40 Acres And AMule Filmworks a OW ACCEPTING SCRIPTS © Copyright Required DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT • 8 ST. FELIX STREET • BROOKLYN, NY 11217 Close Up 6 Cauleen Smith speaks from her soul and Thandie Newton scores big in the movies. 10 World View Bridgett M. Davis returnedfrom the 1994 Cannes Film Festival with disturbing revelations about the state ofAfrican American cinema. Black Film Review 12 Film Clips Volume 8, Number 2 FESPACO... Windows on the World explores the Galapogos 10th Anniversary Issue Islands... 95'...John Carstarphen takes a humorous look at Corporate & Editorial Offices 2025 Eye Street, NW Black romance...Danny Glover does storytelling. Suite 213 Washington DC 20006 Tel. 202.466.2753 FEATURES Fax. 202.466.8395 e-mail 14 In Our Own Image [email protected] SHERI PARKS Editor-in-Chief Why African American women are a vitalforce in the film industry. Plus Leasa Farrar-Frazer the Daughters ofthe Diaspora Filmography. Consulting Editor Tony Gittens (Black Film Institute) Art Direction & Design 16 Keys to the Kingdom Lorenzo Wilkins for SHADOWORKS PHYLLIS K. KLOTMAN AND JANET C. CUTLER. Contributing Editors Jacqueline Shearer was the personification ofcultural truth, commu­ Patricia AUfderheide nity activism and the celebration oflife. In a final conversation she Thomasina Sligh TaRessa Stovall shares her convictions and insights. Contributors Natalie Bullock 20 Recall and Recollect: Excavating the Life History of Eloyce King Patrick Gist Julia Chance GLORIA J. GIBSON-HuDSON Janet K. Cutler Eugenia C. Daniels The life ofa foremother ofBlack cinema is brought to light. Bridgett M. Davis Kwame-Cumale Fitzjohn Gloria J. Gibson-Hudson 22 Beyond Black and White TJ Johnson Phyllis R. Klotman JULIA CHANCE Sheri Parks Gianella Garrett's African American and Italian heritage inspired her to explore one of Jerry White America's most complex legacies in her documentary film Between Black and White. John Williams Lesette Heath 24 Music Video: With Love From Jazz Lee Co-Publisher LEASA FARRAR-FRAZER One Media, Inc. Eric Easter, CEO Melodie McDaniel andJazz Lee Alston combine their enormous talents and take on domestic violence. Plus a conversation with video pioneer Lionel Martin. National Advertising Sheila Reid One Media, Inc. 202.466.4716 DEPARTMENTS Black Film Review (ISSN 0887-5723) is published four times 4 Letter from the Editor 28 TechWatch: The Alliance ofBlack a year by One Media, Inc. in association with the Black Film 4 The Mail Entertainment Technicians' Shirley Institute of the University of the District of Columbia. Subscriptions are $13 per year for individuals and $25 for 8 Campus: NYU's Tisch School ofthe Moore andMarie Carter. institutions. Requests and correspondence should be sent to P.O. Box 18665, Washington, DC 20036. All other correspon­ Arts/American University School of 29Multi Media: Movie and video dence should be addressed to the editorial offices listed Communications. guides are as near as your computer above. No part of this publication shall be reproduced without consent of the publisher. 18 Review: Boaz Yakin proves an apt screen. This project was made possible in part by a grant from the player in the ghetto film genre. 34 Resource Exchange Media Arts Fund, created by the National Alliance of Media 27 Television: What's on and what's off Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Art, and supported by the Georgia Council for the Arts. in TV land. Cover Photographer: H. Braithwaite; Stylist: P. Chaffers; Concept: BFR NOW ON CD-ROM E. Easter, L. Farrar-Frazer; Props: Bono Film & Video Black Film Review is now availalable on CD-ROM through EBSCO Publishing's Academic Abstracts service. To purchase a subscription or Services afor a free 60-day trial, contact: EBSCO Publishing, P.O. Box 2250, Peabody, MA 01960, USA. Or call 1.800.653.2726. BLACK FILM REVIEW/3 FROM THE EDITOR THE MAIL With this issue, Black Film Review celebrates its tenth year as a journal focusing on Black Dear BFR, film and filmmakers. Anniversaries are a time to celebrate and they also give pause for I thoroughly enjoyed your last issue. Of particular reflection; a time for assessment of what has passed, then charting the future. interest were the interviews with the African filmmak­ ers, David Aschar, Jean-Marie Teno,and Jean-Pierre Bekolo. The past has not been without it's character-building struggles as is the case with most small arts organizations. onetheless, Black Film Review is excited by what we see in our future While the distributor(s) for their films may be common and that of Black cinema. It is not, however, an excitement naive of the very real challenges knowledge in our nation's capital, it is not in Clovis, New Mexico. As a relative newcomer to African and present for the many working professionals, those just starting out, and independents and African-American film, I have a lot of catching up to professionals in