BlackmanVision Film Production

My top three that you have to see and if you cannot see them at the BFI London Film Festival make sure you see them at the cinema or snag a DVD with your very last pennies. These are in no particular order because they are all amazing.

1. Pariah – Stunning coming of age story about a middle class African American lesbian teenager. Dee Rees’ first feature shows a maturity and skill most of us take years to achieve. Book now to see Pariah.
   
2. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 – Powerful Swedish documentary using rare archive footage of the Black Power movements in the USA. White European filmmakers with an Afrocentric gaze! Whoa!  See The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 here.
   
3. Weekend – sencond feature by Andrew Haigh (Greek Pete). One of THE best gay films ever made. There is one exquisite moment in the sex scene which makes it the most authentic I have ever seen in cinema. See Weekend here.
   

I am so sad that Lena Horne has died. I somehow thought she would always be a part of the landscape, getting older and still looking fabulous, but she had a long run and 92 is a good age to cross over to the other side. Many years ago I pitched making a documentary about her to terrestrial broadcaster. She was of no significance to the Commissioning Editor. It is heartening to know that she was however valued by other people. While doing extensive research on her I learned:

• She got married in a black dress.
• The song Stormy Weather from the movie of the same name, was spliced into the movie so it could be easily spliced out, so as not to offend cinema audiences in the Southern states of the USA.
• Her family was friendly with Paul Robeson and supported him financially. That association with Robeson who was a Communist, caused her to be blacklisted in 1950.
• She described composer Billy Strayhorn who was openy gay as her “soulmate’ and slept with his photo by her bed.
• As she was *too light-skinned* to play a maid, Max Factor invented a make up to darken her called Light Egyptian, which was then used on Ava Gardner to play a *mulatto* in the movie Showboat.
• Many other Black actors thought she was making trouble, and would lose them income, when she complained about the demeaning of roles they were given. Hattie McDaniel had a more pragmatic approach – “I’d rather play a maid and make $700 a week, than be a maid for $7.”
• She sang “Now,” at a Carnegie Hall benefit for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee a Black Power organization in 1963. It became her first hit.

Still from Oil Spill - The Exxon Valdez Disaster ©Smoking Dogs Films 2009

Smoking Dogs Films is located in Hackney London. It is made up of John Akomfrah OBE, Lina Gopaul, and David Lawson who were members of the highly acclaimed and award-winning Black Audio Film Collective whose titles included Handsworth Songs and Seven Songs for Malcolm X. Their most recent documentary,  Oil Spill – The Exxon Valdez Disaster, will be transmitted on BBC 2 on the 26th March at 9pm.

Why the name change from Black Audio to Smoking Dogs?
Black Audio dissolved as a collective in 1998 an several members went on to do other things like music, more gallery based work and visual arts. And so the three of us who wanted to continue working in film thought it was time to plant some new grass. Running the collective had been an incredibly complicated political and cultural project involving trade unions, grant making bodies, local councils and television stations. We wanted to do something looser and freer. So the name change was part of the overhaul of priorities and agendas. It offered the possibility to put on hold some of the complex institutional negotiations running a collective entailed.

Also by the end, much of the collective’s project, the fore-grounding of Black representation and alternative narrative strategies had become familiar tropes of Black independent cinema. So the name change was about grappling with and naming our transition/evolution to a new cultural project. When you formulate a new manifesto or adopt a new identity or take on new set of concerns, its really important to signal that in the most iconic way possible. And a name change suggests that – its says we outta here y’all. We on a new tip now, we on the move.

What is the ethos behind Smoking Dogs?
After the fifteen years of collective practice our desire was to create a new atelier in which to do challenging, inspiring, provocative work across a range of platforms – cinema, television, galleries. And to enjoy it!! And so from the beginning the idea was very much to try to widen the visual and narrative possibilities of black related subjects. We want to create a space in which we can continue to have complete control over our output and the conditions of the work.

