm is false because Malcolm didn't do such-and-such ... and Denzel is too light-complected, and even though he dyed his hair red, that's not the color that Malcolm X's hair was. I mean, those little things do not detract from the overall work. Let's look at the body ofthe ftIm, the overall sense ofit. Gates: Is this a "Ma'colm rr for our time? Lee: Individual viewers will have to make up their own minds. One ofthe reasons we've gotten static is that Malcolm was so many people. Every­ body has their own Malcolm who is dear to them, and their Malcolm fits their own personal and political agenda. So everybody claims him in whatever Filmmaker Spike Lee on location in Ghiza~ Egypt. period oflife he was in at that particular time. All I can say is: I was the director, I ence to pick and choose which one they this more embracive figure, appeal to rewrote the script byJames Baldwin and agree with, but we want to show all the your given your own sensibilities? Arnold Perl, and I will take responsibil­ Malcolms ... I like them all--even Lee: Yes, I think that Malcolm came to a ity. I will say this is the Malcolm I see. when he was a hustler. I can see what point where he saw that we're all Gates: Spike's Malcolm. But is Spike's steered him that way; having seen the brothers. And what he had done, Malcolm the Malcolm before Mecca or state commit your mother, the family through the Nation ofIslam, was after? broken up, your father killed. All these something he felt very bad about ... Lee: We show them all. That's why this things led him to the course he took. I That doesn't negate the power and ftIm is an epic, that's why it's three try to keep him together as one person, greatness ofElijah, but it was Malcolm hours. We want to show the total and all these things, you might say, are who gained the Nation the attention of evolution ofwhat made him, we want to spokes in the wheel that made him. I the world through the media. He was show the three or four different people know for sure Warner Brothers is trying the fiery orator, and Elijah Muhammad he was along the line. People tend to to stress the Malcolm after Mecca, when simply did not have the speaking skills. have one view ofMalcolm, but he had he stopped calling white folks blue-eyed You know, I had a meeting with many different views over his life, he grafted devils. Fatrakhan. And it's funny, they don't turned completely around several times Gates: That's the split everyone sees in even care what we do with Malcolm. All in this life. We leave it up to the audi- him. But does this post-Mecca Malcolm, they cared about was how Elijah

16 Black Film Review Muhammad would be portrayed in the did costumes; Ernest Dickerson, who around. £lm. shot the movie; various other art direc­ Gates: There's a sense in which people Gates: You mentioned that Warner tors; and a whole art department. Tons already talk about a "Spike lee movie" prefers a certain Malcolm. How did that ofresearch was done. I myselfdid a lot as a genre: there's a peculiar mixture of humor, politics, sensuality, drama, manifest itself, and how did you deal ofreading and talked to people who with it? elements that constitute a distinctive knew Malcolm. I went to Detroit and Lee: They just make suggestions; I have sensibility in your own work. And, after talked to Malcolm's brother and Omar final cut. At the same time, they had a all, these are films that you conceive, and his sister Yvonne; I talked with write, direct, and produce yourself, on point. Because I think that Malcolm people at the Organization ofMro­ your own, in a sense. In that generic post-Mecca is the one where he evolved American Unity, like Peter Bailey, Earl sense, then, is this biopic Malcolm X the most. That is not to negate what Grant, Benjamin 2X, Kathleen really a "Spike lee" film? Malcolm did when he was in the Misslesharp, who was a captain at Lee: I think it is. It's a challenge, because Nation, aside from those theories that Malcolm's Temple Number Seven. I it's the first fum that I didn't originate. I white people were grafted by the evil talked with William Kunstler, Betty had to respectfully deal with Malcolm X scientist Yakub and that there's this Shabazz, Charles Kenyatta, Percy but still see ifI could put my personal wheel spinning above us that's going to Sutton, Rob Cooper, Alex Haley, Dr. stamp on it. But I think we've been able destroy the world. Even in those days, he Omar Ozan, who wrote the letter that to do that ... I had to walk a tightrope, was speaking important truths about opened up the door for Malcolm when but you can still tell that I directed this oppression and resistance. he went to Mecca, because people in the fum like my other films. I still feel it's a Gates: You talk about having final cut, Nation were not considered true personal fum like my other films. It was but one way people attack you is to say paramount to us that Malcolm would be that in the final analysis, he doesn't Muslims. I tried to use all these people a human being-we didn't want him to really have final cut. who were there with Malcolm, who Lee: Those ignorant motherfUckers knew him. be a Jesus Christ figure, you might say. haven't read my contract. I have final Gates: How was the financing with We wanted him to be complex, wanted cut on all my films: that means I decided Warner? him to have shades ofgray, not be all Lee: It's a $32-33 million movie, but what goes in, what stays out ofthe black or white. Ofcourse, you can write movie. That's it. Warner Brothers only put 18 into this material like that but in the end it comes Gates: Should we think of this as, in film. And Largo bought the foreign down to the actor, and Denzel gives a some sense, the film adaptation of rights for 8; so it's 6, 7 million over tremendous performance as Malcolm. Malcolm's autobiography, rather than an budget. But that $32-33 million figure Gates: Why is the life of Malcolm, Spike independent historical chronicle? was what our original budget was from lee's Malcolm, needed right now? Lee: The Baldwin-Perl script was the beginning. Ifwe had held out and Lee: It's needed for the same reason that adapted from the autobiography byAlex said, we're not making this film unless Malcolm was needed when he was alive, Haley. But the problems with it were in you give us $32-33 million dollars, the and even more so today. One ofthe the last third ofthe script, where the £lm would not have been made. So we things that Malcolm stressed was split with the Nation occurs. They were went in, knowing that somewhere down education. Well, we're just not doing it. really, I felt, walking on eggshells, the line, we'd have to find some extra It's such a sad situation now, where male tiptoeing over a lot ofstuff-again, at money. But we had to get the film made Black kids will fail so they can be the time Elijah Muhammad was still then: it's been two decades, and we had "down" with everyone else, and ifyou alive, there was a lot ofbad blood still to seize the opportunity. get A's and speak correct English, you're between Malcolm's camp and the Gates: You've said before that the regarded as being "white." Peer pressure Nation-and they really didn't deal amount of control the studios exert is has turned around our whole value with the split, and how Malcolm was in direct relation to the amount of system. killed. Since then, a lot more informa­ money they put up. Were there more Gates: Since the late sixties, "authentic" suits on the set this time, more of a tion has come and we've really been able black culture had been equated with sense of studio control this time? street culture, or urban vernacular to develop the last third. Lee: No, they rarely came to the set. culture. It wasn't always this way. Gates: What sort of additional research Their attitude was this: we're putting did you do in order to capture a Lee: Wynton Marsalis talks about this all bygone era? _$18 million into this and not a penny the time. It's really crazy. Matty Rich, Lee: That's where you have to use your more; anything that's over budget, the who made Straight Gutta Brooklyn, was production stall-Wayne Thomas, producers are going to have to cover, attacking me by saying: "Spike comes production designer; Ruth Carter, who and we don't care. So they didn't hang continued on page 33

Black Film Review 17 By Rosemari Mealy

ecently, fIlmmaker Gloria Rolando shattered some popular misconceptions regarding the Mrican presence in Cuba. The weapon she used was Oggun: Eternally Present, a traditIon ofthe oral history Yoruba singing. The the legend and history of

