IU Arts & Humanities First Thursday Festival
We are thrilled to share that the Black Film Center & Archive will be participating in our first ever “First Thursday Festival” on the Fine Arts Plaza, on October 5th, 5:00pm – 8:00pm. The First Thursdays Festival is a celebration of the breadth and diversity of arts and culture on the Bloomington campus. The Arts & Humanities Council created the festival to promote upcoming events on campus and in the community; highlight the creative and scholarly work of our faculty; and expose students, staff, faculty, and community members to campus units and organizations that contribute to the cultural life of Bloomington. This month’s theme is the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop! We will have giveaways, trivia questions, word search, coloring pages, and so much more! Make sure you stop by our table and meet members of our team. We look forward to seeing you there!
(In the event of rain, the location will be inside of the IU Auditorium.)
Lecture on Horror & Resistance: Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman
Clear your calendars! Lauded TV / film scholar Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman is scheduled to deliver a talk in the BFCA Phyllis Klotman Room on Friday, October 27th at 10:30am. Dr. Coleman is the author of several books, most recently a second edition of Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from 1890 to Present (2023). She is also Executive Producer of the documentary adaptation Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (dir. Xavier Burgis, 2019) in which she’s featured alongside Jordan Peele, director of box office hit Get Out (2017); Tony Todd, the original Candyman (1992); and award-winning novelist, Tananarive Due; and other Black horror legends. Join us for historical, cultural context around the scary films you’re watching this month (–and for lunch immediately after)!
PERF Issue #3
Keep an eye out for the current issue of the BFCA’s zine PERF as you’re strolling around campus! We’re riding the Barbie wave with a Black Film Center & Archive bent, of course. Features include Black Dolls in Film, a gallery of fun promotional materials from the BFCA vault (hi, Halle Berry 007 Barbie!), and more.
We’re already planning issue #4, themed “Food & Family in Black Film.” We would love for you to get involved! We’re considering movie reviews, think pieces, film-related visual art, and anything else you’ve made on-theme. Send your work and any questions to bfca@indiana.edu with “PERF” in the subject line. We look forward to seeing your submissions!
Special Tour Groups visit the BFCA
Black Philanthropy Circle: The BFCA was thrilled to welcome the Black Philanthropy Circle for an elaborate visit, during which we showed clips of The Flying Ace, the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Ceremony’s behind-the-scenes footage and promotional video, items such as Lena Horne’s handprint, and so much more! As the Black Philanthropy Circle’s website explains, they are “Bound by a shared commitment to help Black students achieve their educational goals at IU, the Indiana University Black Philanthropy Circle (BPC) supports the IU Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (OVPDEI) in replacing obstacles with opportunities, so that students, faculty, and staff from historically underrepresented backgrounds find a sense of belonging at IU.” We are excited about the conversations, ideas, and relationships we built during this visit!
Century of 16mm Conference: The BFCA welcomed attendees who were interested in a tour of our facilities, while they were here for the 16mm Conference. Our guests were from places as far away as, France, Paraguay, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, and even Ghana! Pictured below is Mr. Kofi Yeboah, who is already planning another visit to the BFCA to explore our collections, and director, Dr. Novotny Lawrence!
Special BFCA Guests
Alexis Garcia & Selina Morales: Director and Producer, respectively, of Daughter of the Sea (2022), which was screened on Sept. 7, at the McCalla School. The screening was part of the event “Honoring Yemayá,” First Thursday Celebration. Prior to the screening, there was an Afro-Cuban Dance and Drumming Performance on the Main Stage featuring performing artists from Indiana University and Dr. Martin Tsang from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Many thanks to Dr. Solimar Otero, Director of the Latino Studies Program, and to Prof. Deborah De La Torre.
Diana Quiñones Rivera: Film producer, director, cinematographer, and writer visited the BFCA. She was thrilled to see equipment exactly like she used on her very first film project. Ms. Quiñones Rivera was here to screen her documentary Resistimos followed by a Talk-Back at the McCalla School. After the screening, there was a Bomba performance by Ivelisse Diaz, a Boricua de Chicago, a bombera and educator, followed by a Round Table and Discussion. The event, titled, “Bomba Presences: Film Screening, Talk-Back, and Bomba Performance, was co-sponsored by the Journal of Folklore Research; the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology; IU Cinema; the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies; the Center for Latin American and Carribean Studies; the Department of Spanish and Portuguese; the Center for Research on Race & Ethnicity in Society; and the Latin American Music Center. We were excited to be included in and attend such a wonderful event!
