Dreams.Some of my favorite work at this year’s Berlinale engaged in some way with death or the afterlife. Lighten up, you say? Impossible. The most literal and beguiling of these was Lois Patiño’s Samsara, which ingeniously conjured the transitional passage between life and death, Buddhism’s intermediate state of bardo. There were the cinematic afterlives of lost films, excavated collections, and reimagined family albums; the archive’s perpetual reincarnation as a generative source for experimental and artists’ film. There were homages to artists from the past, whose legacies continue to inspire the present, including work by the recently deceased Michael Snow and Takahiko Iimura, and film tributes to avant-garde legends like Margaret Tait in Luke Fowler’s Being in a Place, and John Cage in Kevin Jerome Everson’s If You Don’t Watch the Way You Move. Then there was the teeming, unseen world of spirits...
- 3/20/2023
- MUBI
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed the 28 titles selected for its Forum strand and the 26 projects at the Forum Expanded platform.
In the Forum strand, documentaries stand alongside personal essay films, while the films and installations that make up the Forum Expanded program revolve around political and personal legacies.
The festival takes place Feb. 16-26.
Forum Titles
“Allensworth”
by James Benning
U.S.
“Anqa”
by Helin Çelik
Austria/Spain
“About Thirty”
by Martin Shanly | with Martin Shanly, Camila Dougall, Paul Dougall, Esmeralds Escalante, Maria Soldi
Argentina
“Being in a Place – A Portrait of Margaret Tait”
by Luke Fowler | with Margaret Tait
U.K.
“The Bride”
by Myriam U. Birara | with Sandra Umulisa, Aline Amike, Daniel Gaga, Fabiola Mukasekuru, Beatrice Mukandayishimiye
Rwanda
“Cidade Rabat”
by Susana Nobre | with Raquel Castro, Paula Bárcia, Paula Só, Sara de Castro, Laura Afonso
Portugal/France
“De Facto”
by Selma Doborac | with Christoph Bach, Cornelius Obonya...
In the Forum strand, documentaries stand alongside personal essay films, while the films and installations that make up the Forum Expanded program revolve around political and personal legacies.
The festival takes place Feb. 16-26.
Forum Titles
“Allensworth”
by James Benning
U.S.
“Anqa”
by Helin Çelik
Austria/Spain
“About Thirty”
by Martin Shanly | with Martin Shanly, Camila Dougall, Paul Dougall, Esmeralds Escalante, Maria Soldi
Argentina
“Being in a Place – A Portrait of Margaret Tait”
by Luke Fowler | with Margaret Tait
U.K.
“The Bride”
by Myriam U. Birara | with Sandra Umulisa, Aline Amike, Daniel Gaga, Fabiola Mukasekuru, Beatrice Mukandayishimiye
Rwanda
“Cidade Rabat”
by Susana Nobre | with Raquel Castro, Paula Bárcia, Paula Só, Sara de Castro, Laura Afonso
Portugal/France
“De Facto”
by Selma Doborac | with Christoph Bach, Cornelius Obonya...
- 1/16/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
It’s another eclectic month for Mubi releases as they’ve announced their July 2022 slate. When it comes to new releases, highlights include Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley’s inventive Sundance hit Strawberry Mansion, Andrew Dominik’s new Nick Cave and Warren Ellis documentary This Much I Know to Be True, Camilo Restrepo’s Los conductos, Laura Wendel’s Oscar-shortlisted drama Playground, and Lucrecia Martel’s new short North Terminal.
They’ll also be featuring Johnnie To’s Drug War, King Hu’s Raining in the Mountain, Terence Davies’ Sunset Song, Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child, a pair of features from both Diao Yi’nan and Athina Rachel Tsangari, and much more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
July 1 – Strawberry Mansion, directed by Albert Birney, Kentucker Audley | Mubi Spotlight
July 2 – The Wild Goose Lake, directed by Diao Yi’nan | The Electric Dark: Two Neo-noirs by Diao Yinan
July 3 – Little Girl,...
They’ll also be featuring Johnnie To’s Drug War, King Hu’s Raining in the Mountain, Terence Davies’ Sunset Song, Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child, a pair of features from both Diao Yi’nan and Athina Rachel Tsangari, and much more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
July 1 – Strawberry Mansion, directed by Albert Birney, Kentucker Audley | Mubi Spotlight
July 2 – The Wild Goose Lake, directed by Diao Yi’nan | The Electric Dark: Two Neo-noirs by Diao Yinan
July 3 – Little Girl,...
