II The Old Quimboiseuse and the Major-Domo III Cuban Filmmakers Today _,

• 20 Years of Filmmaking: A Special Section on St. Clair Bourne II

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Volume 4 No.3 Summer 1988 I $2.50

Co-produced with the Black Film Institute of the University of the District of Columbia

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Black FUm Review110 SSt., NWWashington, DC 20001(202) 745-0455

Editor and PublisherDavid NicholsonManaging EditorJacquie JonesSenior Associate EditorVirginia CopeConsulting EditorTony Gittens

(Black Film Institute)Associate Editor/FUm CriticArthur JohnsonAssociate EditorsPat Aufderheide; Victoria M. Marshall;Mark A. Reid; Miriam Rosen (Paris);Saundra Sharp; Janet Singleton; OydeTaylorDesignRobert SacheliTypography and LayoutSojourner Productions, Inc.

Black Film Review (ISSN 0887-5723) is pub­lished four times a year by Sojourner Produc­tions, Inc., a non-profit corporation organizedand incorporated in the District of Columbia.This issue is co-produced with the Black FilmInstitute of the Universityofthe DistrictofC0­lumbia. Subscriptions are S10 a year for indi­viduals, $20 a year for institutions. Add S7 peryear for overseas subscriptions. Send allcorrespondence concerning subscriptionsand submissions to the aboveaddress;submissions must include a stamped,self-addressed envelope. No part of this pub­lication may be reproduced without writtenconsent of the publisher. Logo and contentscopyright C Sojourner Productions, Inc.,1988, and in the name of individual contribu­tors.Black Film Review welcomes submissionsfrom writers, butwe prefer thatyou first querywith a letter.All unsolicited manuscripts mustbe accompanied by a stamped, self-addressedenvelope. We are not responsible for unsolic­ited manuscripts. Black Film Review hassigned a code of practices with the NationalWriters Union, 13 Astor Place, 7th Floor, NewYork, N.Y. 10003.

Saving the Last Dance: The Quimboiseuse and the Major-DomoBy Miriam RosenJulius Amede Laou's new film is the bitter-sweet story of twoMartican immigrants grown old in France p. 4

African Roots: Images of Blacks in Cuban CinemaBy Ana LopezHow do Black Cuban filmmakers differ from their Americancounterparts? TIle answers lie in Cuba's history p. 5

St. Clair Bourne: Capturing the Truth of the Black ExperienceBy Clyde TaylorTIle work of St. Clair Bourne falls within a neglectedbut important aspect of Black Cinema: the Black Documentary p. 6

St. Clair Bourne: Becoming a FllmmakerBy Rosemary MealyAn intetview with the Black Documentary filmmakeron his 20 years in film p. 8

St. Clair Bourne: A Pioneer Looks Back at 20 Years in FUmBy St. Clair BourneTIle pioneer Black Documentarian on his workand its position in the history of Black Film p. 13

Features

FUm ClipsVisions ofthe Spirit, a new film about Alice Walker,premieres in San Francisco; St. Clair Bourne to make featureabout Amistad revolt; Charles Burnett awardedMacA.rthur Foundation grant p. 2

TIlisissue ofBlack Film Review was produced with the assistanceof grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities

and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.Special thanks to the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, Inc.

and to the World Council of Churches, Programme to Combat Racism.

2

ByJohn WUliams

Ajam-packed, standing-room-onlycrowd celebrated the world pre­miereApril28 ofVisions of theSpirit, AliceWalker, a one-hour

film about the Pulitzer Prize-winningauthor by Elena Featherston.

Shot in various locations during asix-month period, the film was Feather­ston's brainstonn while working as anassistant at a San Francisco BayArea PBStelevision station.

"When I firstwent to the 1Vproduc­tionstafftosuggestadocumentaryaboutAlice Walker, they thought that I meantAlice Waters, the chef," said the 40-year­old director. "I said, 'No, Alice Walker,the Black woman writer.' TItey had nointerest! I thought, 'Damn it, 1work at apublic broadcasting station. I'll do itmyself.' Within 30 days Alice accommo­dated me by winning the Pulitzer Prizefor 11le Color Purple."

With a $5,000 grant from the now­defunct Film Fund and financial contri­butions from friends, Featherston re­cruited the talents of camerawomanFrances Reid (Ibe Ufe and Times ofHarvey Milk), film editor Cheryl Fabio(Rainbow Black: Poet Sarah Webster Fa­bio), and film composer Rachel Bagbyfor the project As the fUm traces Walker'sartistic development from her birth inthe segregated township of Eatonton,Ga., to her anti-apartheid efforts in war­tom South Africa to her rural retreat inthe backwoods of Medicino County, Cali­fornia, it captures her vievvs on subjectsas diverse as feminism, literature, thecivil rights movement, nuclear disanna­ment, and her relationship with editor­educator Robert Allen.

Abiographical film that marks Feath­erston's debut as an independentfilmmaker, Visions covers an immenseamount ofterritory inWalker's personaland political history. It reveals her ori­gins as the eighth child ofGeorgiashare­cropper parents, the emotional scar left

John Williams Is an Oakland writerand a founder ofThere City Cinema.

Film Clips••••••••••••••••••••

by an eye injury she suffered at age 8 (' 'Ibecame connected to people who werealso damaged in some way") and thepolitical action implied in herwork ("IfI didn't write, I'd be making bombs andthrowing them.")

The fihn also features remembrancesof Walker's youth by her mother andsister, commentary by University of Cali­fonlia-Berkeley Black feminist criticBarbara Christian on her importance inthe tradition of Black women's litera­ture, and testimonials from Color Purpledirector Steven Spielberg, composerQuincyJones, actor Danny Glover, andactress Oprah Winfrey.

Featherston believes that she was"more compelled than inspired" to makeVisions. "I wanted to balance the nega­tive stereotypes of Black women in themedia as lascivious, exotic females, pros­titutes, housekeepers, supelWomen, anddrug addictsbyproducing a piece depict­ing them as natural, realistic, multi-di­mensional characters." she declared. "Al­ice's work is dedicated to the realisticdepiction of Black women and their ex­periences."

Revolt on the High Seas

An 1839 slave revolt staged by kid­napped Africans, is the subject of a newfeature film. 11le Amistad Incident proj­ectwas announced at a press conferencein Washington, D.C., June 2. St. ClairBourne, who will produce the film, waspresent along with screen writer, LouPotter, and Congressman Michael Espyof Mississippi. Representatives from theNational Endowment for the Humani­ties, from whom the project receivedinitial funding, were also on hand.

The project, initiated by RonaldBailey, Director of Afro-American Stud­ies at the University ofMississippi, will bebu~getedat around $4 million. TIte Mis­sissippi Film Commission has made acommitment to provide "significant" as­sistance to the production. Bourne saidall of the film's exterior shooting will bedone in Mississippi, but no decision as to

Black Film Review

where the interior shooting would takeplace has been made. Bourne also sug­gested that major stars will be consid­ered for the leading roles.

The Amistad Incident, involving 53men, women and children from SierraLeone, was one of the most importantcourt cases concerning slavery (secondonly to the Dred Scott case). John QuincyAdams, then a congressman, representedthe Africans, led by Cinque, who hadseized control ofthe Portuguese ship onits way to Havana killing all its crew buttwo. TIle two who were spared to sail theship ultimately led the Africans to cap­ture. TIle extensive legal battles endedon Feb. 24, 1841, when the SupremeCourt decided in favor of the Africans,who were then free to return to theirhomeland.

I Fresh

LosAngles filmmaker BenCaldwell,(Babylon is Falling; I + 1) is back witha newfilm about the urban youth culturein Los Angeles. Music, family, friends,school, and the church provide the back­drop for this story of awakening younglove played out in the mobile, carculturephenomenon unique to~Angeles teens.Encompassing the themes of approach­ing adulthood and the search for iden­tity, the film focuses on the importanceof education. TIte musical score of IFresbwill feature GeorgeJohnson oftheBrothersJohnson and Amp Fiedlerwhoregularly plays with Curtis Blow andGeorge Clinton, as well as selections byemerging, young musicians.

Tribute to Friend of Film

TIte Federation of Filmmakers andVtdeographers is accepting contributionsfor the Thomas Sankara Memorial Fund.Sankara, president of Burkina Faso, anda champion of African film, was assassi­nated last October. His wife and chil­dren are in need of financial assistance.Please send checks or money orders to:

ZIP __

Summerl988

The Thomas Sankara Fund, c/o the Fed­eration of Filnunakers and Vtdeographersof the African Diaspora, 48 Q Street,N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002.

Burnett Gets MacArthur

Charles Burnett, the 44-year old LosAngeles filmmaker, was recognized by aMacArthur Foundation Fellowship witha grant totaling $275,000. Burnett,wh~films depict with moving clarity the livesof urban Black families in Los Angeles,built a reputation with films like theaward-winning My Brother's Weddingand the Killer ofSheep.

Jon H. Else, another .Californiafihnmaker also received a $275,()()() awardfrom the foundation. A documentaryfilmmaker and producer, he has workedonEyes on thePrize, DisposableHeroes:The Other Side ofFootball, and The DayAfterTrinity:]. Robert Oppenheimerandthe Atomic Bomb.

The grants, 31 in all, range from$150,00 to $375,00, according to the re­cipient's age. Dubbed the "genius awards,"

.they span a five-year period and have noobligations attached.