One of our favorite books is As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (Allison & Busby, 1977) by Val Wilmer. We loved the people she chose as her subjects like Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman. But more than anything, we loved the title of the book : As Serious As Your Life. And that pretty much became the defining mantra for us : lets do fun and interesting shit. But that’s as serious as our lives. And if we are going to be poor or unpopular, fine. But lets be poor and unpopular our way!

What inspired you to make the film about the Exxon Valdez disaster?

Like the Berlin Wall coming down, or the end of apartheid, the Exxon Valdez disaster was one of those zeitgeist defining events for our generation. It was the first time many of us saw an environmental disaster on that scale, the first inkling of what had changed in our relationship with fossil fuels and when the first green shoots of eco-consciousness started to take root in our souls.

And it happened twenty years ago to the day. We wanted to remind people that it happened and that the effects of that spill are still with us today.

The other thing was just honoring a promise to ourselves to do more environmental based work. Because, the name Smoking Dogs always suggested for us an environmentalist/ecological interest. We are the smoking beagles of those ghastly laboratory experiments with cigarettes!!!

Why do you think people don’t associate people of color with environmental issues?
Part of it is just to do with the metro-centric prism through which “Black politics ” is viewed both within as well outside Black circles. And it is by no means the truth of Black life on the planet. If you live and work in Sub Sahara Africa, environmental questions are not marginal to your life. They frame it in a very concrete way and your political activity or cultural work reflects that. Fela Kuti was singing about multinationals and what they do to the African environment in the 1970s!!

And if you are a South Asian artist working on the subcontinent, what the agri-multinational Monsanto wants to do with rice, is not marginal at all.

The disassociation happens because to be Black is assumed to be a wholly self contained single issue entity. Paul Gilroy calls this racilogical reasoning which is certainly rampant in the broadcast and film worlds. The assumption is if you are Black then all you ever think about or are concerned with are racial issues. But we are not one-dimensional.

When we went to Alaska to make the Exxon film we were warmly received as filmmakers. They were so amazed that we had come all the way from the UK to make a film about an event which happened 20 years ago because many we met knew of our work. They kept reminding us of the awards we had won, our achievements and John’s OBE. It was really humbling and made us feel even more determined to do justice to their story.

They knew and we knew that there some issues that are universally defining. And one of those is about our global relationship to hydro carbon fuels. But it’s also about the impact of those fuels on our planet. So we don’t feel we are trespassing on someone’s patch. It is our land too.

What are you working on next?
We are extending our fictional productions. We have two fictional films in development one based in Africa, one in the UK and a six-part series for here. We are mentoring younger talented film makers to get more exposure for their work. And after so many years we are aiming to film our feature documentary on Fela Kuti later this year

Still from NO! Photo Scheherazade Tillet

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning African-American feminist lesbian independent documentary filmmaker, television and radio producer, published writer, international lecturer, and activist based in Philadelphia, PA.

In 1992, she founded AfroLez® Productions, an AfroLez®femcentric multimedia arts company committed to using the moving image, the written and spoken word to address those issues which have a negative impact on marginalized and disenfranchised people.

Her documentary NO! screens at the Institute of Contempoary Arts on March 15th

AfroLez – the name brings up Afrocentricity as well as lesbianism, do you think those ideologies make a difficult marriage?
I’m re-interpreting language and attempting to make it more inclusive. In 1990, I coined the term AfroLez®femcentric to define the culturally conscious role of Black (African descended) women who identify as Afrocentric, Lesbian and Feminist. I created this word to counter the line of thinking which assumes that if you’re of African descent and identify as queer and feminist then you’re not a part of the Black community. There is also an assumption that if you are Black and queer, you don’t have an understanding of racism and/or that you’re not committed to the struggle for the liberation of African descended people throughout the world.

I take this a step further to say that I believe in and support the liberation of ALL marginalized people. I want to envision a world where everyone understands that no one is free while others are oppressed.