- 6/29/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
On March 8, 1991, Mario Van Peebles’ feature directorial debut “New Jack City” premiered at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood. On Saturday, a little more than 30 years later, Van Peebles walked the red carpet outside the very same cinema — now renamed the Regency Village Theatre — for a special screening of his classic crime thriller, hosted by the American Cinematheque.
Van Peebles was joined for the special event by “New Jack City” star Vanessa Estelle Williams, plus his children — Mandela and Makaylo, who joined their dad onstage to record his introduction to the movie, as well as Marley and Maya.
As Van Peebles reflected on the full-circle moment, he called out one of the gangster movie’s most famous (and Bible-borrowed) lines, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and the massive crowd yelled back, “Yes I am.” The call and response is a reference to the iconic scene where (spoiler alert...
Van Peebles was joined for the special event by “New Jack City” star Vanessa Estelle Williams, plus his children — Mandela and Makaylo, who joined their dad onstage to record his introduction to the movie, as well as Marley and Maya.
As Van Peebles reflected on the full-circle moment, he called out one of the gangster movie’s most famous (and Bible-borrowed) lines, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and the massive crowd yelled back, “Yes I am.” The call and response is a reference to the iconic scene where (spoiler alert...
- 4/14/2022
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Women in Film, Los Angeles has announced the three teams of women filmmakers that have been selected as inaugural fellows of the Wif Shorts Lab, supported by Google. The teams will be paired with mentors including producers Kira Carstensen and Alexandra Perez and line producer Martha Cronin and receive grants to complete their films.
The projects are “Choices,” from writer-director Kameishia Wooten, producer Robin J. Hayes and line producer Meagann Pallares; “Please in Spanish” from writer-director Patricia Seely and producer Alexandra Clayton and “Silverlake Cleaners,” from writer-director Katarina Zhu.
The projects were selected by a jury including Stephanie Allain, Lake Bell, Margie Moreno, and Talitha Watkins.
American Cinematheque Announces ‘New Jack City’ Special Screening Event
The American Cinematheque has announced a “New Jack City” Special Screening Event on April 9 followed by a Q&a with director Mario Van Peebles.
“New Jack City’ getting shut down in Westwood in 1991 is indicative...
The projects are “Choices,” from writer-director Kameishia Wooten, producer Robin J. Hayes and line producer Meagann Pallares; “Please in Spanish” from writer-director Patricia Seely and producer Alexandra Clayton and “Silverlake Cleaners,” from writer-director Katarina Zhu.
The projects were selected by a jury including Stephanie Allain, Lake Bell, Margie Moreno, and Talitha Watkins.
American Cinematheque Announces ‘New Jack City’ Special Screening Event
The American Cinematheque has announced a “New Jack City” Special Screening Event on April 9 followed by a Q&a with director Mario Van Peebles.
“New Jack City’ getting shut down in Westwood in 1991 is indicative...
- 3/17/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
In terms of international recognition, this week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced feature films eligible for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 94th Academy Awards. Since the African continent first submitted a film for Oscar consideration in 1958, with Egyptian director Youssef Chahine’s “Cairo Station,” the number of African submissions for Best International Film Oscar consideration seems to be stabilizing at an average of around 10 annually. Eight films were submitted for the 2019 awards; 10 for 2020; and 12 for 2021, which marked a record. Ten submissions are in consideration for the upcoming 2022 ceremony.
The history of cinema on the African continent is expectedly complex and brief — unlike other artforms including music and literature, of which there are decades, if not centuries of rich history.
Due to restrictive colonialist structures and a Francophone/Anglophone divide, Africans weren’t always in a position to tell their own stories on film.
The history of cinema on the African continent is expectedly complex and brief — unlike other artforms including music and literature, of which there are decades, if not centuries of rich history.
Due to restrictive colonialist structures and a Francophone/Anglophone divide, Africans weren’t always in a position to tell their own stories on film.
- 12/9/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
The Criterion Collection continues 2021 with a recently rediscovered classic, an established tenet of the conspiracy genre, a horribly underrepresented African filmmaker (evergreen), and two by Ramin Bahrani. Respectfully, those are: Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk; Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View; Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi; as well as Bahrani’s Chop Shop and Man Push Cart.
Check out the cover art and special features below, and see more on Criterion’s website.