Woman with a Horn

Zeinabu irene Davis has begun pro­duction on a new jazz documentary abouta unique and unrecognized trumpeter,Clora Bryant. The film, TrompetisticallyClora Bryant, examines the fascinatinglife of this woman artist who played forover45 yearswithsuch greats as DizzyGi­lespie, Charlie Parker, Joephine B°akerand Billie Holiday. Davis' earlier works,RecreatingBlackWomen 'sMedialmageand Filmstatement, have been screenedat various programs and retrospectives,including the recent "Slow Fade to Black"in Chicago. For more infonnation, con­tact Visual Communications/Bryant Film,263 S. LosAngeles Street, Room 307, LosAngeles, CA 90012, or contact thefilmmaker at (213) 673-8413.

Breaking the Silence

TIle Filmmakers library has an­nounced a new series of South Africanfilms. Biko: Breaking the Silence, a newfilm byMark Kaplan, Richard Wicksteed,Edwina Spencer and Ollie Maruma, isfeatured in the series. Other films in-

elude Obsession Film's Classified People,Joyce Seroke and BettyWolpert'sMama,I'm Crying, and OnistianWrangler'sMaidsand Madams. Films are available indi­vidually or as a set. For more infonna­tion, contact Filmakers Library, 133 East58th Street, NY, NY 10022, (212) 355­6545.

Third World Festival

lbe Black Film Center/Archive ofthe University of Indiana and the Ma­dame Walker Urban Life Center willpresent Freedom: A Lens on BlackAmer­ica and the Third World 1988 Film Festi­val Oct. 15-21. Among the films to bescreened are Stanley Nelson's Two Dol­lars and a Dream (a documentary onMadame Walker), William Miles' Men ofBronze and Julie Dash's Illusions. Nel­son, Miles, and Dash are all scheduled tomake special appearances.

The festival will open with A'LeilaBundles' intetview with Alex Haley witha. reception following. All events willtake place in the newly renovated Ma­dame Walker Urban Life Center lbeatreat 617 Indiana Avenue. For more infor­mation, contact Brenda Walls at (317)635-6915 or Gloria Gibson Hudson at(812) 335-3874.

Film Clips edited and compiled byBlackFilm ReviewManagingEditorJac­quieJones, unless othenvise noted.

Corrections

Because ofan editing errorinthe Winter 1987/88 issue, HarryBelafonte's testimony before theHouse UnAmerican ActivitiesCommitte was misrepresented. Asentence in the 18th paragraph ofthe article "Black Hollywood andthe FBI" should have read: UnlikeRobeson, who refused to saywhether or not he was a commu­nist, Belafonte emphaticallydeniedhe was a communist, and calledthe allegations absurd.

In the Spring 1988 issue, theineotreCt date~ given for IDrenzoTucker's death. Lorenzo Tuckerdied on Aug. 19, 1986.

Black Film Review--------------

Four times a year BIRck FilmReview brings you the world ofBlack film. News about and inter­views with Black filmmakersfrom the U.S., the Caribbean,Latin America, Europe, Africa.And more: Reviews, from a Blackperspective, of Hollywood films.Forums on Black images in filmand video. Updates on efforts toincrease minority participationin the film industry. Featureson the rich history of blacks inAmerican filmmaking.

BIRck Film Review.

It's the only journal of its kindin America.

Enclosed is0$10o $20 (check one)for a one-yearo individualo institutional (check one)subscription to BIRck FilmReview.

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Please send order toBIRck Film Review,110 SSt., N.W., Washington,D.C. 20001. All subscriptionsbegin with the next availableissue of Black Film Review.

3

4 Black Film Review

Saving the Last DanceThe Quimboiseuse and the Major-domo

Jenny Alpha and Robert Liensol in 'The Old Quimboiseues and the Major-Domo"

By Miriam Rosen

They are dancing, Madame Eu­genie and Monsieur Armand,and their 57 years togetherbecome a moment set to mu­

sic. It is a beautiful, stately moment thatrecurs throughout The OldQuimbois~eand the Major-domo, a lyric counter­point to the difficult rhythm oftheirlivesremembered. TIley have been in Parissince 1921, part of the wave of post-warimmigration from Martinique. TIley hadbeen setvants, but she, who was beauti­ful and talented, became a dancer withJosephine Baker's Black Revue and hadadmirersand loversgalore. He remaineda servant, a major-domo. For that theyhave never forgiven each other. But thenshe was too old to dance and wound upa concierge, so bitter she started castingspells to take her revenge. Now she's aprofessional quimboiseuse (as the craftis known in Martinique), practicing blackmagic fora localwhite clientele. He is re­tired and more bitter still. They've quar­reled violently, attacking each otherwithmore than five decades of anger and re­sentment. But as if in a dream, which ismore or less what it turns out to be,Eugenie and Armand step out ann-in­annfor a lastpromenade in the metropo­lis, a day in the life of the mind.

The OldQuimboiseuse and the Ma-jor-domo, which received the prize forbest direction at the 1987 FrancophoneFilm Festival, held in Martinique, waswritten aI!d directed by Paris.bom Mar­tinican]uliusArnede Laou. An acclaimedplaywright and theater-company direc­tor as well as a filmmaker, he has usedboth theater and film to explore thecomplicated and contradictory experi­ence of Blacks in France. [For a discus­sion of his earlier works, see BFR 3.1,Winter 86/87.]

The OldQuimboiseuse and theMa-jor-dom.o, his first full-length feature, is

dedicated to his great-grandmother, MarieLuce GabrielleJarrin, who also made thelong one-way journey from Martiniqueto Paris in 1921. In fact, the whole filmhassomething ofthe qualityofold family .

photographs. With all the affectionatecandor of kinship, it offers a richly anec­dotal portrait of two compelling indi­viduals who are never reduced to types,but in their individuality bear the marksof a collective experience as clearly astheybear thewrinkles oftheir longlives.

And here it is impossible to separatethe charaetets that Laou has created fromthe petfonnances ofJenny Alpha as thetempestuous but vulnerable Eugenie andRobert Liensol as the steady, stony Ar­mand. TIleir every phrase, everygesture,every breath rings true. Both Alpha andUensol have had long and distinguishedacting careers on stage and screen, andLaou has worked with each of them inearlier theater productions. In The OldQuimboiseuse and the Major-domo thethree have generated the intensityoflivedrama in the extended space and convo­luted time of the cinema.

The film is admirably true to its title:it is the story of the old quimboiseuseand the major-domo, who come to thescreen in the grainy black-and-white ofmemory (the aesthetics of enlargementput to good use) against the backgroundof a singularly nondescript Paris. It isdevoid of the exoticism that so oftencompromises the films of a subculture.In France, the so-called "emigrationcinema" is practically a genre. Born in

of a singularly nondescript Paris. It isdevoid of the exoticism that so oftencompromises the fihnof a subculture. InFrance, the so-called "emigration cin­ema" is practically a genre. Born in themilitancy of the late 196~with a pointedfocus on the problems of immigrantworkers, it has evolved (especially withthe support of the Socialist governmentin the early 1980s). The result hasbeen amuch broader vision, less militant, lesspessimistic, miserabiliste is the Frenchword, but often less authentic as well,owing precisely to an overdose of exoti­cism based on European models (andstereotypes) with the obvious intentionof attracting European audiences.

By contrast, the beauty of The OldQuimboiseuse and the MaJor-domo isthat Madame Eugenie can dispense herremedies for unwanted husbands andunresponsive suitors like anyone's doc­tor. Castingspells is just anotheroccupa­tion; the real magic takes place on thedance floor. There is no lack of fantasyin the film, but for once it is fantasy thatcomes from within, rather than fantasyabout the culture projected from out­side.

Miriam Rosen is a frequent contributorto national and internationalfilm pub­lications.

Summer1988

African Roots

Images ofBlacks In Cuban Cinema

5

ByAnaLopez

That I am a black director does notdifferentiate me in the leastfrom otherfilm directors.

Sergio Giral

This quote from Sergio Giral, theCuban Film Institute's (ICAlC)only Black feature film director,vividly illustrates the difficulties

of approaching the question of a Blackcinema in Cuba today. One might as­

sume that Cubawould be one ofthe mostfertile grounds for the development of aclearly defined "Black" cinematic cul­ture, given the legacies of three centu­ries of slavery under Spanish colonialrule. lbirty percent of the population isBlack, there has been extensive miscege­nation and syncretism, and there is amarked African character in all fonDS ofcultural expression. But such assump­tions are made unjustified by severalfactors: Cuba's unique position in theCaribbean and its historical evolution asa Spanish colony, U.S. protectorate, andSocialist nation.

Racial relations in Cubawere alwaysmarkedlydifferem than in the U.S., wherethe idea of a "Black" cinema distinctfrom its white counterpart has had themost currency. Largelybecause ofslaveryand its abolition, socialbarriersbetweenBlacks and whites in Cuba were not asstrong as in the U.S. In fact, the strugglefor independence from Spain and therise of Cuban nationalism seemed toindicate Cubansocietywasbeginning tomove away from polarizations along linesof race and color. However, the inten­sive penetration of U.S. capital, politicalpower, and social conduct between 1899and 1959 (crucial years for the develop­ment of the cinema) decisively sharp­ened color distinctions in Cuban life.With the importation of American-styleracism, whites became more color-con­scious to be acceptable to North Ameri­cans. Segregation in jobs, economic 0p­

portunities, housing, and public facili­ties grew steadily. 1

This trend was reversed by thecomplete social restructuring after the

1959 revolution. Imposing equality ofstatus among all people, the revolutionset out to remove all official barriers toBlacks. Ratherthan address the problemofracial inequalityvia the establishmentof quotas and preferential systems, theCubans tackled the economic systemdirectly.

Assuming that material conditionsultimately detennine cultural develop­ment, they argued that the transfonna­tion of the material base of Cuban soci­etywould inevitable lead to the culturaltransfonnation ofBlacks and othergroups,like women, discriminated against.