.•.•..7'"=----, one ofseven orishaswho represent the Mrican powers integral to the Santeria religion. Rolando's 52­ minute fIlm, produced under the auspices ofVid~9WA~rica ofHavana, packedo/~o/y~J11f#91J. Rolando's recent

to~o~jh::~ie'f~~maker, one of a smallbl.it:gtb~ng number ofMro­ Cuban women in the fIeld, Rolando works at the Cuban Film Institute. She has produced a large body ofwork that includes full-length feature fIlms and documentaries. Most ofher work has focused on Afro-Cuban traditions, the Black presence in Cuban history, and the vibrancy ofthat history and its survival in contemporary Cuban culture. During a recent visit to the United States, Rolando spoke with Rosemari Mealy for Black Film Review. Black Film Review: Through the unique testimony and the singing of songs in the Yoruba language by Lazaro Ross, the esteemed and noted akpon (soloist) of the Conjuncto Folclorico Nacional of Cuba, you successfully combined the fantastic world of the Yoruba and their gods in fiction and reality in your film, Oggun. Why did you use that tech­ nique? Gloria Rolando: The fIlm is both a documentary and a tribute to Lazaro Ross. [In the fIlm,] he tells ofhis own experience as Oggun's son and his very fIrst contact with the religion and ofthe rituals and altars as th~ are seen today. In addition to saluting Lazaro's contri-

18 Black Film Review bution, what he has preserved ofour (legends) were acted out, where I tried to work ofveteran photographer Raul culture, I try to show the young people recreate something that belonged to the Rodriguez, who taught me much about and old people alike that our Mrican world that people have in their minds. video. roots are very strong in Cuba today and For example, with the orisha living in BFR: Most independent African American that we have the possibilities ofkeeping the forest, it was really important for me filmmakers in this country have a the oral literature, which is preserved in to discover the forest and many other difficult time getting both 'moral and the collective memory ofmany people, natural things, such as the real honey financial support for their films. Given the economic conditions in Cuba today, forever present. that represented the world ofthe various what are the conditions and possibilities BFR: Many of the scenes in Oggun orishas. for filmmakers in Cuba? And for women reveal some of the very sensitive and BFR: The acting was superb. but I such as yourself? hidden aspects of the practices of understand that neither of the two main Rolando: We will continue working in Santeria believers. How were you able to characters is a professional actor. different films because no one tells you film some of the private ceremonies? Rolando: This is true. I was obsessed to do that film or do that topic. You Rolando: When the people heard that I with finding the right people for the have possibilities. You may not have the wanted to do this film, everybody parts. Jose Kindelan, who plays Oggun, results that you want immediately, but I met on the street. you may get them in a year or so. In the I was looking for meantime, one does research to know someone with the more, waiting for the right moment to personality ofthat do the next film. god. When I saw BFR: It's a testament to your skill and him, I knew he professionalism that you were able to was perfect. I just shoot the entire video in twenty days. told him about the It's obvious that you at no time sacri­ project, asked him ficed the aesthetic for the technical. ifhe would like to How were you able to manipulate and help me and he combine both at the same time? agreed-just like Rolando: The main thing in making that. films is that you have to try to find your Teresa Alfonso, own language in the work. For me, who plays the role nature is very important. I always ask ofashun, is a myself, "How can I integrate nature in dancer. I knew her my work?" One needs to study the from school. colors and the possibilities ofthe camera When I spoke to so that technology is integrated into her about the your work. Video offers a lot ofpossibili­ conditions that ties, for it allows a lot ofchanges to take she would be place in the process. working under, BFR: What do you plan to do next? such as being Rolando: I would like to continue filmed in the nude focusing on the topic ofthe religion. The next film I hope to dedicate to Afro-Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando. for some ofthe Chango, the god offire and thunder. scenes, well, she There is a controversy surrounding the had no problems origin ofChango, so I would like to wanted to do something to support me. with that. The scenes ofthe party to Oggun, where BFR: The theme music was scored and begin this film in Africa. That is my big the people are singing and dancing, were arranged by the famed Cuban singer dream. 0) all done in one day. We invited some and composer Pablo Milanes. Did he members ofthe Conjuncto Folclorico agree to work with you just as eagerly Rosemari Mealy is afreelance journalist and radio Nacional and other believers to partici­ as everyone else? producer at WEAl-Pacifica in New York City. pate. The most important things were Rolando: Yes, Pablo is wonderful. The those fictional scenes where the patakki music that he created was exactly what I wanted as a complement to the camera

Black Film Review 19 Cinema is the latest.

By Francoise Pfaff

20 Black Film Review Black Film Review 21 African Cinema encompasses aspects of however, the author notes that, «after processing laboratories." Unfortunately, the politics ofAfrican filmmaking that, independence, theAnglophone countries, when Nkrumah was overthrown, cinema though not frequently discussed, have except for Ghana and Nigeria, did not did not prosper as expected. Nevertheless, played an important role in the develop­ attempt to integrate film into their local film technicians were trained, and ment ofsub-Saharan African cinema cultural policy." This political neglect Ghana Film Corporation remains in from its infancy to the present. Although may have been a factor highly detrimental existence to this day. Diawara points out Diawara has generally opted to analyze to the development ofAfrican cinema. t hat independent Ghanaian director African cinema along linguistic rones Ghana, for example, proved that KwawAnsah, whose film Love inherited from the colonial order rather political will, Brewed in the African Pot (1981) than national lines, this framework allows enjoyed wide distribution in him to examine the film Ghana, Kenya and outside infrastructures Africa, used the equipment of colonial the Ghana Film Corporation powers left or and Ghanaian technicians to did not leave produce and direct his film. behind when A chapter entitled "The they departed Present Situation ofthe Mrica and the Film Industry in influence this has Anglophone Africa" had on the birth informs readers ofrecent and growth of trends in national cinemas in ~ Mrica. Diawara's African choice also facilitates CInema, his discussion ofthe focusing neocolonial impact on what that England, France appears to and Portugal have had bea on the politics, econom- successfUl ics, themes and aesthetics of collaboration present-dayAfrican cinema. between The first chapter, private "Angl.ophone African enterprise and Production," takes readers government in back to the '30s and the Ghana. creation ofColonial Film Diawara stresses Unit, an agency whose aim that Ghana's was to produce motion leading filmmak­ From Mrican Cinema. pictures with «simplified ers Kwaw Ansah screen narrative" designed and King Ampaw to be understood by "simple-minded even when motivated by propagandist finance their produc- tions with private Africans" living under British rule. These intentions, may in some cases benefit loans while also benefiting from advanta­ films, intended to be educational, were, in cinema. Diawara states: "In 1957 ... geous government import and entertain­ fact, propagandist tools singing the praises Ghana president Kwame Nkrumah ment tax policies. Ghanaian independent ofWestern civilization and its superiority, nationalized both film distribution and directors are able to make «popular films implicitly condoning European imperial­ production. This marked a new phase in that are not burdened by didactic and ism in Africa. Yet the making ofsuch Ghanaian film production. Between propagandistic precepts imposed by the films allowed for the training ofthe first 1957 and 1966, the Nkrumah regime government" because ofthe "relative indigenous technicians in cinema. built the most sophisticated infrastructure freedom" ofbeing their own producers. In an examination ofthe beginnings of offilm production in Africa, including Another interesting point made in this post-independent Anglophone cinema, editing studios and 16mm and 35mm chapter concerns the emergence ofan