New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Joyce Chopra, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-rayConversation among Chopra, author Joyce Carol Oates, and actor Laura Dern from the 2020 New York Film Festival, moderated by TCM host Alicia MaloneNew interview with ChopraNew interview with production designer David WascoKPFK Pacifica Radio interview with Chopra from 1985Joyce at 34 (1972), Girls at 12 (1975), and Clorae and Albie (1976), three short films by ChopraAudio reading of the 1966 Life magazine article “The Pied Piper of Tucson,...
Check out the cover art and special features below, and see more on Criterion’s website.
New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Joyce Chopra, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-rayConversation among Chopra, author Joyce Carol Oates, and actor Laura Dern from the 2020 New York Film Festival, moderated by TCM host Alicia MaloneNew interview with ChopraNew interview with production designer David WascoKPFK Pacifica Radio interview with Chopra from 1985Joyce at 34 (1972), Girls at 12 (1975), and Clorae and Albie (1976), three short films by ChopraAudio reading of the 1966 Life magazine article “The Pied Piper of Tucson,...
- 11/13/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Launched at New York University (Nyu) in 1996, the Black Genius series was conceived by author Walter Mosley, Manthia Diawara (Director of the Institute of Afro-American Affairs at Nyu) and writer, film scholar and emeritus Nyu professor Clyde Taylor, as a… Continue Reading →...
- 1/5/2017
- by Tambay Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Once again, highlighting the continent's best and the brightest, New York African Film Festival will present 25 feature-length films and 27 short films from 26 countries, bringing another thrilling and multifaceted selection of African films from the continent and the Diaspora to New York audiences. Marking the 50th anniversary of Ousmane Sembene's Black Girl, this year's festival is presented under the banner of "Modern Days, Ancient Nights: 50 Years of African Filmmaking." This year's selections include Tanna by Bentley Dean and Martin Butler (Opening Night Film), Price of Love by Hermon Hailay (Centerpiece) and closes with Negritude: A Dialogue Between Wole Soyinka and Senghor by Manthia Diawara and a shorts program on New York African Diaspora. The screenings of the 2016 New York African Film...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 5/4/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Talk about an intriguing director(s)/subject pairing. Filmmaker, scholar, distinguished professor at New York University, and director of the Institute of Afro-American Affairs, Manthia Diawara and British-Ghanaian experimental filmmaker John Akomfrah (who I don't think needs much of an intro around here), have teamed up to co-direct a documentary on the life of Kathleen Cleaver - once member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (Sncc), and eventual Spokesperson for the Black Panther Party (the first woman on its central committee), and wife of the party's Minister Of Information, Eldridge Cleaver. The USA/Algeria/France co-production is...
- 7/12/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Deborah Willis, Awam Amkpa, Manthia Diawara, Lydie Diakhaté, Cheryl Finley, Thelma Golden, Anne-Christine Taylor-Descola, Anna Laban, Christine Barthe, Jean-Paul Colleyn, Caroline Montel-Glénisson, and Raissa Lahcine are just a few of the international scholars who'll be present for this conference that I wish I could attend. A summary follows below; but for the full story, click Here. Black Portraiture[s]: The Black Body in the West January 17 - 20, 2013 – Paris, France The theme of this year’s conference is on the black body in the west. Nyu faculty, international scholars, students, and invited guests will together...
- 12/18/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
We announced this in August, and now the time has come, so New Yorkers, collect yourselves and go be educated and even entertained. An African cinema history lesson is coming your way, courtesy of Icarus Films... the kind you probably won't get in film school; I didn't see or hear the name Jean Rouch (the French expatriate filmmaker) until I picked up a copy of Manthia Diawara's African Cinema: Politics and Culture, and that wasn't so long ago. A selection of rarely screened ethnographic films that Jean Rouch recorded in Mali and Niger primarily, have been preserved by the Archives françaises du film du Cnc, Bois d’Arcy. Rouch...
- 11/10/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
An African cinema history lesson is coming your way, courtesy of Icarus Films... the kind you probably won't get in film school; I didn't see or hear the name Jean Rouch (the French expatriate filmmaker) until I picked up a copy of Manthia Diawara's African Cinema: Politics and Culture (which I strongly recommend), and that wasn't so long ago. I'm still learning... A selection of rarely screened ethnographic films that Jean Rouch recorded in Mali and Niger primarily, have been preserved by the Archives françaises du film du Cnc, Bois d’Arcy. Rouch (1917–2004) radically transformed nonfiction cinema, with more...