Th~ trajectory is~tialto an under­standing of Cuban cinema, especiallyfrom the perspective of the Black pres­ence in it. When lCAlC was fonned in1959, not only was there not a Blackcinema in Cuba, there was hardlya Cubancinema at all.

As was the case throughout LatinAmerica, the cinema "arrived" early inCuba. It was imported by European andU.S. film pioneers who traveled "south"to obtain images of exotic foreign landsfor their home audiences and widen themarket for their own products. Cubanentrepreneurs soon followed, creativelyworking with substandard equipment andlittle capital. lbeir early films provide uswith our first, albeit paradoxical, linkbetween the Afro-Cuban heritage andthe cinema. One ofthe first Cuban filmswas Cana y Azucar (Sugar and SugarCane, Manuel Martinex mas, 1906), adocumentary financed with $25,000 fromthe Manati Sugar Company. Designed top-omote the sugar industry, Qznay A%ucar

also inadvertently focused on the moti­vation for the importation of Africanslaves to the U. S. for their enslavement.

lbere was little relationship other­wise between the efforts of Cubanfihnmakers and the Afro-Cuban heritage.None Qf the Cuban film pioneers, or,later, those who attempted to set upproduction houses modeled on theHollywood studio system, were Black.Although few films from the silent pe­riod SQrvive, contemporary accountssuggest that eYeIlwhen these flbns seemedto deal with Afro-Cuban themes, they

rarely avoided the condescending atti­tude one would expect from a foreigneror a folklorist. 2 In fact, these films wereoften made explicitly "as if by a for­eigner" to promote the tourist potentialofthe exotic "Cubanness" ofthe Africanheritage.3

lbe establishment of lCAlC deci­sively changed the direction of Cubancinema.4 It became Cuban, a cinemathat addressed the needs, characteris­tics, and cultural heritage of the nation.lbis cinema was devoted to the contin­ued growth and stimulation of the changesrequired by the revolutionary process.lbe historical evolution and successesand failures oflCAIC in the intelVening27 years have been well-documented andhardlyneed repeating. Sunnountingun­believable technical, practical, and po­litical odds and using very limited budg­ets, lCAlC has sustained production ofan average of 40 feature and short sub­jectsfilmsayear. The ICAlC hasnurturedthe talent and creativityofitsdirectors toproduce films that have gained consider­able international renown, andh~ trainedits own filmmakers through an appren­ticeship system. It has involved the entirepopulation ofCuba with cinema throughinnovative distribution and exhibitionstrategies. lCAlC has actively fostered,through coproductions and collabora­tive exchanges, the development of thenew Latin American Cinema.

Given all these achievements, whathas lCAlC done in the area ofracial rela­tions? Has ICAIC produced a "Black"Cuban cinema? A cinema dealing withAfro-Cuban themes? Producedbyand forAfro-Cubans? lbe answers are not easy.

ICAlC, like all other Cuban institu­tions, does not recognize race as a differ- .entiating factor. Given that the materialbase of Cuban society has been funda­mentally changed, the social superstruc­turalphenomenonofracismwill eventu­ally disappear and is not to be addressedas a special interest, they claim.Filmmakers, as Sergio Giral states above,are filmmakers above all else, regardlessof their color, gender, or age.

Despite these ideals, Black partie1­Continued on p. 18

6 B_l_ac_k_R_il_rn_R_e_Vt_·e_w

St. Clair BourneCapturing the TruthOf the Black Experience

By Clyde Taylor

St. Clatr Bourne, right, with Lawrence Hilton-]acobs dUring the shooting 0f"On the Boulevard" (1984)

St. Claire Bourne falls squarely withinthe formative development of a ne­glected but important aspect of fUmrepresentation--the Black documen­

tary. The term "Black documentary" is notanother fragmentizing label When Blacksb~creating documentaries, they began shapingimages of nonfictional "truth" as they saw it.The phenomenonwas a bigstep forward fromthe representation of Blacks in nonfictionfilms, which began in early nickelodeon cam­eos with scenes of, say, a Black peasant eatingwatermelon.

Carlton Moss wrote and directed (with­out credit) TbeNegroSoldierin 1943. But the

history of Black documentary truly began inthe l%Os with William Greaves, the first ma­jor Black documentarian and still a promi­nentvoice in the field. As executive director ofBlack]ournal (1968-71), a public' televisionseries, Greaves organized a training programaround a corps of young Black filmmakers·­among them Bourne--who would later lay thefoundation for the Black documentary. Themission ofBlack]ournal was to show Blackspectators the world as seen by Black observ­ers, an overdue innovation in motion picturemedia. Black documentarians like Greaves,Bourne, and many others began working toreshape the nonfictional representation of

Summer1988

Black experience.Bourne's BlackJournal films immediately

challenged the representation of Blacks asvictim-objects who constituted a "problem."In his work, like in that ofotherBlackJournalfilmmakers, Blacks are introduced as sub­jects, as speakers for themselves. The tradi­tional flat image ofBlacks is humanized by theincorporation of the Black individual andgroup subjectivity--that is, cultural personal­ity. The search for group subjectivity has ledBourne, and many ofhis colleagues, to focuson Blackartists and creators, as inAfro-Dance(1969-70) and Big City Blues (1981). Anotherreason for this focus may be that many Blackdocumentarians, given the limited opportuni­ties open to them, are responding to pressurefrom their funding sources by adopting "ac­ceptable" topics, such as Black performersand painters.

Bourne, however, managed to step out ofthat pattern in The South: Black StudentMove­ments (1969), The Nation o/Common Sense(1970), andLet the Church SayAmen! (1973),among other films. The key to his construc­tion of Black subjectivity is not merely per­formance, but the expressivity of his subjectsas cultural archetypes. Cultural self-represen­tation, as it is forced to operate against socio­economic constraints, comes into play in Soul,Sounds andMoney (1969), a film about Blackscontending with the business side of the musicindustry.

Bourne, like most Black non-fictionaldirectors, has sought to subvert and dissolvethe anthropological mode inherent in whitereportage on Blacks. He assaults this "white­on-Black" convention, with its authoritariangaze, its univocal "voice-of-God" narrations,its claim to objectivity. Bourne's films, reflect­ing the influence of the cinema-verite style,largely dispense with voice-over narrations.Let the Church Say Amen! for example, re­veals a commitment to formal strategies thatopen the relationship between film and viewer.Focusing on a young Black theology studentas he contemplates a career in the ministry, iteffects a transcultural remaking of a wornstaple of white-on-Black imagery, the Blackpreacher. In following the student's encoun­ters with three different styles of Black reli­gious leadership, Bourne brings ambiguityand nuance to a role simplistically treated inAmerican culture as an icon of Black life. Asviewers watch these different leaders speak tothe student directly, they become party to anexchange that opens up the complexity ofthesubject.

A similar dialogic strategy is employed inThe Black and the Green (1983), a film thatfollows a group of Black, nonviolent activiststo embattled Northern Ireland. There theymeet with partisans of the Irish independ­ence movement, who acknowledge the inspi­ration of the u.s civil rights movement, butfeel that a nonviolent strategy won't work forthem. 1bese diverging positions on the con­duct of popular struggles, and the shiftingattitudes of some of the Black activists, chal­lenge viewers' inclinations toward frozenideological positions.

Bourne has described himself as "hu­manistically political. " His films move beyondnetwork news aesthetics, which frame Blacksas sometimes-talented victims of sociology.Bourne frames his subjects with an eye to­ward a different balance, searching for thatterrible brilliance found in Black Americandiscourse which expresses itself against re­flexive denials from normative culture. It posesanother balance as welle-to rewrite the estab­lished paradigms of non-fictional Black por­trayal while making concrete and diversifyingBlack self-revelation in an expanding interna­tional context.

Such a program places Bourne's work atthe hotteredges ofBlackdocumentary, whereresistances and controversy are made overt.PBS refused to air The Black and the Greenbecause it was politically controversial. And areviewer for The New York Times praised thecraft of In Motion: Amiri Baraka (1982), atape about the controversial poetAmiri Baraka,but retreated behind his own discursiveboundaries by describing it as "agitprop."What he objected to was the portrayal ofBaraka as an intense but warm human being,that is, as he is known in the Black commu­nity.

Bourne's latest works, In Motion andLangston Hughes: The Dream Keeper (1986),have begun to take on a brilliance of theirown, matching in style the character of twomajor Black American poets. In Motion, withits lean and rhythmic movement, captures thespirit ofone ofAmerica's most restless literaryfigures. It also suggests Bourne's own persis­tent fascination with movement, transforma­tion, and the shifting coloration of social andcultural ideas.

Langston Hughes: The Dream Keepercollates the energies and directions ofBourne'sother films into a powerful, formal elegance.Newfigurative strategies come into play: slowmotion, disappearing images, expressionist

Continued onp. 17

7

8

·St.Clair BourneBecoming a Filmmaker

Black Film Review

By Rosetnary Mealy

New York's Whitney Museum ofArtrecently closed a two-week retro­spective of12 films by one of theAfro-American community's most

prolific filmmakers, St.Clair Bourne. Nowonly 45, he has made more than 31 films orvideo productions, and is credited as of thecreators ofthe uBlack documentary. "

This recent testament to Bourne'sprofes­sional aesthetic affirms his belief in thedocumentary: that one must mergeperceivedreality with a personal vision ofreality; andthat when the Black filmmaker does, he orshe forces a pleasing challenge that ulti­mately is an educational experience in movies.

Thefollowing is an edited version ofaninteroiew conducted by Rosemary Mealy inDecember.