22 Black Film Review original Nigerian film genre that draws its Rouch and Debrix, Diawara's constant companies have adversely affected the content and style from traditional Yoruba praise ofthem is disturbing, considering distribution ofindigenous motion theater. Although some observers believe that they both were, at one point, direct pictures in Mrica. "Such early classics as that Yoruba cinema is "limited to Yoruba participants in France's colonial and Black Girland The Money Order by audiences because it stresses the inside neocolonial praxis, which is otherwise Ousmane Sembene ... were seen for the aspects ofYoruba tradition, instead of denounced throughout the book first time in Paris while the monopolist universal aspects ... other critics believe, Surprisingly, the major role played by the companies prevented them from being on the contrary, that the future of French editor Andree Davanture and her screened commercially in Mrica," Nigerian cinema is in Yoruba popular companyAtria in the production, according to the author. The chapter also theater." Time will tell. Diawara, promotion and distribution of discusses the failures and successes of however, postulates that "considering the Francophone African cinema is not inter-Mrican and national organizations success ofYoruba cinema in Nigeria and likewise recognized. and companies involved in distribution. the fact that the best Yoruba films like In "Film Distribution and Exhibition After explaining how the efficiency ofthe Orun Mooru are also popular in other in Francophone Mrica," Diawara details Consortium Interafricain de Distribution Mrican countries, it may be that the the stronghold such Western monopolies Cinematographique (CIDC) has been filmmakers in other parts ofMrica should as CompagnieAfricaine hampered by heavy and costly bureau­ seed a more popular form ofcinema Cinematographique Industrielle et cracy, Diawara describes the workings of looking at existing popular spectacles like Commerciale (COMACICO) and the the nationalized Senegalese company theater, wrestling matches, song and Societe d'Exploitation Societe Internationale de Distribution et dance.... The movement toward Cinematographique Mricaine (SECMA), d'Exploitation Cinematographique popular culture constitutes a step toward two French companies, AFRAM, an (SIDEC), which he applauds and proposes giving African cinema its own identity." American firm, and SOCOFILMS, a as a model to countries that have not yet The cinema oHormer French colonies Swiss company, have had on film organized their film industries. is duly reviewed in two chapters as well. distribution in Francophone Mrica. A topic rarely discussed in studies of The first ofthese chapters, "France's African Cinema contends that these African filmmaking is that ofits Contribution to the Development of Film Production in Mrica," offers an informative historical survey describing the relationship between France's spon­ o YES, I want an AAFS T-Shirt! Enclosed is $12 for each shirt sorship ofAfrican cinema and the (all white on black, size XL). ideological vicissitudes ofthe French government. For example, Giscard ttlATLANTA 0 I want to be on AAFS d'Estaing's rightist government favored AFRICAN YES, FILM ,--~- Mailing List $5 annually. helping individual Francophone Mrican $12 X T-Shirts = directors, while Francois Mitterrand's SOCIETY -- -- socialist administration decided that the Mailing List = $5- -- best way to help an African film industry was to pass financial and technical aid Total = -- through an inter-Mrican organization of Francophone nations, such as the Organisation Commune Mricaine et Mauricienne (OCAM). This chapter also Name highlights, in perhaps over-laudatory terms, the roles played by ethnographer­ Address filmmaker Jean Rouch and Jean-Rene Debrix, director ofthe Bureau du Cinema at the French Ministry of City Cooperation, a French government agency that has had a significant impact State Zip on the financing ofFrancophoneMrican films. Without denying the merits of POST OFFICE BOX 50319 • ATLANTA, GA 30302

Black Film Review 23 Lusophone component. African Cinema Diawara as ((the first director from Guinea­ in exile. corrects this imbalance with the chapter Bissau." Umban U'kset, also ofGuinea­ Two chapters ofDiawara's book break "Film Production in LusophoneAfrica: Bissau, shot his film Nttumduin 1987. away from the regional and national Toward the Kuxa Kenema in Because ofits peculiar status within approach to offer a survey ofthe roles Mozambique." This chapter addresses Francophone countries, Zaire is the only filmmakers' organizations and festivals both pre- and post-independence efforts, counny Diawara investigates individually. have had in the history ofAfrican cinema. facilitating an overall assessment of Before its independence, this central However, "TheArtist as the Leader ofthe Lusophone cinema. The positive impact of African nation was under Belgian rule. Revolution: The History ofthe Roy Guerra, "a chef-de-file in the Brazilian Inasmuch its colonial and cinematic Federation Panafricaine des Cineastes" Cinema Novo," and the Mozambican history differ from countries that were part overemphasizes the impact ofFEPACI in Film Institute, creators ofthe Kuxa ofthe French colonial empire. With an the evolution ofAfrican film. While this Kenema, are fully appreciated for creating ideology similar to·that ofthe British, the organization does, at times, offer a united a new type ofcinema, a "freedom tool that Belgians concluded thatAfricans could front and arrange forums to demand the made people ask questions about them­ not understand commercial films. In a implementation ofnational or inter­ selves and the world, about all situations." revealing statement made in the '40s, African policies benefittingMrican Guerra and the Mozambican Film Pierre Piron, Director ofthe General cinema, its goals have not always been Institute also implemented ((cinema-on- Secretariat ofthe Belgian Congo (Zaire's achieved. As Diawara himselfconcedes, wheels" to show films in rural areas where colonial name), is quoted as saying: "It was generally agreed that the FEPACI people had never seen motion pictures. The study ofthe reaction ofthe had lost its dynamism after 1975." The national cinema ofMozambique, Congolese spectators, supported bysimilar Moreover, while filmmakers such as like the cinemas ofAngola, Guinea-Bissau studies undertaken in neighboring Sembene, Cisse, Kabore and Idrissa andAlgeria, evolved from documentaries territories, leads to a disappointing Ouedraogo all happen to belong to and revolutionary films supporting and observation: the African.is, in general, not FEPACI, they have had more ofan informingworld opinion about their mature enough for cinema. Cinemato­ impact on the aesthetics and thematics of struggle for independence from colonial graphic conventions disrupt him; psycho­ African cinema byway oftheir ftlms and powers. What is striking, though, is the logical nuances escape him; rapid succes­ personal statements. For example, in spi~e involvement offoreign filmmakers. sions ofsequences submerge him. ofthe honest efforts ofKabore, who was African American filmmaker Robert Van Based on these assumptions, a branch appointed General Secretary ofthe Lierop's film A luta continuawas shown in ofthe Belgian Ministry ofInformation, organization in 1985, to reestablish the United States to raise funds for the Film and Photo Bureau, was established to FEPACI's strength and credibility, his building offield hospitals during the produce ((films especially conceived for the influence has indisputably been greater as Mozambican war for independence. Congolese"-newsreels and ((educational" an individual creator. Mozambican cinema is, in fact, described documentaries celebrating and justifYing "Mrican Cinema and Festivals: as ((embod[ying] the experiences ofsuch the Belgian colonial presence inAfriGL FESPACO" sets out "to explain the international directors as Roy G;uerra, Jean Since colonial and religious interests in success ofFESPACO [the Pan Mrican Rouch, andJean-Luc Godard." This input Africa went, in many cases, hand in hand, Film Festival at Ouagadougou] in offoreign directors in the film production Belgian missionaries also used motion becoming the most important and ofLusophone Africa raises the crucial pictures as a means ofreligious propaganda culturally unifYing event in Mrica, despite question ofits cultural authenticity. to convertAfricans to Christianity and the ideological contradictions and Diawara does not expound on this produced several naive and paternalistic linguistic differences between some question. Instead, he celebrates two recent ((animated cartoons for Mricans." Despite African countries." While this chapter is achievements ofLusophoneAfrican these actiyities, no Zairian filmmakers pertinent and insightful, based on the cinema: the award-winning Nelisita had been trained on the eve ofindepen­ author's research as well as his direct (1984), which incorporates the oral dence. To this day Zaire suffers, to participation in the biennial festival, that tradition ofAngola in a thematically and paraphrase the French critic George includes a film competition, colloquia stylistically innovative fashion, by the Sadoul, from a drastic cinematic famine. and a film market, Diawara surveyed Angolan cineaste Ruy Duarte de Ouvalho; One can assume that this is due primarily FESPACO only up to 1985. It would and Mortu Nega (1989), a film by Flora to Zairian president Sese Seko Mobutu's seem that the date ofpublication ofthis Gomes that is reminiscent ofSarah 27-year autocratic rule which has not volume in early 1992 would have allowed Maldoror's 1972 film Sambizanga. encouraged cultural enterprise and has the mention ofFESPACO 1991, at Gomes, however, is inaccurately hailed by forced many Zairian intellectuals to live which Diasporic women filmmakers, film

