Reminder: New name, new logo, new website!
Starting January 18, 2022, we are officially the Black Film Center & Archive. Our new name can be abbreviated as “BFCA”. We are also proud to debut a new logo design and a fully updated website, featuring a cleaner, more user-friendly interface for exploring the BFCA’s history and collections. Visit us at bfca.indiana.edu to check it out. An example of our new logo is in the title above. We also invite you to email us at bfca@indiana.edu with any feedback about the new site’s appearance or usability, or if you encounter a technical problem.
BFCA poster exhibit
A curated selection of original film posters from the BFCA’s collections are now on display in the upper gallery commons area of Franklin Hall. The current exhibit will remain up through the spring semester. Stop by Franklin Hall to check out this unique display of promotional art highlighting examples of Black film and filmmaking from the past century!
We’re back on social media!
Like, follow, and subscribe to the BFCA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for our latest news and events, as well as other posts on all things related to Black film! Our recent Facebook posts for Black History Month included tributes to filmmakers William Greaves and Sarah Maldoror written by BFCA archival assistant MarQuis Bullock.
Paulin Vieyra screenings
To celebrate the acquisition of the Paulin S. Vieyra Collection (detailed in our most recent blog post by BFCA archival assistant MarQuis Bullock), the BFCA partnered with the IU Cinema to screen a selection of Vieyra’s rarely-seen short films on February 8 (in addition to a virtual stream of the same program). Vieyra’s youngest son, Stéphane Vieyra, graciously recorded a new video introduction for the screening’s occasion.
On February 10, the IU Cinema presented a virtual discussion and Q&A on Vieyra’s films, featuring former BFCA Director Terri Francis and IU Associate Professor of Francophone Studies Vincent Bouchard. Their conversation delved into the many creative, financial, and political challenges confronting early anti-colonial African filmmakers in forging an African cinematic identity outside of Western colonial control. The two also discussed the challenging, multiyear project of bringing the Vieyra Collection to IU and the impact of the accessibility of these materials to researchers of African cinema.
The discussion between Dr. Francis and Dr. Bouchard is available to watch in full here courtesy of the IU Cinema’s YouTube channel.
“Voice with a Mission”: Amazing Grace screening
On February 22, the BFCA was proud to partner with IU’s Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center for a screening of the acclaimed Aretha Franklin concert documentary Amazing Grace in the Phyllis Klotman classroom. The event included a guided tour of the BFCA office space, as well as a post-screening conversation lead by NMBCC Director, Dr. Gloria Howell and BFCA Director, Dr. Akin Adesokan. Many thanks to all of the participants and attendees.
Acclaimed Filmmaker Amandine Gay and Producer/Editor Enrico Bartolucci Visit Indiana University
Indiana University welcomed accomplished French Afro-feminist filmmaker, writer, and activist Amandine Gay to campus for a series of campus events from February 21-23. Gay and her producer/editor Enrico Bartolucci were in attendance for a screening of her 2017 film Speak Up (Ouvrir la voix), a documentary chronicling the diverse experiences with identity and discrimination among French-speaking women of African descent. IU professor of Anthropology and African American and African Diaspora Studies Dr. Elena Guzman moderated a conversation and Q&A with Gay and Bartolucci following the program. As part of her visit, Gay also delivered a lecture on “Practicing Intersectionality and Being Actively Antiracist” at the IU Memorial Union.
Prior to the lecture on February 23, the BFCA was honored to welcome Gay and Bartolucci to our office for a visit and guided tour. The two admired several artifacts from the BFCA vault, including promotional materials for Melvin Van Peebles’s Watermelon Man (1970), a signed poster for the 25th anniversary restoration of Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991), and original press kits for The Watermelon Woman (1996) and Do the Right Thing (1989).
Read more about Gay and her work in this recent guest post by Julie Le Hegarat on the IU Cinema blog!
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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