African Cinema Conference presents...
INFO: black documentary collective newsletter, #5
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THE BLACK DOCUMENTARY COLLECTIVE
135 West 118 Street
New York, NY 10027
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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BLACK DOC NEWS (Issue #5)
Summer 2003
Edited by Karen Covington
The Black Documentary Collective (BDC) provides people of African descent
working in the documentary film and video field with the opportunity to network
professionally; promote each others' work, exchange ideas in order to generate
productions and advocate on issues impacting Black documentary makers. We've
held works-in-progress screenings, project seminars, participated in the IFP
Film Market as a group and have had special sessions with funders for
independent producers. Other ongoing activities (new technology, fund raising, outreach,
screenings, the newsletter) are done through our committees. Membership is
open to people of African descent engaged in the production and/or service of
documentary film
and video, including students. If you are interested in keeping in touch with
us, we will put you on our e-mail list. Contact us at ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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WHAT'S NEW AT THE BLACK DOCUMENTARY COLLECTIVE
1. BDC GOES TO BRAZIL
2. IN PRODUCTION - Shola Lynch's CHISHOLM FOR PRESIDENT 72, Karen Covington's
THE PRICE OF MEMORY, Nicole Franklin's MAKING OF LE VOUDOU MACBETH
3. AWARDS - Derek Philips' REAL DADS gets People's Choice Award,
St. Clair Bourne's Director's View Film Festival Documentarian Award,
4. SCREENINGS - Al Santana's DURBAN 400, Eric Tait, Jr.'s THEN I'LL BE FREE
TO TRAVEL HOME in Berlin, Thomas Allen Harris's E MINHA CARA at Brooklyn
Academy of Music.
5. FUNDRAISING - Darralyn Hutson's SISTA SONIA
6. SPECIAL EVENTS - THIRD INTERNATIONAL BLACK PANTHER FILM FESTIVAL, Pearl
Bowser at South Dakota Festival of Books
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1.BDC GOES TO BRAZIL
The Black Documentary Collective has received a Ford Foundation travel grant
for participation in this year's Festival do Rio, Brazil which runs from
September 24th through October 9th. The BDC will present members' films and hold a
one-day forum to discuss racial images in film and their effect on society.
Festival do Rio, Brazil is an international Film Festival in Rio De Janeiro
attended by more than 300,000 people annually. Anyone interested in learning more
about this BDC trip may contact Nicole Franklin, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
2. IN PRODUCTION
Karen Covington continues production this summer on her documentary film "THE
PRICE OF MEMORY" about the Jamaican Rastafarian movement that seeks slavery
reparations and repatriation from Queen Elizabeth II. Shot in Jamaica, West
Africa, and England, the film incorporates the filmmaker's own search for
personal and historical truth growing up in Jamaica after British colonialism. The
film explores the legacy of slavery in Jamaica and Britain as the lives of a
Rastafarian coalition and Queen Elizabeth II intersect after a four year
correspondence. For more information, contact Karen Covington at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Shola Lynch has begun production on her new documentary CHISHOLM FOR
PRESIDENT 72, a one-hour documentary with a blaxploitation flare and seventies visual
sensibility on Shirley Chisholm's campaign for the Democratic party
presidential nomination. The film will follow Chisholm from the announcement of her
candidacy in January of 1972 to the Democratic National Convention in July, and
in telling her story the mechanics of presidential politics and voting will be
examined through the prism of race, class, and gender. Chisholm was a
Brooklyn, NY nursery school teacher who evolved into a local politician, state
assemblywoman, and congresswoman.
Nicole Franklin is currently directing The Making of Le VOUDOU MACBETH, a new
version of Orson Welles’ 1936 rendition of Macbeth set in Haiti. The original
played at Harlem's Lafayette Theatre. This behind-the-scenes documentary will
incorporate cast members from the original production, archival footage, a
profile of the Haitian religion Voudou and the all-star production, starring
Carmen DaLavalade, Joanna Rhinehart and Lonette McKee.
3. AWARDS
BDC member Derek Phillips' new one-hour documentary film "REAL DADS" won the
People's Choice Award at the recent Atlanta Film Festival. Phillips will be
shooting "RAPMATICS II" this summer. "RAPMATICS" is a video which takes the
rules for math and translates them into rap music. "RAPMATICS" won first place
at the Black Programming Consortium and the Black filmmakers Hall of Fame.
BDC founder St. Clair Bourne will be the recipient of the 2004 Director's
View Film Festival Documentarian Award. This will be the second presentation of
this award. The first went to Al Maysles. The award will be presented in
Connecticut on St. Clair's birthday on Monday, February 16, 2004.
4. SCREENINGS
Producers Iman Drammeh and BDC member Al Santana screened their new feature
documentary "DURBAN 400", a grassroots look at the 2001 UN World Conference
Against Racism and the case for Black reparations, at Harlem's Schomburg Center
for Research in Black Culture in June. For more information about the film,
contact Al Santana at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Eric V. Tait, Jr. attended the 18th Annual Black International Cinema
Festival in Berlin in May where his films "THEN I'LL BE FREE TO TRAVEL HOME (PARTS 1
& 2)" were screened. While there, Tait discussed issues impacting the African
Diapora including filmmaking, distribution, and image/cultural projections for
the group's cable television program The Collegium. The festival also had
screenings in Dusseldorf, Germany and Ljubljana, Slovenia. BIC Festival is
interested in becoming a destination for a BDC international presence in 2003/2004.
For more information see www.black-international-cinema.com.
Thomas Allen Harris's E MINHA CARA/THAT'S MY FACE opened theatrically at
Brooklyn Academy of Music in May. Harris is now at work on his new project, THE
TWELVE DISCIPLES OF NELSON MANDELA about young South African freedom fighters,
one of whom was his father, who brought the word on apartheid to the world.
5. FUNDRAISING
Darralynn Hutson, producer of HUGHES DREAM HARLEM, is in fundraising mode for
a documentary featuring Sonia Sanchez, the next in a series on literary
giants. This production will include a digital film, a poetry CD, an educator's
guide, and a book entitled SISTA SONIA.
5. SPECIAL EVENTS
THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL BLACK PANTHER FILM FESTIVAL, headed by BDC member
Kathleen Cleaver runs from July 31, 2003 through August 4, 2003. Acclaimed actor
and philanthropist Danny Glover returns as the festival's honorary chair. The
four day program will be hosted at City College and Columbia University, and
will conclude with a Books and Authors Program at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Among the films being presented are Raoul Peck's highly- acclaimed LUMUMBA;
Robert Mugge's concert film on Gil Scott-Heron, BLACK WAX; Sam Green and Bill
Siegel's THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND; and St. Clair Bourne's JOHN HENRIK CLARKE: A
GREAT AND MIGHTY WALK. For more information, visit www.pantherfilmfest.com.
BDC member Pearl Bowser, author of OSCAR MICHEAUX: WRITING HIMSELF INTO
HISTORY has been invited to the first annual South Dakota Festival of Books for a
book signing and panel discussion on the life of Oscar Micheaux. Micheaux,
known to some as the Grand Daddy of independent Black cinema, produced, directed
and wrote over 45 feature films and wrote and published 7 novels. >>
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