24 Black Film Review critics and historians were not allowed by ing traditional African values and socio­ general bibliography and its index, African their African counterparts to join in religious beliefS. In so doing, he empha­ Cinema helps remedy the lack ofinfurma­ meetings concerning the establishment of sizes the theme ovetwhelmingly found in tion available in English onAfrican film, a a women's bureau within the festival. BlackAfrican cinema since its inception­ subject too otten neglected in cinema Moreover, this chapter does not grant the conflict between tradition and moder­ studies. Although it may seem to be specific merits to the two other existing nity-which is still a preoccupation fur primarily a research tool fur experts and African film festivals, the Carthage Film Africa's changing societies. Throughout students ofAfrican filmmaking and film Festival and Mogpafis in Somalia. this last chapter, Diawara offers film studies in general, African Cinema should Diawara's study concludes with analyses that draw upon his intimate also prove to be usefUl to anyone interested "African Cinema Today," a thematic knowledge ofAfrican cultures, as evi­ in economics and politics; it aptly illus­ overview ofAfrican film in recent years. denced in his analysis ofSissoko's Finmn, a trates the intricate correlations between While Tunisian director and film critic film whose style and content bears politics, economics and culture. 4D Ferid Boughedir's earlier volume, 1.£ reference to the traditional Malian Koteba Cinema Africain de A aZ divides Mrican theatre, a detail which might escape the Francoise Pfaffis author ofThe Cinema ofOusmane film production according to political, attention ofa non-African reviewer. Sembene, a Pioneer ofAfrican Film andTwenty­ Five Black African Filmmakers (both published by moralistic and cultural trends, Diawara The strengths ofAfrican Cinema Greenwood Press). She is professor ofin the Depart­ establishes the following categories: social outweigh by f.u- its weaknesses. Diawara's ment ofRomance Languages atHoward University, realist narratives, films dealing with work is comprehensive, based on rigorous Washington, DC colonial confrontation and films illustrat- research and sound analyses. With its

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A QUESTION OF COLOR Kathe Sandler's long-awaited documentary on color consciousness in African American communities.

IN BLACK AND WHITE Encounters with seven African American authors: Alex Haley, Charles Johnson, Gloria Naylor, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, August Wilson, and John Wideman.

DUTCHMAN The first video release of Amiri Baraka's classic parable on race relations.

BLACK THEATRE: THE MAKING OF A MOVEMENT A re-release of Woody King's definitive history.

Black Film Review 25 ueled by drug fever, accompany Dale to a local crime scene, unrequited lust, racial they stand guns drawn at the squad car ambiguity and sudden flares while "Hurricane" goes up to the scene, ofviolence, One False Move wrestling an axe out ofa drunken creeps along the screen like a husband's hands. While Pluto and Ray slow burn. Its minimalist exist only in their relationships with plot is easily summarized: three killers, a Fantasia and each other, she has a child, trail ofbodies behind them, journey to a brother and friends. Star City, Arkansas. Unbeknownst to It is only Hurricane who understands them, three cops lie in wait to wrest or the core ofthe case, which began six kill them. But like the noir fIlms which it years earlier when he arrested, then recalls, One False Move is less concerned bedded, a teenaged shoplifter named with what and why than who, how, Lila Walker, who later became the where and when. fUgitive Fantasia. Fantasia uses Dale's The criminals: a college-educated guilt and lingering desire to manipulate Black sociopath named Pluto, a hair­ him into setting her free, but when he triggered white thug named Ray, and painfUlly promises, 'Tlliet you go," the Ray's girlfriend, a half-Black, half-white scene plays like a cruel joke. The real cipher known as Fantasia. The lawmen: trouble began when Dale turned his Star City's boisterous white sheriff, Dale back on her, and he knows it. Now it is "Hurricane" Dixon, and two hardened too late for any ofthem, cops or out­ head; Fantasia, half-naked in a cramped city detectives, Dud and MacIntosh, a laws, to do anything more than fall into hotel room twisting her body beneath salt-and-pepper team from Los Angeles. their predestined slots like bullets pushed Ray's while attempting to seduce Pluto Character motivation consists largely of into a chamber. with a long, hot stare. guesswork, ultimately proving to be One False Move's definitive seduction Like the cops who pursue them, the irrelevant. is in its creation ofa universe separate killers are a mixed bag. Pluto is immune Fresh from committing a grisly mass from the one we live in. Unlike most to violence and sex; Ray, addicted to murder, the gang decides to switch Hollywood films with Black characters, both; Fantasia, combination liar/thief/ gears. When Fantasia thanks Ray for not particularly those that attempt to deal killer/spurned lover, an enigma. In the adding the getaway car salesman to their with crime and criminality, the racial cop's corner stands the appropriately slaughterlist, he responds caustically, undertones in One False Move are not named Dud, distracted and discon­ "What kind ofpeople do you think we central to the atmosphere. In fact, the nected, tracking false leads and dead are?" Viewing a videotape ofthe murder audience is jarred each time race is ends; MacIntosh, ready to use guns or scene, cops wonder what possessed brought into the dialogue. The revela­ fists but mildly embarrassed whenever Pluto, the criminal mastermind, to leave tion that Pluto and not Ray is the leader mention is made ofhis race; and Dale, behind such an incriminating piece of ofthe motley crew, the smartest and viewed by the LA. veterans as little more evidence. Cornered by Dale, in an most ruthless, is nonetheless startling. than a small-town buffoon. otherwise empty house, Fantasia bitterly And while it is the racial dynamic within But it is Dale who ultimately knows accuses the cop ofsleeping with her the story that actually propels the how to resolve the case. The experienced because she looks kind ofwhite then story-it all started, after all, when a city cops spend long hours studying dumping her because she looks kind of white cop slept with a teenaged Black videotapes, deciphering ghost-like Black. shoplifter-the story itself is irrelevant. recordings ofthe victim's voices, discuss­ These questions are left unanswered The fIlm's real tension is between the ing plans long-distance over a speaker because the plain fact is their answers story and how it is told. What the story phone, but they have no connections, would satisfY no one. Instead, the tells us is that racial disparity created this no human context to understand the camera focuses on details too gritty to situation, but the way the story is told complex ofrelationships that has wave away: Pluto, calmly chewing a tells us that race somehow became brought them to Star City. piece ofchicken, then digging a knife beside the point. In fact, only Dale and Fantasia have m into four helpless victims; Ray, dousing ties, the most poignant ofwhich are to a drug dealer's wife with lighter fluid each other. While Dud and MacIntosh Brian Tate is a Washington, DC-based writer, and gleefully waving a lit match over her perfomer andprogrammer.