BFR: The advent of Reaganism has producedsome strange dichotomies within the Blackcommunity. There are those who say race isno longer a factor in the economic gap be­tween Black and white, and those who saythat there is no longer a need to identify one'sself as a Black artist. Do you identify yourselfas an Afro-Ameri<;an or Black filmmaker?Bourne: I understand why they say that. Inthis society, I've had to make decisions basedon the reality that less commercial value isgiven to non-white culture. So, one of thetactics used by some Black artists who aretrying to make a living from their talents andskills is to say that, since the society doesn'tvalue Black work or culture, they will com­promise their history and market themselvesas universal.

They even come to believe this, internal­izing society's denial of their fundamentalidentity. I view myselfas Black, as Afro-Ameri­can ofAfrican descent.

I happen to think that in America, espe-

cially in the world ofAfrican culture, it is reallyvery important to know who you are becauseit is crucial to the understanding ofAmerica,certainly, and probably the world over, thatyou understand commercial interchange interms of culture and in terms of commercialexploitation.

I'm not even trying to puffup who I am orreduce it. I am a filmmaker ofAfrican descentand I am interested in that culture. That's whyI make the films that I do.

BFR: Having that position, do you have diffi­culty making films which are not about Blacktopics?Bourne: I should mention that even when Ihave dealt with non-Afro-American subjectmatter, like in The Black and The Green,which was about aspects of the struggle inNorthem Ireland, itwas easier for me to go atit, in a natural way, because I had somesensitivities based on my own experiences.

The concept may have been strange tosome Black people, but conceptualizing an-

Summer1988

other's reality with sensitivity can open up.people's eyes, which I think is what film issupposed to do.

BFR: What in your life contributed to theframing ofyour social views?Bourne: Well, first, I grew up in Harlem, andit was my father who was most influential inmy life. He was a writer. He wanted to be adoctor, but there was no money. He was verysmart, having won a scholarship to the fa­mous Townsend Harris Hall High School,which no longer exists. My father was a goodspeller and writer. He began to do free-lanceworkwith a newspaper and consequently justworked his way up into a job. I discovered intalking to older journalists that he was like astaple of the Black journalistic scene.

He worked as an ombudsman in thecommunity while I was growing up, a realcontemporary advocate of the community andits needs. I always saw him writing and inter­actingwithcommunitypeople and other jour­nalists; that was probably my first influence.The second influence related to my currentbeliefs is connected to one ofthose deep darksecrets of my past.

BFR: Your trademark broad grin is not so de­ceptive, so why don't you tell us about thatinfluence.Bourne: I was a Peace Corps volunteer in1964 to '66. How that happened is a wholestory in itself. In 1963, I was a student atGeorgetown University in [Washington] D.C.,and I figured at that time in my politicalconsciousness/unconsciousness that the placefor me was the State Department.

First of all, there were few Blacks em­ployed there, and I figured, being that I al­ways wanted to travel, in addition to makingsome changes which were consistent with anactivist stance, I'd go for it. However, I wasarrested in a sit-in in 1963, and was becomingdisenchanted with what they were telling meI had to do. I basically dropped out, or waskicked out.

So at the time the Peace Corps appearedto be the place where you could express youractivist selfwhile, at the same time, still be anAmerican and be cool. Theywere saying, hereis your last chance, you outside renegades.

BFR: What country did you choose?Bourne: In the process, I ended up in lima,Peru working on a community newspaper. Inthat experience, I sawhowin theThirdWorld,you could use images to tell a story of what

was happening and at the same time, in anarea where there was a high rate of illiteracy,by using a series of still photographs withsubtitles, I adapted my work to the reality ofthe people. When you really think about it,the whole process was film, with narration.

BFR: You were basically doing more photog­raphy than writing?Bourne: Yes. I bought a secondhand cameradown there because I began to see that writ­ing long articles, in an area where peopledidn't read much or didn't have the time orwere not given the opportunity, didn't work.I tried to figure out a way, and I would actuallysay those twoyears concretized two things forme: my desire to use communication as aprogressive tool, while seeing the importanceof social change, and how was I going to dothat.

BFR: How did you make the transition aftercompleting your Peace Corps stint, returningto the States in the throes of the civil rightsmovement?Bourne: Yes, when I returned the movementwas in full action, and on national network1V. There were documentaries about u.S.dvil rights. So I said, "That is what I want todo. I want to be a documentary filmmaker forthe network news. "

BFR: Did you have formal training?Bourne: I got a scholarship to Columbia Uni­versity, but also in '67 I went to film school. Inthe process, I became involved in the studentmovement and was consequently arrestedand taken to jail for participating in the 1968Black student takeover of Columbia's Hamil­ton Hall. My documentary-film course teacher,I'll never forget him, Arthur Baron, said, "Look,you are going~to get kicked out of here,"(which I was), but he told me that a new 1Vseries was beginningand he knewthe guy andthat he would recommend me. I went down,got interviewed and that is how I got to beproducer for the first National Black televi­sion show, called BlackJournal.

BPR: Which won an Emmy?Bourne: Two actually; and I got the JohnRussworm Citation for "excellence in broad­casting." But I learned anotherFrompagexxlesson while working for the network, andthat was that in order to make the films thatyou wanted to make, you had to have controlover the resources and the time. Another

Continued on p. 10

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10

Still From "Let the ChurchSay Amen!" (1973)Credit Hollis Melton

Black Film Review

thing-ewe were not on the air because ofsomebenign neglect, or even the benign anythingattributed to public television and govern­ment funding.

BFR: 'The gains we made on all levels were atribute to the movement.Bourne: You're right. A program like BlackJournal got on the air because Black peoplewere dissatisfied with their lives and theythreatened all of the established businesses.We got certain things because the systemwanted to keep us "cool.u

BFR: In other words, you are saying someconcessions by the white media were madebecause of the organized demands of Blackpeople?Bourne: Yeah. Blackpeoplesaid, "Well, look,we are not even represented in the media. Sop~blic television said, "Look, okay, we'll creeate something, one hour a month." But thatwas more than we had before. I have alwayshad the idea that if you have a base in thepeople, then you could almost do anythingthat you want. Number one, ifyou are in tunewith them, even if you happen to be againstthe established order, the people will backyou up.

BFR: Has that always worked for you?Bourne: Overall, I would saythat hasworkedin my life pretty well.

BFR: You also identify yourself as an inde­pendent filmmaker. Explain the implicationsof that.Bourne: It's a term which even amongstfilmmakers is not generally accepted. Basi­cally, the way that I do it, I try to structurallyview my work so that I have as much controlas possible. Number one, I have my owncompany, I don't work for someone else; I'mnot on someone's payroll. Number two, sinceI am the producer as well as the director, Iwork with a writer generally. I used to writemy own stuff. I have -editorial control over­what the piece says, and control also in theexhibition and distribution of my films.

BFR: What are some of the messages in yourfilms, and why have you chosen your specificsubject matter?Bourne: Well, first ofall, mostofthe work thatI've done is documentary. These films cap-:;~

ture events. Everything is subjective, but it isthe editorial choice ofthe subject and, in fact;the way that you go about it--ifyou choose asubject that can be used by the audience tolearn what's really happening to them. And,hopefully, the film should serve as a catalyst,showing how to resolve any kind of conflictthat they maybe having with the way that theylive; then that becomes one ofthe ways to bein tune with the audience.

BFR: How do you compare that to making

Stl1ntner 1988

fiction films?Bourne: It gets a little trickier when you dofiction because that is recreated reality asopposed to captured reality, although one ofthe reasons that I'm moving to include a lotmore fiction is that I am beginning to see thateven documentary filmmaking can be fiction,depending on how you structure the realitythat you capture. It's touchy, on one level. Ifyou are under the same conditions qualita­tively as the people that you hope to serve,you don't really have that much time to standback and make a film about it. It's a struggle,but on the other hand, if you identify andwork with [them], and realize that in fact youare under the same conditions, just on adifferent level, that makes it easier at least tobe kind ofin tune with the audience. As I said,it's touchy, but so it has always been.

BFR: That view reminds me of the trendwhich has meshed an identity for Latin Ameri­can filmmakers. What do you think?Bourne: Yes, I think Latin American artistsand writers are foremost in their applicationofthis view. The recent wave ofAfrican films,like Soulemane Cisse's film Yilen , is also anexampleofwhat lam talking about. It'smytho­logical, and I mean that he jumps between astoryabout a man, a father lookingfor his son,and what it's really about, the conflict of thegods.

So you never know whether you will see

this guy, or whether he is' a god orwhether heis a man. I mean in a way it does not matter,because the two views merge. Latin Americanfilmmakers obviously employ this method.

But again, there is a political undertone,I might add, a humanistically political under­tone, that is the characteristic of their work.Probably among the current generation ofindependent African filmmakers, there is astep in that direction, although they have notcut loose from strict reality. lbey are trying tomove into fiction and [are] reshaping it.

BFR: In the framing ofyour world view, howhave you been able to survive, maintainingyour high level of creativity, while exploringand doing all of the things which make liferelevant?Bourne: Well, two ways. Number one, I'vetried to structure the institutions of my life.I've tried to structure them so that they servethe purpose of my work. My company, lbeChamba Organization, has existedsince 1969.I also distribute. When I do a budget, I writein union wages for staff

Therefore, my productions are createdby good technical and qualified people. Italso means that in the process ofthe film, youput yourself in for expenses and salary. lberehave been times when I have been busted,but I've had friends. I have also loaned moneyto other people, and sometimes the pay-back

Continued onp. 12Still From "Soul, Sounds andMoney" (1969)Credit: Hollis Melton

11

12

has been two-fold.

BFR: In structuring your work, what proc­esses doyou use for criticism ofyour material?Bourne: Two things. I always try to have thefirst screening where the film was made. Ialways send out what I call a "Dear Col­league" letter thanking those who have helpedin the development of the concept.