How does if affect queer people of African descent negotiating a Eurocentric queer culture?
People of African descent, regardless of our sexual orientation and gender identity, who live in the West are existing in a Eurocentric culture. As a Black feminist lesbian, I personally believe that existing in a specifically Eurocentric queer culture has a negative impact on people of African descent because more often than not the queer identity is centralized at the expense of all other identities.

What’s problematic and troubling for me is that often queer identity is equated with White queer identity while African, Asian, Latino, Arab, Pacific Islander, Aboriginal/Indigenous, Roma/Gypsy queer identities are marginalized in the name of queer unity.

If homophobia and heterosexism ended right now, I would not be safe as an African descended woman. I would still have to fight against racist and sexist oppression. So, I have to incorporate all of my selves in any space. However my herstory and contemporary reality have shown me that more often than not, I’m covertly and overtly asked to leave my racial/ethnic identity at the metaphorical door of Eurocentric queer spaces.

I want to be clear that I’m not saying people of African descent should completely abstain from a Eurocentric queer culture. That’s ridiculous and for many, impossible. I know for many African descended queer people living in various countries in Europe, South American, and/or in some cities/towns in the US and Canada, being in a Eurocentric queer culture is their only option. I am, however, suggesting that we do not negate, deny, marginalize our cultural/racial/ethnic identities while celebrating/living our queer lives.

Why do you make documentaries as opposed to fiction?
While I thoroughly enjoy narrative films, I’m interested in creating a cinematic space where herstorically marginalized women can give their testimonies about their lives. I believe that my choice in filmmaking formats is strongly influenced by my preference for reading non-fiction over fiction. In many ways, NO! is two simultaneous documentaries merged into one. I am feminizing Black history from the time of the enslavement of Africans in the US to the present-day. I am also breaking silence about sexual violence within Black communities in the US. If I weren’t a filmmaker, I think I would’ve been a historian. At some point on my life journey,  I may venture into narrative filmmaking. However, right now I am committed to using the documentary format to tell the stories that have yet to be told.

Where did the idea for NO! come from?
I started making NO! in 1994 and the idea for NO! came from my strong desire to cinematically break the silence that countless Black women have kept (and keep) about the various forms of sexual and physical violence that they experienced (and experience) within Black communities. I also made NO! because I am an incest and rape survivor.

Through my making NO! I literally healed and saved myself. When I started working on the project 15 years ago, I envisioned it solely being used within the African-American community. Little did I know at that NO! would speak directly to and be used by countless women in numerous countries in Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Europe and India. While this speaks to the power of cinematic story telling, this also speaks to the sobering reality of the universality of violence against women.

What are your working on next?
While it took me 11 years to make NO!, I spent additional time creating supplemental materials, which include a 100-page interactive study guide, a 2-hour supplemental video, and subtitling NO! into French, Spanish, and Portuguese. After 14 years of very literally living with both the vision and ultimately reality of NO!, I’m very slowly but surely recuperating from an amazing journey which metaphorically took me to hell and back. Presently, I’m in the very initial stages of my next feature length documentary project on Black Muslim women, which will be a collaboration with my mother Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons who is both a practicing Sufi Muslim and a Feminist Islamic Scholar.

NO! screens at the Institute of Contempoary Arts on March 15th

Notorious is  a film about the life and death of Notorious BIG aka Biggie Smalls born Christopher Wallace, legendary East Coast rapper and protege of Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy/P Diddy.

When Biggie Small’s mother Violetta Wallace came to the USA from Jamaica,  like all immigrants from the Caribbean she was chasing the American Dream. Little did she realise that her dream would also be the American Nightmare.  Her son became one of the most successful and respected rappers in a classic rags to riches story, but did not live to see his 25th birthday. His memory lives on and he is a cultural icon to many rap aficionados. But the flip side to his success was also the darker side of rap which eventually led to his early demise.

