Matterport Scan – We’ve Gone 3D!
Can’t physically visit our office? How about a virtual visit instead? The BFCA office on IU Bloomington’s campus was recently given a Matterport 3D scan courtesy of the Indiana University IU3D Team. Check out this unique interactive virtual tour, featuring our space, amenities, and several featured items from our archival collections, such as the item pictured below! (Simplex 35mm Projector donated by Jon and Jennifer Vickers from the Vickers Theatre and the collection of Kenneth Marks).
Click the link below and then the play button in the bottom left corner for an automated tour or click around and explore the space at your leisure.
https://bfca.indiana.edu/about/virtual-tour.html
Black Film Center & Archive celebrates IU Day!
Join us at our virtual and onsite activities as we participate in the IU Day celebration! The Black Film Center & Archive is the go-to resource of Black film experiences and memories, and you can support our programs and research outreach by making a donation today! #IUDay
Steppin’ screening event
In 1992, Jerald B. Harkness filmed his debut film Steppin’ on the IU Bloomington campus. The 55-minute documentary, an examination of “step show” dances popular among Black fraternities and sororities, won the Gold Apple Award from the National Educational Film and Video Festival and remains a unique document not only of IU campus life in the early 1990s, but also of African American music and dance history.
On Wed, April 6 at 5:30pm, the Black Film Center and Archive, in partnership with The Media School, will present a special screening of Steppin’ at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center as part of the Media School’s Past and Present screening series. Director/producer Jerald Harkness will be present for the program and a post-film discussion and Q&A. This event is free and open to the public.
Archival spotlight
The past few weeks have been spent cataloging and inventorying old publications in our reference collection spreadsheet and organizing them in a more centralized location on our shelves closer to the collections vault. The range of publications which include magazines, journals, and catalogs are incredible and, in perusing them in the process of inventory, one could liken the experience to moving through a time capsule on the written word and its relationship to cinema.
Some of the most prominent publications in the collection include the film journal American Cinematographer, with its exceptionally striking covers, and whose issues, in our collection, range from as early as 1963 to 1998, long-running film magazine Cineaste with issues beginning in 1986 to 2016, and some fascinating 2009 and 2010 issues of the recently re-launched Ebony Magazine with profiles on compelling figures in film such as Viola Davis and Taraji P. Henson who discuss the dearth of substantial roles for Black women in cinema beyond tropes and stereotypes.
Black Camera, FESPACO collaborative three-part edition
The final issue in the three-part edition of Black Camera: An International Film Journal (Fall 2020 – Summer 2021) concludes a two-year collaboration with Gaston Kaboré, filmmaker and director of IMAGINE Film Institute, and the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), a major biannual festival devoted to African and Black diasporic cinemas.
The first issue in the collaboration covers the formation, evolution and challenges of FESPACO. The second addresses colonial antecedents, constituents, theory and articulations. The final issue includes statements, declarations, resolutions and manifestos. Together, the issues constitute about 2,000 pages.
A scholarly publication supported by The Media School, the journal is edited by Professor Michael Martin. Doctoral candidate Megan Connor is the journal’s managing editor, and doctoral students Samuel Smucker, Cole Nelson, Allison Brown and Essence London are assistant editors.
BFCA’s visit to the McCalla
On March 10, BFCA staff members toured the newly renovated McCalla School. Recently assumed control by University Collections, McCalla has been transformed into an exhibition, teaching, and events space that is open for use by all of IU’s special collections across all campuses. During the tour, we were very impressed by the new teaching spaces, event room, and galleries, as well as by the many opportunities to collaborate with University Collections. In the future, we are hoping to utilize this space to showcase materials from the BFCA’s collections, among many other possibilities, so stay tuned! You can learn more about McCalla and the renovation by visiting their website.
Social media highlights
Sarah Maldoror
The Black Film Center & Archive‘s Highlight of the week: “One of the first women to direct a film on the African continent, French West Indian filmmaker Sarah Maldoror, often referred to as the Mother of African Cinema, had a career spanning four decades. Having produced more than forty-two films during her lifetime, including features, shorts, and documentaries, Maldoror’s work reflected her passion for poetry and art and her commitment to fighting for the liberation of oppressed peoples. Among the films in her extraordinary oeuvre is the film Sambizanga, set in 1961 and which centers the story of a wife searching for her jailed revolutionary husband during the Angolan War of Independence.
Zeinabu irene Davis
On International Women’s Day and in honor of Women’s History Month, we honored filmmaker Zeinabu Irene Davis. Since her debut in the late 1980s, Davis has received acclaim for her incredible body of work ranging from documentaries, short narratives, and experimental films. Davis’s powerful films, including Cycles and A Powerful Thang often employ poetic experimental techniques to illuminate and center the complex inner lives and experiences of African American women.
Kathleen Collins
On March 18th, we wished a happy birthday to tr ailblazing filmmaker, educator, and activist Kathleen Collins (1942-1988), whose The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (1980) and Losing Ground (1982) were among the first feature-length films directed by a Black American woman. Ms. Collins is pictured here during a visit to the Black Film Center & Archive in July 1983 as a participant in the Creative Use of Black Film workshop and festival of films by independent Black filmmakers.
Spike Lee
On March 20th, the Black Film Center & Archive wished a happy birthday to master filmmaker Spike Lee, who celebrated his 65th birthday! Mr. Lee’s works are prominent fixtures of our office on Indiana University Bloomington’s campus, from our lobby poster commemorating the 2021 Cannes Film Festival (when Mr. Lee served as jury president), to the posters spanning his career that adorn the walls of our Phyllis Klotman classroom.
For more information about the BFCA, please visit our website www.bfca.indiana.edu. To subscribe to our blog, please visit our blog page https://blogs.iu.edu/bfca/ and click on “Subscribe” in the bottom right of the screen. Please consider ways to give, to continue our efforts and supporting our mission. We sincerely thank you all for your support. We would not be able to complete all of our wonderful programs and awesome events, without your help.
Warmest regards,
BFCA Interim Director and Staff
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