training. Rather, our excitement applauds the existence and renaissance of do and would like to see these films. Black cinema and our participation in the powerful act of images making that reflects, Can you help me out? Thanks. inspires and re-images our experiences, in spite of obstacles. Ty Hall Clovis, NM To express our enthusiasm and desire to address concerns important to the continued pro­ duction of films relevant to the Black experience, Black Film Review has made a number Gladly Contact California Newsreel, 149 9th Street, of changes. Dedication and commitment characterize our tradition of bringing you the best Suite 420, San Francisco, CAl 94103, 415.621.6196, fX.415.621.6522. of film analysis and critique. Building on that tradition, we have broadened our focus to include topics ranging from new technologies, to distribution and funding strategies, and ••••• trends in television and video production. These changes establish BFR's newly defined Dear BFR, mission of creating a dialog and synergy between the worlds of scholarly film criticism, the film industry and related fields, and the dynamic world of popular Black culture. In addition Thank you for your continual support; not only with Sankofa but with independent cinema pre & present to our new design and expanded format, we are also now on-line at [email protected] and BFR. We were very pleased with the article written by available on CD-ROM. E. Assata Wright. Additionally, Haile on the cover of Vol. 8, #1 was very timely. It was a historically signifi­ cant statement of respect by a magazine that hails Our cover concept, shot by photographer Hilton Barthwaite, was inspired by Eric Easter. the contributions and accomplishments of indepen­ Props were graciously donated by Bono Film and Video Services, Inc. in Arlington, Virginia. dent filmmakers while other periodicals turn their attention to commercial cinema. A special thanks goes to our summer intern, Lesette Heath, whose skills contributed great­ ly to this issue. We wish her tremendous success in her senior year at Hampton University. As we spread our wings and fly to other cities across the country, the distribution process that Sankofa is undergoing continues to be such an eye opening To our steadfast and expanding family of readers: Thank You. BFR enthusiastically looks experience, both for us as well as our audience. It forward to its next ten years of service which will place us solidly in the middle of the first proves that necessary struggle is never in vain. decade of the new millennium. See you there. Ada Marie Babino Mypheduh Films, Inc. New York/Washington, D.C. Black Film Review welcomes mail from its readers. Leasa Farrar-Frazer, editor Please send your letters to: Black Film Review, The Mail, P.O. Box 18665, Washington, D.C. 20036. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. 4/BLACK FILM REVIEW ) Congratulations to BLACK FILM REVIEW on your Tenth Anniversary from Quincy Jones-David Saltzman Entertainment THE MANY LAYERS OF CAULEEN SMITH film is grainy, and the camera movements are frequently jumpy. "My work is very crude. I'm not interested in slick­ ness," Smith says. Like the work of Coleman and his avant garde colleagues, Chronicles feels like the creation of some­ one emotionally engaged with the work -- too emotionally engaged to worry about simplifying her vision or making it gun to work in video and plans to what she calls "The Sapphire o video has its benefits because tribute. Video editing and other ore expensive than film but for of the creative process takes place. y friendly to improvisation. "I can't in such a linear way," Smith says iting and the advance planning ludes that she can "use video etch thing" her video work "informal essays...to work out some theoretical ideas." This skepticism with the medium, however, is scarcely vis­ ible in the first installment of the Sapphire tapes, titled The Message. The piece is essentially a video portrait of a shirtless man hanging around in a second story apartment. There is again a layered sound track with Smith discussing how she feels on an emotional, sensual, and political level about filming this man, and how this relates to her desire for him.This track is laid over ambient sound of her instructing him in what to do and how to pose.The images are jumpy and hand-held, and the composition is frequently awkward, only letting us see parts of the man's body, making him seem fragmented. It quickly ION to the screen with an filmmaker's alter-ego Kelly Gabron, who supposedly tells the becomes clear that the camera movements are as unsteady as all experiemental. Others, story of Smith's next film. She observes that Smith pleads with her confidence in her ability to gaze respectfully at the man, ould say she soul-speaks with the complexity and us to go back and tend to it, then takes one last tentative look and the compositions as awkward as her expressions of guilt of an elder.