The film is a simple story about his life, moving from the inevitable chase for “bling” through drug dealing, to eventual worldwide fame on the musical stage.  Notorious is simplistic and superficial in the way it smooths over the testosterone-driven violence that infiltrates inner city neighborhoods like toxic gas. Collecting “benjamins” by exploiting  drug addiction in order to purchase symbols of success drives people to insane acts of terror and immorality. There was a telling scene in the film where Biggie sells drugs to a pregnant woman when his homies refuse. His retort is “I’m not a social worker!’  And as for the the “beef” between himself and Tupac Shakur, Notorious goes all out to present Biggie as the peacemaker and good guy. But then Notorious was produced by Sean Combs, so that would explain the Biggie bias.

The film oozes African American masculine bonding and culture which is handled brilliantly by George Tilman Jr who is also best known for directing Soul Food. This is a man’s film, so don’t come looking for any insight into the women in Biggie Small’s life apart from his amazing mother, played stunningly by Angela Bassett. Other memorable poerformance are given by Jamal Woolard as the adult Biggie, Christopher Jordan Wallace, his own son, as the young boy Biggie. The musical interludes are fantastic and will give fans much to love and rap along with.

And for Violeta Wallace maybe this film has allowed her to come full circle to realise her son fulfilled his dream if not her American one.

Notorious opens in the UK on 13th February 2009

Official Movie site

Precious formerly titled Push is directed by Lee Daniels is based on a novel by Sapphire of the same name. It is worth noting that the word “Sapphire” is one of the stereotypes of Black women in which she is portrayed as strident, aggressive and hostile. This is very often the image of the dark-skinned Black woman prevalent in contemporary popular culture. It also dominates the caricatures of black women by comedians and impersonators.

Push was Sapphire’s first novel and is a relentless story of the physical and sexual abuse of an obese black girl called Clareece Precious Jones. The movie is based on the book is now been directed by Lee Daniels who was the Oscar winning producer of Monster’s Ball. He is the only African American to win an award as a producer.

While i think it is great to see varied roles for Black actresses. It is interesting that an unknown was cast in the role and I am sharing the audition tape for the actress Gabourey Sidibe. What no big dark-skinned actresses out there? Renee Zellweger did put on weight for Bridget Jones. Also all the mainstream film roles for dark-skinned women so far have been for victim women. Just my observation and I am very happy to be proved wrong.

The film premieres at Sundance on the 11th January.

Tyler Perry is the first African American to own a studio and has a long history of making movies. He recently directed The Family that Preys, his sixth film, which has a stellar cast including Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard and Robin Givens! ( remember her?). The story deals with and upper class and working class family whose destiny becomes linked through scandal.

It is interesting that the film is historical and is not the usual gangster fodder that seems to come out of other studios. I will be watching very closely to see what other films he produces and if the studio is just a vehicle for  himself or if he is interested in creating an infrastructure.  Also will it grow to be a force to be reckoned with, much like African Americans have done with music and fashion. Is it possible anyway with film?

Oscar Micheaux did the same thing in the early part of the 20th Century and is considered the pioneer of Black independent filmmaking in the USA.

M.K. Asante, Jr.  has made a new film charting the origins of Kwanzaa, co-written by Maya Angelou. The film uses the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith as a framework.

Interviewees include Chuck D and Amiri Baraka.

MK Asante was one of the interviewees in 500 years later. A film about the experience of the African Disaspora affected by slavery.

The Black Candle Screens at the ICA on the 4th january.

Melvin van Peebles who is an artist, writer and composer has been honoured by the African-American Film Critics Association with its Special Achievement Award. He made Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song 1971 an example of guerilla filmmaking long before the term was invented. He recounts having to pretend he was making a pornographic film to get around the Unions. He also used the music from Earth Wind and Fire, then an unknown group. And in clasic lo-budget style used his whole family in the cast and crew. He owns all the rights to this clasic film. All indie filmmakers can still learn alot from this man. There is an interview with him below.

I learned about Haile Gerima through articles that had been written about him and was delighted to find this inspirational interview with him on YouTube. In this amazing interview he talks about the making of Sankofa and Bush Mama. We also see the arts centre called Sankofa that he set up to promote Black filmmaking. His analysis of Hollywood the business in terms of Black culture is spot on.