- 8/13/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Whoa! Talk about an intriguing director pairing. Filmmaker, scholar, distinguished professor at New York University, and director of the Institute of Afro-American Affairs, Manthia Diawara and British-Ghanaian experimental filmmaker John Akomfrah (who I don't think needs much of an intro around here), have teamed up to co-direct a documentary on the life of Kathleen Cleaver - once member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (Sncc), and eventual Spokesperson for the Black Panther Party (the first woman on its central committee), and wife of the party's Minister Of Information, Eldridge Cleaver. The USA/Algeria/France co-production is...
- 7/10/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
While researching for a future books-to-film post, I suddenly wondered what the first book by a black author to be adapted to film by a Hollywood studio was…!
Anyone… anyone… anyone…?
No, Oscar Micheaux doesn’t count in this case, because, again, I’m only considering books that have been optioned and adapted by Hollywood studios.
A headscratcher… so, I went through a few books of mine that cover, in some facet, black film history, notably books by Donald Bogle, bell hooks, Manthia Diawara and Ed Guerrero, and others. And I think I found the answer within the pages of Guerrero’s Framing Blackness: The African American Image In Film (a recommended read if you haven’t read it already).
On page 28, in the chapter titled Hollywood’s Inscription Of Slavery, Guerrero mentions a 1946 book by African American author, Frank Yerby, titled, The Foxes of Harrow. Guerrero doesn’t explicitly...
Anyone… anyone… anyone…?
No, Oscar Micheaux doesn’t count in this case, because, again, I’m only considering books that have been optioned and adapted by Hollywood studios.
A headscratcher… so, I went through a few books of mine that cover, in some facet, black film history, notably books by Donald Bogle, bell hooks, Manthia Diawara and Ed Guerrero, and others. And I think I found the answer within the pages of Guerrero’s Framing Blackness: The African American Image In Film (a recommended read if you haven’t read it already).
On page 28, in the chapter titled Hollywood’s Inscription Of Slavery, Guerrero mentions a 1946 book by African American author, Frank Yerby, titled, The Foxes of Harrow. Guerrero doesn’t explicitly...
- 3/15/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
I’d love to be there for this; alas, I won’t be anywhere near Paris, France, this weekend. But maybe You will. It’s the France Noire, or Black France Film Festival, and it’ll be debuting this weekend, in Paris, running from Friday, May 21st through Sunday May 23rd, with a mixture of film screenings (both old and new) and panel discussions planned.
Luminaries expected to be present for screenings of their films, and/or to speak include Euzhan Palcy, Eriq Ebouaney, Isaach de Bankolé, & Alex Descas – all names you should be familiar with if you’ve been reading this blog!
In addition, the late Ousmane Sembene’s seminal 1966 film La Noire de (aka Black Girl), will screen, along with one of my favorite Claire Denis films, 1990’s S’en fout la mort (No Fear, No Die), which starred Isaach de Bankole and Ale Descas, and Aliker, a...
Luminaries expected to be present for screenings of their films, and/or to speak include Euzhan Palcy, Eriq Ebouaney, Isaach de Bankolé, & Alex Descas – all names you should be familiar with if you’ve been reading this blog!
In addition, the late Ousmane Sembene’s seminal 1966 film La Noire de (aka Black Girl), will screen, along with one of my favorite Claire Denis films, 1990’s S’en fout la mort (No Fear, No Die), which starred Isaach de Bankole and Ale Descas, and Aliker, a...
- 5/19/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
In my quest to figure out good Xmas and Kwanzaa gifts for my people this year, I realized we always recommend movies, DVD’s and VODs, but I’ve seldom read about good books here on S&A. So, I’ve compile a great list for of Black cinephile-based books for the filmgoing audience. Some you’re definitely familiar with, others maybe not, but nonetheless here it is:
Donald Bogle’s books
I’ve been reading Bogle’s books for 20 years now, so considering I’m just on the precipice of my (eek!) mid-30’s, that’s saying a lot of the amount of Black film knowledge that he’s imparted to the masses for decades.
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks
Arguably Bogle’s greatest, if not simply his best known book, “Toms…” is the definitive study of American Black film images going back to the beginning with Birth of...
Donald Bogle’s books
I’ve been reading Bogle’s books for 20 years now, so considering I’m just on the precipice of my (eek!) mid-30’s, that’s saying a lot of the amount of Black film knowledge that he’s imparted to the masses for decades.
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks
Arguably Bogle’s greatest, if not simply his best known book, “Toms…” is the definitive study of American Black film images going back to the beginning with Birth of...
- 12/19/2009
- by Curtis the Media Man
- ShadowAndAct
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