Not that the great Duane Jones was calculated and distant; no he was cool in the classic manner of Black people being cool — and his distinguished life and career as an actor, lover of drama, and educator contains many lessons for us all. Especially this Halloween.
Read MoreIs this the end? Is cinema dead? Due to the constant brutalization of Black bodies, does, as our writer states, “the smart and polished and attractive images” supplied by Hollywood do, “nothing to counter or destroy the iconography of Black people held prisoner to the eye of the camera”? Read ahead to get Dennis Leroy Kangalee’s perspective.
Read MoreA review of our recent Film Club selection EXECUTIVE ORDER, now available for viewing on Amazon Prime
Read MoreNewton wrote that Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song "blows my mind because it is so simple and yet so profound." See our breakdown of his review, and Newton’s review presented in full text.
Read MoreGreat people are highly complex, a cauldron of seeming contradictions. What if those contradictions are not incongruous at all, however? What if they actually are - on the surface - who that person is?
Read MoreWe share special insight on why you should read these integral Black film books.
Read MoreThis film proves what ‘Visual Liberation’ could be. ..American radical filmmakers or those with a serious interest in progressive socially conscious movies if not actually revolutionary ones could learn A LOT by watching and studying the film.
Read MoreThis journey has been a labyrinthine and exhausting one. As if I myself had slowly made notes on a film on a film about Rustin that I could never bring myself to make. So, what I have in front of me is a collision of articles, facts, notes, archival footage, interviews – but mainly a cozy big-budget movie that aims to tickle instead of teach.
Read MoreWhat I did not realize, much to the chagrin of my white friends who of course were bothered that I somehow could inhabit and emulate Ford's swashbuckler better than they could -- was that Indiana Jones was a white American nationalist avatar. Yes, he fought bad people and Nazis, but often he too looted ancient artifacts and was only doing for America what the imperial Europeans did for their nations: steal art and priceless cultural icons and works and "protect" them in their own Western museums.
Read MorePerhaps Fassbinder was right: Show the revolution onscreen you deny them the revolution in their life. Hmmm….We must show them the reason why revolution is necessary or show how radicals TRY to organize or rebel.
Read MoreActually, Jeffrey Wright is not invisible at all. He’s quite conspicuous, which is what makes the cobweb he’s in is so disconcerting. We detail how, and provide eight examples of Wright’s extraordinary acting abilities that will (hopefully!) remind filmmakers who have something to say that brilliance is right there in the center of Hollywood waiting for you…and his name is Jeffrey Wright.
Read MoreJeffrey Wright never did anything to deserve his inconspicuousness. He didn’t fawn, nor offend. What he did was impress his fellow actors. So how does a talent like Jeffrey Wright get paid millions to be invisible in a movie like James Bond? How is that possible? Easy. Especially when you are being erased.
Read MoreWe cannot right (or write) the wrongs of the racist West’s history while we are still enmeshed in it. For example, a slave cannot make a movie about slavery while they are still in chains. To affect change and advocate for the oppressed – is a calling.
Read MoreGarbus commits the greatest sin a non-fiction filmmaker can commit: she exploits instead of bearing witness.
She’s more interested in maligning Simone’s imagination and creative beauty and warping the Black female warrior - than she is in divulging "truth."
“I think here again we are afraid of individuals, and if you are an individual, you know you're sort of an outcast. It's like having talent today. Talent is no longer an asset to a person. It is now a hindrance because of the vast amount of monies that are being made by people with no talent.”
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