26 Black Film Review One False Move~ definitive seduction is in its creation of a . universe separate from the one we live in. Unlike most Hollywood films with Black characters... the racial undertones in One False Move are not central to the atmosphere.

Fantasia (Cynda Williams) is at the heart ofOne False Move.

One False Move director BillPdXton.

Black Film Review 27 By Sami Shalom Chetrit

As a Middle Eastern Jevv, familiar with Ashkenazi-Zionist (Euro­ pean Jewish) political and cultural dynamics, reading Ella Shohat's book, Israeli Cinema, is a thrilling experience. Shohat "reads" Israeli cinema through critical eyes like no one has ever done before. She exposes "Hebrew" cinema in all its European Zionist nakedness. Shohat notes, to those who observe Israel and Israeli society from the Western viewpoint, Israel appears very often as European, but a quick look at demographic statistics suggests an Israeli picture ofa different color. As Shohat writes:

The Palestinians make up about 20 percent ofthe population, while the Sepharadim, the majority ofwhom come, with very recent memory, from countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and India, countries generally regarded as forming part ofthe Third World, constitute another 50 percent ofthe population, thus giving a total ofabout 70 percent ofthe population as Third World orThird World-derived (almost 90 percent ifone includes the West Bank and Gaza). European hegemony in Israd, in this sense, is the product ofa distinct numerical minority within the country, a minority in whose interest it is to deny Israd's "Easternness" as well as its "ThirdWorldness." The cinema indusny in Israel, like the Israeli literature, music, theater and print and electronic mass media industries, is dominated

28 Black Film Review and controlled by the Ashkenazi-Zionist characters in Israeli cinema during the era where "Peace Now" holds its demonstra­ ideology. The kind ofcinema produced of"The Heroic-Nationalist Genre" as well tions) but in the (Asian) developing -by this dominant doctrine, according to as the negative or marginal image ofAsian towns." Oz, like many "liberal" Israeli Israeli Cinema, is not different in theme characters in the national cinematic moviemakers, can represent himselfas a and structure from the white American discourse during the "Burekas" (comic­ peace struggler only because he has cinema handling ofthe representation of melodramatic) era. Onlythe unfortunate succeeded in representing theAsian Jews as the "other." and tragic circumstances ofthe Holocaust barbarians, warmongers andArab haters; Pointing to Israeli society, Shohat tells brought the possibility ofbringingAsian and Palestinians as wild, unintelligent and. us to forget syrupy Zionist mythology Jews into the cinematic language because it bloodthirsty. manufactured by theJewish agency and left the Ashkenazi-Zionist revolution Israeli Cinema is a must-read book not the Israeli government; that is not the real without a proletariat. only for those who are interested in the story. The story is, in fa~, not much "What Israeli cinema has done for the history ofIsraeli cinema, but also for those different than the typical "First World! Arab Jews who co-existed with the Muslim who wish to get an alternative look into Third World" story. In Israel, too, and ChristianArabs for hundreds ofyears, the Israeli ethno-national social structure. European whites rule oppressively over who were brought to Israel and posted Shohat's book is essential to the Middle ThirdWorld peoples, regardless of against thier neighbors from yesterday, has Eastern discourse because it discloses the whether they are Jews or Muslims. The been to place them in front ofa mirror. underlying Eurocentric assumptions at the Israeli government, after all, does not reject TIuough cinema, they have been told, in base oftheAshkenazi-Zionist movement the non-Jews among the Russian immi­ very clear language, that the image that and at the foundation ofthe state ofIsrael. grants coming to Israel today-they are they see in the mirror-that reHection that Needless to say, Israeli Cinema has made white. Shohat clearly divides Israeli society looks exactly like them, speaks like them, manyAshkenazi-Zionist Israelis uncom­ into West and East, overcoming the eats and dresses like them-sings and fortable. This year, Israeli Cinemawas manipulativeJew/Arab dichotomy. dances like them that image is now their published in a Hebrew translation in Israel. For a Palestinian living in Israel or on worst enemy. The cinema, being the The "Israeli intelligentsia" quickly re­ the West Bank, the European Zionist ruler primaJy tool ofmass communication in sponded. As Yigal Borstine ofthe T el­ is not different in principle from the British the first two decades ofthe state ofIsrael Aviv University School ofCinemawrote ruler. The attitudes ofwhiteJews toward (television came later), played a major part in Mllariv: "[Onelwho unconditionally Arabs andAsian Jews is not different from in projecting this "reality." Arab Jews in the excepts the entire apparatus on its language that ofthe white Christians who previously Israeli state began to negate all the charac­ and methodology, without adjusting it to ruled the colonies ofthe Middle East. Both teristics oftheir reHection, language, the local needs, can very quickly be looked used the same modernization methods literature, costumes, mentality, and so on. upon like that miserable nigger [Borstine designed to destroyArab/Asian Jewish Theylearned to hate anythingArab; they used the Hebrew equival~nt kusht], the identity, culture and history, and cinema learned to hate themselves. Theywould do victim ofcolonization, who sticks out his in Israel reflects that. anything possible to become good Zionist tongue with excitement in front ofthe TheAshkenazi-Zionist revolution could Israelis--abandoning their languages, their golden batons and colorful glass stones not have succeeded in rooting itselfin t4e traditions, changing their names into offered to him bythe wittywhite mer­ Middle East without the well-thought-out Ashkenazi-sounding ones, dying their hair chant." manipulation ofSepharadicJews (mainly blond. But most ofthem cannot change Borstine's attack on Shohat comes those from Arab countries). To under­ the color oftheir skin. Sound familiar? naturally as an integrnl part ofthe stand this, we must remember that the Only the success ofthis psychic Ashkenazi-Zionist discourse. Still, it is very Asian Jews had no part in the development manipulation through cinema makes it rare and refreshing to hear it spoken from a ofAshkenazi Zionist ideology. It is an idea possible for contemporatyAshkenazi­ defensive position. 4D born out oftheJudeo-Christian complex Zionist groups like "Peace Now" to target ofEuropeanJews and has no roots in the Asian Jews and Palestinians as the obstacles Sami Shalom Chetri~ an award-winning Hebrew poet, history ofAsianJews. Ashkenazi-Zionism for peace in the Middle East. And where is was aZuckerman Fellow at Columbia University. was born in the colonialist world that the ((theater ofstruggle" for the peace never considered the Mizrahim (Hebrew battle? According toAmos Oz, Peace Sources: Oz, Amos. "Make Peace, Not Love," Yediot­ for "Easterners") as prospective partners in Now's prominent speaker: (([N]ot Bir-Zeit Acharonot (The title is in English, while the the future Jewish state. but the (Asian) neighborhoods ofJerusa­ article is in Hebrew.) Shohat illuminates this point well by lem and Tel-Aviv. And maybe not in Kicar Borstine, Yigal. "The Bad Ashkenazim Rides Again," Maariv. pointing to the passive role ofAsian Jewish Malchai YlSrael (a big square inTel-Aviv