BFR: How do you publicize your films?Bourne: We send out press releaseS announc­ing completion ofa project. I always announcethe completion of something rather thanannounce that we are going to do something.

BFR: Have any of your films been censoredfor their political content?Bourne: Yes, in two instances. The first wasThe Black and Green, a film which, as I men­tioned earlier, dealt with the topic of North­ern Ireland. The IRA is central to the docu­mentary. At the time when the governmentwas putting pressure on PBS, my film wasbumped. They told me pointblank that theyjust couldn't put it on.

Therewas a public mailing to the networkfrom both Black and Irish supporters. I evenwent to Congress and showed the film to theIrish caucus. But nothing worked. The otherinstance relates to South Africa. There was afilm that I wanted to do based on a playwritten by a South African. We have somegood in-depth interviews and interesting streetmaterial, but for some reason, traditional aswell as liberal financial sources have beenreally hesitant about backing the project.

I thought that the anti-apartheid issuewas relatively safe, but we have not been ableto raise money, even among committed people.

BFR: You've changed direction in your tech­nique, moving from the more narrative frame­work into fictional narrative film. Where doY9u plan to take this?Bourne: On a personal level, I suspect myfirst independent production was closer towhat I am doing now. It was a film called LetTbe Cburcb Say Amen. It was an odyssey,about discovery by a young minister. It washis maiden voyage in the world. It was made15years ago, and I have discovered in myownthematic, artistic approaches that the odysseyis a wayfor me to discover new things and alsoexamine one's relatio~shipto the landscapesone is exploring.

BFR: How have you dealt with the subject of

Black Film Review

women in your films?Bourne: Mostly from behind the camera. I al­ways had women working with me. I have notfocused on women per se. There have been sidepeople or wives as parts of projects I've workedon. I have a project that I am working on nowand I have decided that I don't know enough toreally deal with the woman issue in-depth. So Ihave decided to get a woman director to direct it.

I come from an age in which women beganto raise the issue loudly about male chauvinism,so I know that I don't know the issue as well asI should. I am conscious, but I have to strugglewith it. Whenyou make a film, you really immerseyourself in it. I would like to try to deal withwomen's issues because I know the importanceof that issue. When I felt that I didn't know[something], I have always gotten women tocreate and direct.

BFR: Feeling so strongly as you do about thisissue, doyou think the same views are applicableto white males directing films about Black people?Bourne: There are three things that I would liketo say about that. First of all, they [white males]really should knowwho they are themselves, be­cause if they think there is no difference be­tween them and us, then they are floored fromthe beginning. Number two, I would say that it isreally hard for people to leave their own and getinto somebodyelse sufficiently enough to articu­late, and capture and polish and present a mediaimage. I would have to qualify that, though, tosay that those demands and those sensitivitiescan be altered based on the politics and time.

During the Black]ournal days of the '60s Iargued that white people should not make filmsabout Black people, that Black people had to doit. At the time I believed, and I still do believe,thatwhenyou are oppressed, one ofthe first actsofliberation is to define yourself; and it's impor­tant, not only in the actual doing ofit, but in theattempts to put your head into the position oftrying to define yourself in relationship to thelarger society. Therefore, white people shouldnot try to tell Black people who they are in a timewhen Black people are trying to define them­selves.

RosemaryMealy is an artsproducer andatalk show bost on WBAI-FM Pacifica radio inNew York. A broadcast-quality, edited versiono/tbis interviewmay beobtainedbysending18to Rosemary Mealy, Program Host, WBAl Ra­diO, 505 8tbAve., New York, NY10018. The taperuns 28 minutes.

Summer1988

St. Clair BourneA Pioneer Looks BackAt 20 Years in Film

13

By St. Clair Bourne

As I approach my 20thyear as an inde­pendent filmmaker, I have been think­ing about the social conditions thatexistedwhen I started, and howthey

and the images portrayed in cinema havechanged, and not changed. Obviously, politi­cal influences directly influence the screenimages in American cinema, and the images ofAfrican-Americans have been manipulated toserve a certain purpose in the film industry.Since Black producers have never had con­trol ofthose images, those who did have beenal>,letoshape them to their purpose. BecauseAfricans were brought here to serve as slaves,the. art and media images ·of· Blacks werecreated and used to rationalize and reinforcetheir place in society. Racial stereotypes cameto symbolize the mental restructuring of theAfrican presence in America.

The movies, as the plastic subconsciousofthe nation, became the major distributor ofthe Black image, initially to American audi­ences and, as Hollywood's impact becameinternational, throughout the world.

The range ofthis Black image was limitedand can best be described by the title ofabook written by Donald Bogle more than adecade ago: Toms, Coons, Mulattos, Mam­mies and Bucks: An Interpretive History ofBlacks in American Cinema.. Although theroleswere written to fit social stereotypes, theBlack actors that played these roles struggledvaliantly to bend and reinterpret them. Still,once they accepted the roles, they were onlyable to make so many changes, given theconfines of the scripts.

My entry into filmmaking was due asmuch to the social conditions of the times as

Filmmaker St. Claire Bourne, left, with the lateJames Baldwin, dUring the shootingof"LangstonHughes: The Dreamkeeper. "

my own energy. In 1968, I was one of theoriginal staff producers for a public affairstelevision series called Blackjournal. In thosedays, there was general unrest among theAfrican-American .population because of dis­crimination against them and their treatmentas second-class citizens. The civil rights move­ment, based on the principles ofnonviolenceand petitions to the larger society for justice,was beginning to run its course as the march­ers and activists were thwarted by violent re­sistance and government inaction. In addi­tion, the energy and frustration at the slowrate of fundamental change moved from therural towns ofthe South to the inner cities of

Continued onp.14

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the major urban settings in the North.Planned and spontaneous rebellions,usually sparked by a symbolic inci­dent but caused by a long history ofunjust conditions, erupted in the citiesthat had large Black populations.

The potential for revolutionarychange was in the air. The disrup­tions could not be denied. In addi­tion to protesting discrimination,Blacks resented their lack of partici­pation in mainstream American soci­ety. A specific complaint was the lackof their presence in the electronicmedia and the negative distortionmade when Blacks were presented.In one form or another, the commer­cial television networks and the filmindustry felt these pressures. Skyrock­eting production costs and dwindlingattendance figures were also creat­ing a crisis for several of the majorHollywood studios.

The response of almost all sec­tors of the ruling establishment wastwo-fold: to co-opt when possibleand to repress where necessary. Inthe media, programs, funds and posi­tions were made available to provideBlack images access to the televisionand movie screens. These changeswere not made out of charity, be­nevolence or goodwill, but were theresult of pressure from the Blackprotest movement, the people whodisrupted business and demanded tobe a part ofan industry that excludedand trivialized them.

Itwas from theseconditions that,in the tax-supported public televi­sion sector, the BlackJoumal serieswas created and thus I was able notonly to make films but to have thembroadcast over the national publictelevision network. As one ofsix staffproducers, I spent almost three yearstraveling around the country makingdocumentaries about issues ofBlackAmerica. I learned a lesson I havenever forgotten: as a filmmaker orfilm artist, my strength comes fromthe audience I hope to serve.

Along with other newly arrivedproducers, directors, writers andteehnidans, I began to create changes,changes that would be absorbed anddistorted both in the commercial filmindustryand the public sectoroftele-

vision news. According to critic OydeTaylor, it was the style of the BlackJournal series that changed the edi­torial tone and the images of docu­mentaries about Black issues. Previ­ously, television would rarely, ifever,present material from a Black partici­pant's point of view. A white com­mentator always would interpret forthe audience either through narra­tion or in an on-camera appearance.AtBlack]ournal, we insisted that thepeople in our films speak for them­selves and, ifnarration was used, thatthe narrator assume a tone of advo­cacy. Mostofour films used the docu­mentary as a model but there wasalso a strong cultural identificationwith Africa that was part of the reas­sertion ofan African-American tradi­tion ofone's roots and Black cultural

A specific cOlllplaint-w-as the lack of a

Black presence in theelectronic ntedia andthe negative distortionmade ",hen Blacks",ere presented.values.

From this experience, at least twolessons were learned: first, any changeis the result ofpressure; and second,almost by necessity, the newest par­ticipant in the mainstream enters asan advocate. Consequently, that newviewpoint is subjectto resistance andscrutiny. This new viewpoint cancontinue to ~t, grow, and ultimatelyinfluence mainstream standards onlyif tI1ere is a base. Again, at that time,because of the political climate andthe determination of the disenfran­chised to participate in their self­detennination, a constituency existedfor this new Black, or minority, as itbegan to be called, programming.

The purpose ofminority program­ming in the public affairs sector oftelevision news, as we saw it, wasclear: to provide the so-called mi­norities with an opportunity to ad­dress each other on issues they con­sidered important In addition to BklckJournal, a series called Soul! was an

Black Film Review

entertainment forum for performerswho had virtually been ignored bymainstream television.

Both of these pioneering pro­grams performed a necessary func­tion but were a reaction to the rebel­lions of that time. Responding to anadmitted deficiency, they were cre­ated to address an audience that hadbeen neglected. The programs andtheir imitators could be called thefirst generation ofminority program­ming. Ifthere was a flaw in this effort,it was an unavoidable narrowness ofvision. By addressing Blacks aboutBlacks only a large part ofthe viewingaudience was excluded; but moreimportant, the role ofminorities withinthe framework of America was notaddressed.