Eric Deggans: On September 27th, WFIU’s Aaron Cain hosted a lively onstage discussion with Eric Deggans, NPR’s TV Critic and Media Analyst, at the IU Cinema. Mr. Deggans unpacked the actors’ and writers’ strike, chatted about the best and worst television has to offer, and discussed how the TV landscape will look in the future. The evening included with a Q&A. We were so happy to have Mr. Deggans join us for a special tour, which invoked great excitement. As with many first time BFCA visitors, we did not have enough time to show Mr. Deggans all our collections. However, he plans to return to do a deeper dive into the BFCA’s offerings, and of course, we are looking forward to hosting him again.
Union Board presents Meadow Motion Student Film Festival
Union Board Films, which is now, Union Board Films and Entertainment, is the country’s longest-running college film series and has been screening films for the IU community since 1914. This committee hosts comedy events, educational panels, festivals and special programs for IU’s creative community of film and industry enthusiasts.
Union Board Films and Entertainment is excited to host “Meadow Motion: Unveiling Student Creativity in Dunn Meadow,” a student film festival comprised of short films created by our university’s talented filmmakers. Students are invited to join and celebrate film diversity!
(In the event of rain, the location will be inside of the Whittenberger Auditorium.)
Social Media Highlights
Jennifer Hudson
September 12 marked the birthday of multi-hyphenate entertainer Jennifer Hudson (born 1981)! Known to audiences across music, film, TV, and theater (and the winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards), Ms. Hudson has been a powerhouse in the entertainment industry since her initial appearances on American Idol in 2004. In the film world, Ms. Hudson has demonstrated her vocal and performative range across titles as varied as Dreamgirls (2006), The Secret Life of Bees (2008), Black Nativity (2013), Chi-Raq (2015), and Respect (2021).
(DVD screenshots from Dreamgirls and Black Nativity from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)
Teyonah Parris
On Sept. 22, we wished happy birthday to actor Teyonah Parris (born 1987)! Recognized for her effervescent performances in Mad Men (2012-15), Dear White People (2014), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), The Photograph (2020), Candyman (2021), and They Cloned Tyrone (2023), Ms. Parris’s star continues to ascend with her recent turns as Monica Rambeau in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2015, Ms. Parris turned in an unforgettably fierce and funny performance in Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq (including being centered in the film’s striking poster).
(Blu-ray screenshot from Candyman from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)
Cliff Roquemore
September 28 was the birthday of writer and director Cliff Roquemore (1948-2002)! A mainstay of the Detroit theater scene, Roquemore wrote, produced, and directed over 200 plays, including the NAACP Image Award-winning musical The Gospel Truth and Eartha Kitt’s one-woman show. During a brief foray into writing and directing Blaxploitation movies in the 1970s, Roquemore helped to build the legend of Rudy Ray Moore with this behind-the-camera work on The Human Tornado (1976), Petey Wheatstraw (1978), and Disco Godfather (1979).
(VHS screenshot from Rudy Ray Moore: Rude (1982) and DVDs/Blu-rays
from the Black Film Center & Archive General Collection)
Bernie Mac
October 5 marks the birthday of comedian Bernie Mac (1957-2008)! Mac came from a working-class background on South Side of Chicago, and overcame chronic health issues on his way to becoming one of the most prominent stand-up comics of his generation. In addition to Emmy-nominated work on the Bernie Mac Show (2001-2006), audiences knew Mac from his work in films such as Friday (1995), Get on the Bus (1996), The Players Club (1998), Bad Santa (2003), Mr. 3000 (2004), and the Ocean’s trilogy (2001-2007). In 2000, Spike Lee immortalized Mac, in addition to Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D.L. Hughley as one of The Original Kings of Comedy (Mac never filmed a solo special of his own).
(Screenshots from The Original Kings of Comedy and Guess Who [2005]
from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)
In Memoriam
Pearl Bowser
The BFCA remembers indelible archivist, scholar, and filmmaker Pearl Bowser (1931-2023). Known as the “Godmother of Black Independent Cinema,” Ms. Bowser’s contributions to our knowledge of Black film history cannot be overstated. From her pioneering work rediscovering and spotlighting Oscar Micheaux’s oeuvre, to founding and leading multiple festivals and organizations focused on distributing Black independent films (including Third World Newsreel and Chambra Educational Film Services), to her own film works (including co-directing the 1994 documentary Midnight Ramble about early race directors), Bowser helped remove Black cinema from the margins. A tireless activist and mentor, Ms. Bowser dedicated her life to educational equity and ensuring that the legacies of marginalized artists are not only remembered, but celebrated.
(Photos of Ms. Bowser’s published books and DVD screenshot from Midnight Ramble from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)