Black Film Review 29 By Jacquie Jones

30 Black Film Review n recent films ofthe late '80s it is unfortunate. From Birth ofaNation example. Sweetback's murder oftwo and early '90s, the films through Boyz N the Hood, Black men white policemen-the crimes that set his directed and often written by have been positioned in an uneasy flight to Mexico and, as a result, the film Black men, the central engagement with the law in films by both in motion-is actually an act ofintelVen­ conflicts have revolved around Black directors and white. As would-be tion on behalfofanother Black man who the avoidance or elimination rapists and inept petty criminals, Black was brutalized by the police. He is aided, ofcriminality. To a great extent, they men have long provided the grist for in his escape, by others who see the law as borrow from a classical tradition which Hollywood's "good cop" mill in films by an adversary. took shape in the prohibition gangster whites. Examples should not be necessary Consequently, the treatment of films ofHollywood's golden era, the '30s. to illustrate this point. criminality by Black filmmakers varies So, we find in many current Black films In the Blaxploitation era, however, this wildly, appropriating the cinematic communities disrupted by ((street" law, dynamic was momentarily altered, as the traditions ofboth the early white film­ communities often rescued by renegade law became on screen what it had always makers and Blaxploitation. In Do The upholders of((public" law. And while been for many Black people: the neces­ Right Thing, the police kill a Black man, these films seek to reconfigure the sary enemy. And so, the legitimacy ofthe the physical aggressor in a dispute with an dynamics between those who uphold the ((law" was itselfchallenged. The hoods, Italian pizzeria owner; the killing is law and those who break the law, these the pushers and the pimps for a moment perceived by the Black community as narratives by Black men cannot be ~inched closer to defending the rights of unjust. In NewJack City, the police are separated from the basic assumptions African Americans, asserting authority, positioned as an ambiguous force for about innate'Black criminality and its and maintaining more order than any positive, social change. In Boyz N the relationship to Black male representation. public body ever had, on screen or ofE Hood, the protagonist's chiefconcern is That criminality is profoundly and Melvin Van Peebles' SweetSweeibacks steering clear ofexpressly illicit Black gang inescapably linked to the Black male Baadassss Song, the film that initiated the activity so that he might escape its image in American cinema is as certain as Blaxploitation era, provides an apt domain. In Straight Out ofBrooklyn, the

Director Bill Duke left andJeffGoldblum discuss an upcoming scenefor Deep Cover

Black Fihn Review 31 central character is seduced by criminality his psychological profile. "You score heightened depth and significance. Like and this seduction proves fatal. And, in exactly like a criminal," he tells Fishburne. much ofthe "kill whitey," "burn, baby, Juice, criminal behavior answers criminal And, in a later scene, Fishburne tells him, burn" rhetoric ofthe Black power and behavior in an effort to reclaim commu­ "I'm just a cop pretending to be a Blaxploitation eras-as well as the like nity. a central moti£ the reoccurrence criminal...well, I'm not pretending As sentiments expressed during the recent ofthe theme alone signifies in profound anymore." Two readings can be taken civil unrest in Los Angeles, where this ways how meaningful it is. from these moments: one is the naturally film takes place-the current resurgence Cover, however, is the first of Deep assumed link between Black men and ofBlack nationalist sentiment implicitly recentfums to examine explicitly the criminality, but the other is more sub­ embraces an expanded definition ofwhat association between criminality and Black stantial. is and is not acceptable under law and male representation. In obvious ways, Criminality, in essence, can be defined shifts the context oflaw from a generic Cover, directed byveteran actor Bill Deep as being related to an offense against the "public" law to a more specific Black morality. In the film, for example, a female drug dealer who is selling drugs to feed her children is far more sympa­ thetic than a callous dealer in the business exclusively for personal gain. Even though they engage in the same unlawful behavior, harmful as it is to the Black community, one is tacitly moral, and one is not. The fact that Fishburne's psychological profile is read as criminal bywhites, then, fundamentally links him to a Black nationalist discourse. And, once he begins his descent into the Los Angeles drug world, his ch~acter begins to embody the basic conflict in the Hollywood construction of good versus evil, vis-a-vis Black Betty McCutcheon (Victoria Dillard) andJohn Hull (Larry Fishburne) in Deep Cover. people and public law. Duke, seeks to subvert the stereotypes public law, but it is a statement offact To borrow the concept ofdoubling, inherent in the action-adventure genre. that the public law in this society has a Fishburne's character doubles on the The Black central character with a white long histoty ofcommitting offenses surface as a cop and as a drug dealer. On sidekick establishes this immediately. against the Mrican American commu­ a much deeper level, he doubles as an And, while the Black man is a cop, the nity, from slavety to Jim Crow and upholder ofpublic law and as a personifi­ white man is a criminal, further altering onwards. The vety structures erected to cation ofthe disillusionment and aban­ the good guy/bad guy dichotomy on the acquire liberties and property for Mrican donment ofthe law and the "system." surface. Americans often existed outside ofthe (His character actually has two name, But Deep Covers most important law. So, for an Mrican American to John Hull and Russell Stevens.) In innovation in the treatment ofcriminality embrace public law and to further pledge doubling, too, Fishburne's character comes in its investigation ofBlack to uphold that law means sacrificing on further complicates and exposes tradi­ criminality itsel£ In an early scene, Jerty some level a commitment to a Black tional representation ofBlack men and Carver, larty Fishburne's superior officer nationalist loyalty. Black characters as simple and one­ who is white, asks FishbUrne, who plays It is Black nationalism, ultimately, dimensional, in general, as either/or, an undercover detective who becomes which emerges as Deep Covers primary good/bad, cops/robbers. And the film disillusioned with the law, ifhe's ever seen subject, giving the nature ofcriminality itselfcan be seen to double, seeming like a