The second generation ofminor­ity programming, moving from thepremise that it had been necessaryfirst to culturally affirm ourselves,attempted to correct some of theselimitations. An example of this cor­rective programming was a PBS pro­gram called Interjace, which showedthe interaction ofvarious cultures inAmerica to socio-political issues thataffected daily life. During that sametime, another program, Black Per­spective on the News tooka"hardnews" approach and opened its listofguests to all races with the under­standing that people can be affectedby newsmakers, whatever their skincolors.

The next step should have beento include Blacks as participants inthe American system, talking aboutany issue; that is, viewing and inter­preting issues according to minorityexperience but also treating issuesnot necessarily connected to minor­ity life. This perspective would havebrought an unjaded eye to institu­tions of special interest to minoritiesand to those that affect everyone. Itmust be understood that all things inAmerica affect all people in Americain someway.

However, this phase never hap­pened, primarily because of the re­surgenceofright-wingconservatives,calculated attacks by the Reaganadministration to stop and, in fact,roll back the social advances that

Summer1988

people have struggled to achieve, andmost important, because of the lackof Black participation in decision­making within the political and eco­nomic process. It is one thing to havean occasional Black-produced pro­duction addressed to a "spedal audi­ence"; but there is continued resis­tance to an ongoing presence fromoutside the mainstream contributingnew elements that disturb the main­stream's view.

During this time, other disenfran­chised groups, Hispanics, women,homosexuals, etc., began to modeltheir movements on the style aridtechniques of the Black movement.In the late '60s and '70s, comedy,musical variety programs and moviesoriented tovvard Afro-Americans be~nto surface showingBlacks in the widerareas ofAmerican life, although over­all these programs and films relied onstereotypes. In the theatrical featurefilm industry, these productions cameto be known as "blaxploitation films."

This "blaxploitation" erawas fullofcontradictions. Forexample, it wasMelvin Van Peebles and his ground­breaking film Sweet Sweetback'sBadassss Song (1971) and severallow-budget Black-directed films thatfollowed that made Hollywood takenotice of a previously undefinedaudience in the Black community.Most ofthe stories in these films tookplace in Black communities and fea­tured largely Black casts. Yet most ofthe cre'WS, writers, and directors werewhite and, again, the images weredesigned from a familiar psychologi­cal perspective but with a twist thatmade them marketable for the mili­tant '60s. The villains were alwayswhite males but white males that otherwhites could view comfortably viewas. They were almost always presentedas crude Mafia thugs, drug dealers orpsychotics who hated Blacks. Becausepart of the rhetoric of the Blackmovementemphasized regaininglostmanhood (a concept that now seemstainted with male chauvinism), Blackmale images and the male images ingeneral ultimately became a new- stere­otype. Portrayed as an individualis­tic, hard-hitting tough guywho couldattract any woman with a mere glance,

the Black hero emerged as a newimage on the American screen scene.Women were usually assigned to roleswhere they lounged around scantilyclothed, waiting to be rescued by thegood guy. Later, Black women weregiven their own new stereotyped rolesin films like Foxy Brown (1974) orGoffy (1973). The posters tell it all: aglamorously dressed private detec­tive or cop with the biggest gun in theworld, usually pointed at the crotchof a leering villain. illtimately, afterabout two dozen films in which theformula neverwavered, the audiencestopped going, and the blaxploita­tion genre died.

Still, the question remains. Whydid so many Black people pack thetheaters where these films wereplayed? From a political and eventechnical point of view, these filmswere terrible. Nonetheless, they mademoney. Black people portrayed inthese films were shown fighting asystem and winning. It is true that"winning" consisted of exploiting andmistreating women, beating up thescum of the white community andeven being ~gstersand selling dope.For the most part, these actions didn'tchallenge the existing order and thuswere ofno significance to the powerstructure; but to Black people whohad seen only the Tarzan series, AmosIn Andy and other coon roles in asteady diet of Hollywood films andtelevision shoW'S, these new films werea step forward. The other importantreason for their popularity is thatVanPeebles played a key role in helpingto establish the Black man as a filmhero. Sweetback defined a growth inconsciousness, through relentlessresistance, and ultimate escape afterdefeating the enemy, who in this casewas a corrupt white detective.

Hollywood took that model fromthe Black independent filmmaker, co­opted it and used it for its own eco­nomic, psychological and politicalpurposes. This is not an unusualpattern for the managers of main­stream American culture. Euro-Ameri­cans have always taken Afro-Ameri­can culture and marketed it for aprofit.

Film is no different. Whether it

comes from the daily news broad­cast, a documentary or a feature film,the gathering and distribution of in­formation and opinion is the primaryway for any group to evaluate its po­sition in society and decide how itfeels about that position. The politi­cal swing to the right and the deterio­ration ofthe American economic sys­tem have affected Black filmmakersmore than their white counterparts.Within the mainstream motion pic­ture industry, what little interest therewas in the Black-oriented productand Black acting roles has been greatlyreduced. In the Black independentproduction sector, an area that hasalways been difficult, alternativesources like public television, foun­dation grants, and other special pro­grams have decreased. Furthermore,right-wing politics have reduced therange of"produceable subjects" andacceptable images; stories and im­ages that do not support the statusquo are less likely to be seen. This, intum, has created a wave of escapistimages and stories that distort theposition and roles ofall except thoseelements that do not seriously chal­lenge the world view of those whocontrol the principle resources.

Therefore, most of the Blackimages emanating from Hollywoodessentially advocate no change. Aswritten, these roles do not challengesociety's treatment of Blacks but,rather, amuse and entertain audiencesand, more important, suggest thelegitimacy of the current social andpolitical order. It is not by accidentthat roles written for Eddie Murphyor Whoopi Goldberg usually portraythem as police and have them pairedwith white buddy figures. Again, veryfew of the producers, writers, or di­rectors are Black and the sleightof­hand is that the white writers usetheir perception of the cultural styleof Black people to legitimize thesemessages.

Fortunately, just as African­Americans have resisted, adapted andprotested their treatment, so too hasthere been a alternative cinematicvision of Black life in this country.Black independent cinema has ex­isted since the early years of the 20th

15

Langston Hughes, subject ofSt. Claire Bourne's film HTbe Dream Keeper." Credit:Clarence Jefferson, the Milton Meltzer Collection

16

century. 1he images Black filmmakerscreated were in direct response tothe racist caricatures in America'spioneer movies, which, by the way,oftenemployedwhite actors in black­face. For example, D.W. Griffith's TheBirth ofa Nation in 1915 sent shockwaves through BlackAmerica. Promi­nent Black organizations sent formalprotests but, more important,launched a counter-production titledThe Birth ofa Race, which stressedBlack achievements. Despite immensebarriers, the film was completed andexhibited Impired by this effort, othercompanies in cities like St. Louis, Chi­cago, Philadelphia, and Jacksonvillewere also begun. Although often notwell directed, many of these low­budget productions were scripted totake advantage ofthe local surround­ings, such as the floor show of thelocal night club. The determinationof these fledgling producers to showtheir work led to screenings in segre­gated theatres on certain days in theSouth, at big-city Black communitytheaters in the North~'.at churches,schools, and other social get-t~ethers.According to Donald Bogle, approxi­mately 150 companies existed, pro­ducing hundreds of films that rangedfrom Black imitations of Hollywoodimages to images that showed the

diversity and the depth of our com­munity. Those films included The BunDoggers, (1923), which showed thereal-life Black cowboy Bill Pickettperforming feats ofheroism and hatOr;The Flying Ace (1926), which fea­tured a Black aviator who rescues inmidair a Black damsel in distress; andThe Flaming Crisis, in which a Blacknewspaperman is falsely accused ofmurder and must prove his inno­cence.

Bogle's premise is that in thesefilms BlackAmericans saw themselvesincorporated into the national popmythology and a new set of stere­otypes, or rather archetypes, of he­roic Black men of action emerged.Whether cowboys, detectives, orsoldiers, many ofthe early characterswere models of Black assertion andaggression, something not seen inthe Black Hollywood films. Boglepoints out that these films were alsohigh-minded statements on the na­ture of Blacks in America and on theracial dynamics, divisions and ten­sions within the Black communityitself.

A word must be said here aboutone of the most prolific filmmakers,not just among Blacks but amongAmerican filmmakers in general. OscarMicheaux produced almost 30 fea-

Black Film Review

ture films from, 1919 to 1948 and, ac­cording to respected film exhibitorPearl Bowser, sought, "to presentthe truth, to lay before the race across section of its own life, to viewthe colored heart from close range."

Today, many of those old filmshave vanished or been destroyed.Those that survived are often mangledand scratched. Still, the attempts ofthose early pioneers have not been invain.

The latest Black independent filmmovement, roughly from 1964 to thepresent, represents the most con­certed effort to establish Black cin­ema and to distinguish it from "im­ages ofBlacks in films." In the effortsof independents to make films out­side Hollywood's orbit, two timeframes ofcreative collaboration standout.

One of these time frames, criticTaylor has written, was the activityaround the Black Journal series.Documentaries produced by a teamof Black filmmakers under the lead­ership ofWilliam Greaves from 1968to 1971 laid the contours of Blackdocumentary. But even these revi­sionist documentarians understoodthe vital role ofdramatic narrative forthe full expression ofBlackcinematicpossibilities.