32 Black Film Review pure genre, action-adventure film while GENERATION X on is false, or should I keep my mouth operating at the same time to subvert the continuedfrom page 17 shut? It's like the whole Clarence Tho­ .assumptions and very tenets ofthe mas-Anita Hill thing. Or the whole thing from the middle class, Spike is third­ mainstream action movie and impose between me and Baraka. I know there generation college-educated-I didn't go instead a uniquelyAfrican American have to be differences, case by case; to college, I didn't go to film school, I'm ethical framework sometimes maybe differences should be from the streets ..." In the recent buddy-movie phenom­ talked out behind closed doors, other Gates: I'm pure, I'm authentic. enon, Black cops paired with whites, times, maybe it has to be done publicly. Lee: "I'm pure, I'm ignorant." I mean more or less, orbit the whites who clearly So there's this fine line, between going for that's nothing to brag about! This is function as the moral center. Duke as the the truth, while, at the same time, you exactly what I'm saying, where intelli­ director, however, makes John Hull/ don't want to make it seem that Black gence or education is being looked down Russell Stevens this center; Fishburne's folks are fighting Black folks upon. And that's stupid. Ignorant. character has the only role which includes Gates: Film history is littered with flashes Gates: What audience is this film in the pan: the' Black message films of conscience. primarily directed toward: are you trying the forties, Belafonte in the fifties, the In manyways, again, Deep Cover to educate Black America or white blaxploitation era of the late sixties, early borrows from the classical narrative: The Americ~? Given the complexity of the ~eventies. How do we keep it from being subject, can one film do both? protagonist embarks on a quest to save his Just a trend? Lee: Yes, I think all my films have done community; Fishburne's character goes Lee: By trying to be the best filmmakers both. I've always found it interesting to under cover to rid his community of we can be. By learning the craft. By view my films as having two different drugs. The protagonist encounters a having a love ofcinema. Not being in it audiences, one black and one white. We number ofobstacles-Hull/Stevens' just for the money, for the glory, or the have enough stuffin there that everybody drug-addicted neighbor, a Black number ofpretty asses you can bone gets something out ofit. adversarial drug dealer, the South when you're casting your films. That's American drug importers, here-and Gates: You run the risk of alienating what it's going to take. It was a love of ultimately battles one significant enemy. people once you go beyond the manipu­ music that enabled Duke to do what he It is in this final point in the formula lation of symbols. Certainly it happens when you start to separate truth from did. You got to have that love ofwhatever that Deep Cover proves to be most falsehood, wheat from chaff, saying: no it is you're doing, the craft ofit. And you agitating. On the surface, the quest to rid brother, the Jews did not invent slavery, have to go and spend time in the wood­ the community of seems synony­ drugs the degree of melanin in your skin shed. John Coltrane, Wynton Marsalis, mous or, at the least, parallel to the doesn't correspond to the degree of they practice five, six hours a day. They're humanitarianism in your heart, and the establishment ofpublic law. However, as not bullshitting. A lot ofthese guys Egyptians did not levitate the Pyramids layers are uncovered in the film, the "making films today, they're bullshitting. and fly around in airplanes, whatever the inability or unwillingness ofthe law to They don't have any craft, and they're adequately meet the needs ofthe commu­ Portland Baseline Essays claim. Now, you've sometimes been called a griot. proud to say it: "I didn't go to film nity is exposed as the government's One of the things that most Afro­ school, I never made a film before." Most commitment to cracking down on drug Americans don't know is that the griot ofthe time it ends up looking exactly like trafficking is ultimately superceded by was always estranged from his commu­ that. It looks like crap ... foreign political interests. nity, always a marginal figure, exiled at There are so many stories to tell. Here, Deep Cover rises out ofa classical his death, even buried separately from And our stories have not really been told. the rest of his community, because he pattern and joins with the late '60s early, Think ofall the novels that have still to was the person who was supposed to '70s Blaxploitation, post-Viemam make it to the screen: Song ofSolomon, illumination ofand attack on the "sys­ call a spade a spade. He was the person who was supposed to say, these are the Bluest Eye, Their Eyes Are Watching God. tem." By linking conspiracy theory to veils you have before your eyes. It's like virgin territory. Q) domestic issues ofparticular interest to Lee: This is something that's difficult to African Americans, the film validates a deal with, because we all want to be Excer.P.t:dfrom ~ discussion that appearedpreviously in Black nationalist agenda-popularize~ by united as a people, and we've really been TranslUon (an tnternational review published by rap groups like N.WA and Public Oxford University PressJ2001 Evans Road CaryJ divided on purpose from the beginning, Enemy-while calling for a reformula­ NC27531) bypermission ofthe authorJHenry Louis backwhen they made sure nobody spoke GatesJJr. Ja WEB. DuBois Professor ofthe tion of"the law," a shading ofcriminality, the same tongue on the slave ships. So Humanities andDirector ofthe WEB. DuBois a hybridization ofcinematic traditions. Q) Institutefor Afro-American Research atHaroard there's always this decision to be made: University. He is also chairman ofthe Department of should I speak out because what's going Afro-American Studies atHaroard.

Black Film Review 33 Afrique,Je Te Plumerai(in French Angeles, CA 90047. mentary tells the story ofgay Harlem men with English subtitles), directed byJean Daughters of/sis: BlAck Women of preparing for voguing competitions as Marie Teno. The history and legacy of Antiquity. This documentary is .the second expressio~ ofself-awareness and pride. colonialism in Cameroon and, byexten­ in a series onAfrican history and features Distributed by Alternative Videos. sion, the African continent are examined dramatizations and interviews with A Q!testion_ ofColor, directed by Kathe by focusing on historical as well as contem­ historians. Distributed by Alternative Sandler. The devastating effect ofa caste porary European culture domination, Videos. system in the Black conununity, based on particularly in the publishing and media A Different /rfUlge, directed by Alile how closely skin color, hair texture and industries. Distributed by California Sharon Larkin. A Black woman discovers facial features conform to a European Newsreel, 149 9th Street, Suite 420, San her true heritage, and a young African ideal, is explored and confronted. Distrib­ Francisco, CA 94103. American man learns to see and appreciate uted by California Newsreel. AIJah Tantou (God's Will) (in French her for her differences. Distributed by Inter Sango Malo (The Village Teacher) (in and Soussou with English subtitles), Image Video. French with English subtitles), directed by directed by David Achkar. The life ofthe Dreadlocks andthe Three Bears, Bassek Ba Kobhio. A new high school filmmaker's father, a Guinean diplomat produced by Alile Sharon Larkin. The teacher creates turmoil when he brings who became a political-prisoner, is exam­ classic fairy tale is reinvented to bring radical social changes to a rural ined through home movies, newsreels and young children a new perspective that Cameroonian village. Distributed by letters. Distributed by California Newsreel. promotes self-esteem, peace and goodwill California Newsreel. BlAck andSilver Horses, directed by for everyone. Distributed by Inter Image Saturday Night, Sunday Morning: The lawrence Andrews. This program, which Video. Travels ofGatemouth Moore, directed by looks at how the media shapes our In BlAck andWhite: Six Profiles of Louis Guida. lbrough the odyssey of perception ofevents, was motivated by the African American Wri~ directed by "Gatemouth" Moore from popular band actual story ofan individual who was Matteo Bellinelli. lbrough their own leader to evangelical preacher, the com­ wrongly jailed for a crime because ofwhat words and the writing excerpts ofsix mon roots ofblues and gospel and the the witnesses "thought they saw.;' Distrib­ African American authors-Charles tension between the secular and the sacred uted by Electronic Arts Intermix, 536 Johnson, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, in the African American community are Broadway, 9th Floor, New York, NY Alice Walker, John Wideman and August revealed. Distributed by California 10012. Wtlson-the crucial role ofwriting in ­ Newsreel. Chameleon Street, directed by Wendell African Americans' continuing struggle for TRANS-VOICES: Paradigm Shift, Harris. This brilliant, witty film relates the self-definition and affinnation is profiled. directed by Philip MalloryJones. Part ofa story ofhow one Black man changed his DiStributed by California Newsreel. multimedia public art project, this pulsing identity repeatedly to adjust to expecta­ Kasarmu Ce (This Land Is Ours), collage ofimages and symbols is taken tions in Black America. Distributed by directed by Saddik Balewa. In this African from the culture ofthe international Alternative Videos, 837 Exposition thriller, a young man, when his grand- African diaspora. Distributed by Electronic Avenue, Dallas, TX75226. father is killed, is moved to act against the Arts Intermix. ChiUfrom the South, directed by businessman and the politician who are You MustRemember This. 1bis Sergio Rezende. A South African -exile in buying up the village lands to claim the heartwarming children's film from the Mozambique fulls in love with a young precious stones that are hidden there. WondelWorks series is about a young girl doctor and liberation war veteran and Distributed by Inter Image Video. who discovers her great-uncle was one of -rediscovers herselfas well as her cultural Paris Is Burnin~ directed byJennie the first African American film directors. and political roots. Distributed by Inter Livingston. This award-winning docu- Distributed by Alternative Videos. Q) Image Video, 1911 West 95th Street, Los

34 Black Film Review CALENDAR

October FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: from the silent era, the blaxploitation era and Suzanne Warren the recent new wave ofcommercial Black October 2 Feminist FilmNideo Series film. Special guests include Melvin van Peebles, William Greaves and Charles The Black Filmmakers Hall ofFame is Coordinator Burnett. inviting entries for its 1993 Film, Video and Community Education Center 3500 Lancaster Avenue Screenplay competition. The competition is FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: intended to discover, encourage and assist in Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 387-1911 EBS Productions expanding opportunities for filmmakers who 330 Ritch Street address the rich complexity and variety of San Francisco, CA 94107 Black culture. Entries must have a Black October 2 through 11 (415) 495-2327 person in a key creative position or have Fax: (415) 495-2381 subject matter that provides cross-cultural "D'Ghetto Eyes," films and videos by perspectives on ethnic issues. The Gordon emerging Black, Latino, Asian and Native October 8 through 10 Parks, Sr. Award will be inaugurated in 1993 American directors, will be presented by and will be given to an exceptional cinema­ Third World Newsreel, October 2-11, at The Media Working Group presents a critical tographer. Deadline for entries and nomina­ Film in the Cities in St. Paul, Minnesota. media symposium on "Diversity, Representa­ tions for the Parks Award is noon, October 2, Two 90-minute programs will examine issues tion and Construction ofa Democratic 1992. ofassimilation and alienation as well as Culture" on October 8-10, 1992 in Cincin­ ( intracultural conflicts arising from questions nati, Ohio. The symposium will explore FOR MORE I FORMATION CONTACT: ofidentity and contemporary social issues. strategies for creating a diverse and tolerant Black Filmmakers Hall oEFame Other play dates include October 18-25, democratic society through critical media 405 14th Street, Suite 515 Cornell Cinema, Ithaca, New York. education and practices. Independent Oakland, CA 94612 I filmmaker Zeinabu irene Davis is one ofthe (510) 465-0804 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: featured participants. Lorna Johnson Third World Newsreel FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: The Community Education Center Feminist 335 W. 38th Street, 5th Floor Nyoka Hawkins FilmNideo Series announces its Third NewYork, NY 10018 Symposium Coordinator Annual Local Artists Screening, presenting the (212) 947-9277 MWG Symposium best new work by women film and video Fax: (212) 594-6417 445 Bristol Road directors who are based in Pennsylvania, New Lexington, KY 40502 Jersey and Delaware. Artists are invited to (606) 266-6374 submit short works in experimental, docu­ October 6 through 15 mentary, fiction, performance and hybrid genres. Selected works will be screened on The Sheirischer Herbst Culture Festival in October 8 through 11 November 20, 1992. Deadline for submis­ Graz, Austria, presents a special Black sions is October 2, 1992. American Cinema program October 6-15. Cinequest,.The Third Annual San Jose Film Curators Cheryl Chisholm and Floyd Webb Festival, will be held October 8~11, 1992·in have assembled a program that includes films San Jose, California. Cinequest showcases

Black Film Review 35 independent films from a broad range of November December 31 genres with artistic and social merit from the November 14 through 15 Black International Cinema 1993 is seeking u.s. and abroad. The festival also features entries for its 8th annual competition to be seminars and panel discussions with industry "Latino MediaArts: Theory and Culture," a held March 17-21,1993 in South Bend, professionals as well as a special foundation to two-day conference ofscreenings and panel Indiana, and in mid-May 1993 in Berlin, aid independent ftlmmakers in their distribu­ discussions focusing on the critical discourse Germany. Awards are given to fIlms that tion efforts. that has developed concerning Latinos and the explore the Black and Latino experience, films media arts, will be held at the Whitney FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: that encourage collaborations between Black Museum ofArt in New York City on Cinequest III and non-Black filmmakers and films that November 14 and 15. P.O. Box 720040 address the injustices ofracism, sexism and San Jose, CA 95172-0040 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: homophobia in society. Deadline for entries is (408) 739-6238 Education Department December 31, 1992. Fax: (408) 720-8724 Whitney Museum ofArt FOR MORE INF'ORMATION CONTAC 945 Madison Avenue Angela Kramer NewYork, NY 10021 October 17and26 Program Coordinator (212) 570-3652 Fountainhead & Black Interna­ The Smithsonian Institution Resident tional Cinema Associates Program (RAP) presents two films Hohenfriedbergstrasse 14 ofinterest to African Americans in October. December 1000 Berlin 62 On October 17, RAP will show Mississippi December 1 GERMANY Masa/a, the story ofa romantic relationship (030) 782.16.21 The Funding Exchange's Paul Robeson Fund between an Asian woman and an Mrican or for Independent Media is requesting proposals American man. Sidewalk Stories, filmmaker Andrew Salgado from independent film, video and radio artists Charles Lane's contemporary silent comedy Production Manager whose projects address critical political and set in the streets ofthe homeless, follows on Black International Cinema social issues. Artists using alternative forms of October 26. c/o Maverick Theatre & Film social-issue documentary are encouraged to Company FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: apply. Pre-production and distribution 73-11 Utopia Parkway Smithsonian Resident Associate requests only for film and video. Deadline for Fresh Meadows, NY 11366 Program applications is December 1, 1992. ,(718) 591-1646 Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. 20560 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: (202) 357-3030 Funding Exchange 666 Broadway, Number 500 New York, NY 10012 October 30 The National Educational Film & Video The Center for Cuban Studies is sponsoring Festival is accepting entries for its 23rd annual "Making Movies in Cuba," an annual competition. Winners are eligible for the seminar that takes place during the Havana Academy Award competition in documentary Film Festival and brings together filmmakers and short subject categories. Eligible produc­ and actors( ofrecent Cuban movies to show tions include classroom programs, special their films and discuss their work. Applica­ interest videos, film and video art, and tions must be received by October 30, .1992. animation, among others. Deadline for FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: entries is December 1, 1992. Center for Cuban Studies FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: 124 West 23rd Street National Educational Film & Video Festival NewYork, NY 10011 (212) 242-0559 655 13th Street Fax: (212) 242-1937 Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 465-6885 36 Black Film Review Begin.. .or Continue Your Family Tradition atUDC

A 50-year family tradition lived on in the Allen Family when Kimberly Graves received a psychology degree, magna cum laude, last year at the University of the District of Columbia. Her mother, Desiree Graves, earned a quality education at UDC when it was called D.C. Teachers College. Kimberly's grandmother, Edith M. Allen, was in the Class of 1940 at Miner Teachers College, another UDC predecessor. UDC roots go back to 1851 with its founding as Myrtilla Miner "school for colored girls". Teaching was the respectable option for coeds in Mrs. Allen's generation. Career choices for women were hardly greater for Kimberly's mother. Both made their mark as educators. When Kimberly came along, the local tradition of excel­ lence iri public higher education flourished at UDC. She found that UDC offers a comprehensive array of more than 120 academic programs, a strong faculty, conve­ nient campus locations, a highly motivated student For additional information body, and enormous value for every dollar invested. Call UDC-2225, or write: For Kimberly, whose generation of women recognizes few limitations on professional dreams, UDC was the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, or smart choice, just as it was for her mother and her Office of Graduate Admissions grandmother. Every year at UDC, husbands and wives, University of the District of Columbia mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, grand­ 4200 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. mothers and grandchildren graduate in the same class. Washington, D.C. 20008 Like the Allen women, they've established a family tradition at UDC. J~1- It's your turn now! Start a family tradition at UDC. Or C'~the smart choice keep one going. UDC is still the smart choice!! EEO-AA Blacl~Fllm BULK RATE US Postage [i)[Jl!JDOrn PAID 2025 Eye St., N.W. Washington. DC 20066 Permit No. 1031 Suite 213 Washington, D.C. 20006 Address Correction Requested •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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