Indeed, narrative films were alsothe focus of a second group thatcame together as students in the 1970sat UClA. Energized by the momen·tum of the Black Power movement,the successor to the then-mortallywounded civil rights movement, andthe growth ofPanAfricanism and Blackcultural nationalism in a Los Angelesthat still remembered the Watts Re­bellion, theseyoungfilmmakers com­mitted themselves to the develop­ment ofa newwave ofBlackdramaticfilms. These films, they swore, wouldbe different from the glut of merce­nary blaxploitation films that Holly­wood, only minutes awayby the free­way, was then producing. Taylor hascalled this phenomenon "The LARebellion" and has written exten­sively about the legendary Thursdaynight meetings in which the UClAgroup debated aesthetic questionsandshared in the production ofeach

Summer1988

other's films. It was here that TeshomeGabriel, a noted film scholar, beganto investigate Third World cinematheory. Aware that nowwas the time,filmmakers Haile Gerima, Larry Clark,Charles Burnett, Pamela Jones, BenCaldwell, Billy Woodberry, andJohnRier deliberately overreached thecategory of student films and aimedtowardfinished products that, withinlimited means, could be distributedindependently.

I was privileged to have been onboth ofthese scenes, as an active par­ticipant in Black Journal and as aguest lecturer at UClA in 1975. Interms of images, the L.A. Rebelliongroup was determined to expose theirresponsibility of Hollywood portray­als of Black people not by creatingmiddle-class positive images to provethat we could be civilized, but ratherby developing a film language whosebold, even extravagant, innovationwas explidtly more realistic and/ortheatrical than the films coming outof the Hollywood studios. To quoteTaylor, "Soundtracks carry needlingsurprises. Characters speak easily ofthings never heard in popcorn mov­ies. "

The films of the LA. Rebellion,like the films of other past and pres­ent Black independents, speak to adeclaration of independence from asystem that uses its images to enslaverather than liberate. Be prepared tosee images of Black people creatednot to react against a falsehood but toexpand the understandingofwho weare in this country and, indeed, theworld. I, for one, intend to place theAfrican-American within a worldcontext in my future films. Conceptu­ally, it is not difficult. In two recentdocumentaries, I went abroad to shootthe activities ofAfrican-Americans andfound that, although previouslyundocumented in film, they carriedwith them a tradition and a presencethat was recognized by their foreignhosts. In The Black and the Green, Ifollowed five Black American activ­ists as they traveled to Belfast, North­em Ireland, to meet with their Irishnationalist counterparts. Their expe­riences and perceptions about theuse ofviolence in social change form

the core of the film's content; how­ever, I was amazed at how much theIrish knew about our condition andstruggle in this country. In another ofmy films, LangstonHughes: The DreamKeeper, I followed Hughes' wander­ings of60 years ago to France, Spain,Russia and Senegal and discoveredthat his influence is well rememberedand he is, in fact, beloved by many inthose places. Therefore, be preparedto see other international renderingsof the African descendant on thescreen. Already, filmmakers of Afri­can descent in England, France andobviously African countries are al­ready producing such films. It is onlya matter of time before we will seethese images in this country.

The era ofreaction to Hollywoodimages, I feel, is over for the inde­pendentBlackfilmmaker. It's a brandnew game, given the overwhelmingcommercial success of RobertTownsend's Hollywood Shuffle(1987), in which a Hollywood actorrejects Hollywood's treatment ofBlacks, and the partial ideologicalsuccess and audience acceptance ofSpike Lee's attempt to create newcontemporary persalas in his ground­breaking film, She's Gotta Have It(1986). The audience, the talent andthe skill are there to make this newwave of movies and, despite prob­lems, the money is there too. Distri­bution represents the last barrier inthe linking of the image-makers andour audience.

In Hollywood, the tendencypersists to place us as second-classcitizens in roles that only can bedescribed as modem-daymulatto fig­ures (witness Rae Dawn O1ong forcedto play second fiddle to Arnold Sch­wartzeneggar in 1985's Commando),updated COal roles (see Whoopi Gold­berg in all her roles since The ColorPurple, also in 1985) or up-tempoToms (a la Eddie Murphy). I certainlyam not against comedy or buddymovies per se; what I argue for is arange of roles.

Self-determination is an act ofliberation and a healthy process. Ev­eryone should have the right and op­portunity to see himself or herselfreflected in the cultural expressions

17

of the land in which he lives. Holly­wood has shown that, until now atleast, it is incapable or unwilling todo that. It is up to us, the independ­ents, to fill that vacuum.

A different version of this ar­ticle, which is basedon a talk deliv­ered by St. Claire Bourne at theHawaiian International Film Festi­val, appeared in the May 1988 issueofThe Independent.

Capturing TruthFrompage 7rituals ofmovement and costume, ar­resting montages, and densely lay­ered sound imagery. The transcultu­ral recoding implicit in Black docu­mentary finds an urbane signature ina sequence depicting Hughes' anti­Fascist activities during the SpanishCivil War and World War II. A mon­tage of Hitler's troops marching onEurope unfolds over the sound trackofLena Home singing a popular bluessong. For a change, historical time ismarked through the reference of afamiliar Black voice, resonant withmeaning for Hughes and Black view­ers. Part of the film's success lies inthe measure by which Hughes's re­cited poems come to dominate itsmany voices and formal strategies,not as quoted illustrations, but as thecontrolling subjective point of view.His imagination seems to live in andshape the film. The lyrical and repor­torial reach a high state of fusedcompression, and Black documen­tary attains one of its most distin­guished moments ofmaturity. Throughsuch work, Bourne has formulatedan alternative platform of discursiveauthority that contests the groundsand limits of"minority programming,"

Clyde Taylor is a professor inEnglish at Tufts University and theauthor ofnumerous articles aboutBlack Film. He recently received a_Rockefeller Scbolar-in-Residence andFord Foundation fellowships. Thisarticle reprinted courtesy of theWhitney Museum.

La Ultima Cena (The Last Supper) by Thomas GuitierrezAlea

18

Fromp.5cipation in and access to the cinematicapparatus has been low. After 20 years,Giral remains the only Black featurefilmmaker. Yet this is not as serious anindieunent as it mayappear. Part oflCAICsstrength has been its apprenticeshipsystem. Younger filmmakers are intro­duced into the system slowly, first gain­ing experience as docwnentary filmmakersand gradually assuming responsibilitybefore being pennitted to "graduate"into fiction feature filmmaking. TIlat thisevolutionaryprocess takes manyyears tocomplete should not be surprising, givenlCAIC's limited resources and the factthat the "fathers" oflCAIC, the menwhoset up the institute in the 1%08, are stillactive and prolific filmmakers. TIle lateSara Gomez, a Black female filmmaker,"came up through the ranks" in thisfashion. After producing a number ofexcellent documentaries in the late 19608and early '70s, she made her first featurefilm, De Cierta Manera (One Way orAnother, 1974). Unfortunately, she diedbefore finishing editing it.

Part of the second generation oflCAIC fiction filmmakers, Gomez was aoontemporary ofGiral's. 1be two trainedtogether and were both under the artis­tic guidance of Tomas Gutierrez Alea,one oflCAIC's most prolific and consis­tent directors. Currently, another Blackfilmmaker, Rigoberto Lopez, is makingdocumentary shorts and, ostensibly, is"Intraining" forfietion film production.

1be rarity ofdirect participation byBlacks in the Cuban cinema is not,however, an accurate indicator of that

cinema's investment in Afro-Cubanthemes. Even before Giral and Gomezbegan making documentaries, therewasa marked "Blackpresence" in the Cubancinema. Especially in documentaryfilmmaking, Afro-Cuban traditions, be­liefs, rituals, and music have been thor­oughly explored. Among the most no­table works are a numberofdocumenta­ries made in the 1960s that explore thereligious syncretism typical of Cubansociety. (For example, Bernabe Hernan­dez's 1963 shorts, Abakua and CulturaAborlgen.) In 1968, Octavio Cortazardirected Acerca de un personaje queunos llamanSan Lazaroy otros llamanBahalu 0bout a Certain Character thatSome Call St. Lozams and Others Babaluha 20-minute documentary using the tra­ditional rituals perfonned annually onSt. Lazarus' Saint Dayto explore the rela­tionship between St. Lazarus and theAfrican god Babalu (with whom he isidentified in santeria, the folk-based Af­rican religion).

A number ofdocumentaries explor­ingtheAfro-Cuban rootsofCubanmusicand rhythms were also produced in the'60s and '70s. Most notable among theseare Sara Gomez's YTenemos Sabor (AndWe've Got Taste, 1968), wis Felipe Ber­naza's De Donde Son los Cantantes?(Where are the Singers From?)(1976),and Octavio Cortazar's Hablando delPunta Cubano (!peaking cfTyplcalCubanMusic) 1972).

In addition to those documentariesdealing explicitlywith Afro-<lJban themes,in practical tenns, Blacks of all shadesare very visible in the Cuban cinema.

Black Film Review

Startingwith ICAlC's first productions inthe 1960s, the faces in the revolutionaryCuban cinema have reflected the fullcolor spectrum of the Cuban popula­tion. It is almost impossible to think ofanICAIC film in which Blacks do not ap­pear. Especially in those films reinscrib­lng and celebrating Cuba's history, thehistorical cine rescate of the late 1960s,we see that great care was taken to prop­erly represent the Cuban population inall its racial complexity. In films thataddress the Cuban War of Independ­ence, like La Primera Carga alMachete(The First Charge of the Machete) (1969)by Manuel Octavio Gomez or La Odiseadel General Jose (The Odyssey of Gen­eralJose , 1968), we have vivid portrayalsofthe crucial roles played by Blacks andmulattoes in that struggle.

Even in a film like Lucia (HumbertoSolas, 1968) Cuba's racial mixture is es­sential to the film's structure. It is impos­sible to conceive of the 1895 section ofthis film without the marked contrastbetween Raquel Revueltas' lily-white,alienated Lucia and the mestiza, half­crazed Fernandina (Idalia Anreus), whofunctions as her revolutionary and ut­terly Cuban alter-ego.

In all the lCAlC films, whether fic­tional or documentary, we see a Cubathat is not raciallypure, but an unavoid­able mixture of races. It is precisely thispoint that Memorlas del Subdesarrolosubtly addresses in the scene where Ser­gio, the protagonist, attends a lecture on"Literature and Underdevelopment."Edmundo Desnoes, the author of thenovel Memorias del Subdesan-ollo ar­gues that Latin Americans in the U.s.have the same status as Blacks, while thecamera emphasizes what the participantsdon't acknowledge: a white-jacketed Blackwaiter silently filling water glasses in thebackground.

The fictional films ofthe lCAIC havealso specifically addressed the problemsand history of Cuban Blacks and Afro­Cuban themes. GutielTez Alea's Cumbite(1964), for example, is about a Haitianimmigrant who, after living 15 years inCuba, returns to his village in Haiti. LaUltima Cena (The Last Supper )(1976),also directed by Alea, is set in a sugarplantation in the 18th century, shortlyafter the Haitian slave uprising, and isbased on a documented slave rebellion.The pious plantation owner decides toreenact the Last Supper Easter week,casting himself as Jesus Christ and 12 ofhisslaves as the apostles. 1beslaves, fromdifferent regions and exhibiting varying

De elena Manera (One Way orAnother), by Sara Gomez

Summerl988

degrees of submission to their brutalexistence, are suddenly confronted withaworld inwhich their masterwashes theslaves' feet one night, but orders them towork the next day (Good Friday). Nolonger willing or able to accept theirparadoxical and painful status, they rebeland escape; ultimatelyall but one payfortheir freedom with their heads.

Although Alea has consistently ad­dressed Afro-Cuban issues, even in filmsnot explicitly about Afro-Cubans, Giral'sfictional oeuvre has been the most no­table fictional one addressing the Afro­Cuban heritage. His first three fictionfilms make up what is usually referred toas ICAIC's "slavery trilogy."

TIle first film, EI Otro Francisco(The Other Francisco) (1974) adapts tothe screen the traditional melodramaticdiscourse of the Cuban abolitionist novelFrancisco: el ingenio a las delicias delcampo (1839). The film questions everyelement of that discourse: characteriza­tions and their psychological, sociologi­cal, and historical accuracy, visual andaural strategies, and political and eco­nomic motivations. lbe book had aprogressive status~ the first Cuban novel,as a work censored by the Spanish colo­nial government for challenging colo­nial institutions, and as the first aboli­tionist work of historical fiction. Giral'sideological analysis challenges the novelin tenns ofwhat it says, howit says it, andwhat it does not say. The film petfonnsan audiovisual ideological "reading" ofthe novel, presenting a different historyof slavery in Cuba and exemplifying acritical interpretative/viewing practice.

TIle other two films ofthe trilogy, EIRancbedor (The Bounty Hunter)(1976)and Maluala (1979), explore aspects ofthe historyofslavery. The fonner focuseson the problematic historical role of thebounty hunters who chased runawayslaves. The latter centers on the strongsettlements, or palenques, establishedbyrunaways in the mountains ofeasternCuba. As Michael Chanan has argued,"TIle three films of the trilogy taken to­gether show a development of consciOl&ness from singular to collective, fromindividual resistance to collective stm.,from suicide to battle"5 and constitute amagnificent tribute and analysis of thehistory of Cuba's African heritage.

In the lastdecade, although besetbysome internal difficulties, lCAIC has-continued to address the Cuban popula­tion in its racial complexity. Perhaps themost interesting contemporary Cubanft!m dealing with a specific Afro-Cuban

theme is Manuel Octavio Gomez's Patakin(1983), a musical allegory illustrating theclassic santeriafYoruba conflict betweenthe forces of good and evil, representedby the feud between the deities Shangoand Ogun. The film transposes thesecharacters from Yoruba mythology tomodern.-day Havana. It pits the sexy andsly mulatto Shango against the earnest,hardworking white Ogun in a comicbattle ofwits, songs, and dance surround­ing their pursuit of the mysterious mu­latto, Caridad. Taking on the typical styleof the Hollywood musical of the 19608,with song and dance numbers integratedinto the narrative, Patakin is like a s0­

cialist West Side Story, but one in whichracial tensions do not fuel the principalnarrative conflict.

Another recent film, Giral's latestwork, Placido (1986), takes on the his­tory of a Cuban mulatto of historicalimportance, Gabriel de la ConcepcionValdes, a poet who assumed the penname of "Placido." Now recognized asthe most important mulatto poet of19thcentury Latin America, Placido was exe­cuted during the "Conspiracy of theLadder" of 1884. Already terrified be­cause the Black population had grownto constitute more than 60 percent ofthe Cuban population, the colonial or­der and the creole bourgeois's fears ofBlackuprisingswere fueled byrumors ofa Black conspiracy. A large number ofBlacks and mulattoes were imprisoned,tortured and executed (with a' crueltyrarelyseen in Cuba) bythe Spanish colo­nialforces. Placido's role in thisconspir­acy has never been clarified, yet he was

among the first mulattoes to be exe­cuted. Whether he was truly involvedwith the revolutionaries orwas manipu­lated by the colonial order to setve as ascapegoat is not known. As Giral ex­plains in his film, "(Placido's story) hasallowed me to ... analyze the positionof the artist at this particular historicalmoment, his commitment, hiscontradictions ... (and to underline) theimportance ofcommitmentbecause ulti­mately, whether you are committed ornot, you will pay. As we say, "los justospor lospecadores" (the innocent alwayspays for the sins of the sinners). 6

As was true 20 years ago, Blacks andmulattoes are visible in almost every filmproduced by ICAlC today. Especially infilms dealing with the prerevolutionaryperiod, we often find the inherent ra­cism of prior Cuban socia-political lifeand of life in the United States analyzedin important subplots. For example, Je­sus Diaz's Paiva Rojo (Red Dust) (1982).deals with the efforts ofworkers to oper­ate a large metal refinery just expropri­ated from its U.S. owners. Because NorthAmerican technical support has beenwithdrawn and the few Cuban engineerswho worked there have chosen to leavefor the United States, the workers mustmaster the complicated equipment them­selves. Within this epic story, an impor­tant subplot focuses on the plight of theonly Cuban engineer who chooses tostaybehind. A mulatto who could "pass"forwhite in Cuba and who had acquiredan education, social status, and aspoiledwhite bourgeois wife and daughter, hestays behind not only because of his

19

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positive feelings towards the revolution,but also because of his resentment to­ward thosewho scorned him raciallyandhis certainty that, ifhe were to go to theUnited States, there he would be noth­ing but a "nigger."

TIle difference between this pre­revolutionary problem and the complexi­ties of revolutionary Cuban society arealso highlighted briefly in Jesus Diaz'slatest film, Lejania (1985), even thoughthe dramatic conflict of this film is cen­tered around a very specific and limitedproblem. In the early 19608, a familyleaves a military-age son in Cuba andseeks exile in the United States. Th.e filmbeginswith the son grown, married, andestranged from his family but facing animpending visit from his mother andcousin. It focuses on the difficult emo­tions surrounding this unexpected visitfrom the past.

However, an exchange between themother and son petfeetly illustrates thedifference in racial attitudes. She says ofhis wife, "She's not quite white, is she?"to which he respon~ "Mother, we don'tthink like that anymore. Who cares?"

Although we find that racial prob­lems as such are only addressed histori­cally in contemporary Cuban films be­cause the material base for racism nolonger exists in contemporary Cubansociety, the racial complexityand subtle­tiesofthe Cubanpopulationcontinue tobe represented andvividlyportrayed. Wecan only hope that with time, yet a newgeneration of ICAIC filmmakers willemerge composed equally of men andwomen, Blacks, mulattoes, and whites,so that the always crucial mechanisms ofcontrol and decision-ma1dng of the Cubancinemawill be shared in a way truly rep­resentative of the Cuban population.

NOTES

1. The most notable studyofCubanslavery remains Manuel Moreno Fragi­nals' exhaustive three volumes entitledEl Ingenio (Havana: UNESCO, 1964). .AJsouseful are Manuel Moreno Fraginals, 00.,P{rlca In UUinAmerica (NewYork: Holmesand Melr, 1974) and FranklinW. Knight,The AfrIcanDimensions in Lt:Itln Ameri­can SocIetles_(NewYork: MaGtil1an, 1974).

2. It is unfortunate that hardly anyfilms from the silent period of Cubanfilmmaking have survived the ravages oftime and accidental fires, in particular,the work of film pioneer Enrique DiazQuesada. 1be tides of most of his filmssuggest a persistent preoccupation and

interest in Afro-Cuban traditions. His1917 La Hija Del Policia 0 EI Poder deLos Nanigos (The Policeman'sDaughteror the Power of the Nanigos), for ex­ample, dealt with the Nanigo orAbakuasecret society which is also one of thesubjects investigated in Sara Gomez's 1974DeCiertaManers (One Way orAnother).

3. For further details see MichaelChanan, The Cuban Image (Blooming­ton, Indiana: Indiana University Press,1985) as well as Arturo Agramonte,Cronologia del Cine Cubano (Havana:Ediciones lCAIC, 1966).

4. Th.e historical evolution andachievements of the lCAIC have beenwell documented and sUIVeyed in textssuch as Chanan, Ope cit., and JulianneBurton, "Cuba," in Guy Hennebelle andAlfonso Gumucio Dagron, eds., Les Cine­mas DeLa Amerique latine, (Paris: L'Her­minier, 1981).

5. Chanan, 271.6. Ana M. Lopez and Nicholas Peter

Humy, "Sergio Giral on Filmmaking inCuba" Black Film Review, Vol. 3 No.1.

Anna Lopez writesfrequently aboutCuban and Latin American film.

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