Renèe C. Baker visited the Black Film Center & Archive in May 2022 to conduct research on the Phil Moore Collection. Ms. Baker wrote the following post documenting her findings and thoughts. In 2016, my first encounter with the genius composer/arranger Phil Moore occurred. While nosing through boxes that had not yet been catalogued nor digitized,… Read more »
Sometimes opportunities and their significance sneak up on you. I was merely doing my job, but this summer my work contributed to revelatory cultural, and scholarly impact on the field of Black film and on me: I got to help process the papers and materials of a pioneering Francophone African filmmaker. These papers can… Read more »
If you’re not familiar with Beninese/Senegalese director Paulin Vieyra (1925-1987), you are missing out on one of the key figures in African and world film history. One of the fathers of African cinema, Vieyra’s life and prolific work as a filmmaker, historian, and essayist track closely with the development of African filmmaking in the period… Read more »
Aaron Loves Angela (1975) In Aaron Loves Angela, teenage Aaron (Kevin Hooks), a member of the aspiring but losing basketball team the Harlem Saints, doesn’t really want to do anything but be with Angela (Irene Cara). Despite his father’s wishes to turn Aaron into the sports star he could’ve been, Aaron tries to woo Angela… Read more »
Guest post! Essence London, Indiana University Alumna and a past editor-in-chief of the Indiana Review, a non-profit literary magazine dedicated to showcasing the talents of emerging and established writers, offers her thoughts on Jessie Maple’s books How to Become a Union Camerawoman—Film, Video-Tape and The Maple Crew, published in 2019. Finding Mentorship in the Writings… Read more »
Guest post by Audrey Hood, BFCA Archival Assistant The BFC/A recently hosted a two-day workshop on Paulin S. Vieyra, the renowned pioneer of post-colonial African film. Paulin’s son and president of PSVFilms, Stéphane Vieyra, spent the week at IU touring repositories, visiting classes, and participating in the workshop. During the preparation for the workshop, my… Read more »
PAULIN VIEYRA PIONEER OF AFRICAN CINEMAS|| FILMMAKER, PRODUCER AND HISTORIAN SCREENINGS Free and open to the public. Thursday, September 5 5:00-7:00 p.m. | Film Screening | IU Libraries Moving Image Archives Screening Room (Wells Library 048) o Afrique sur Seine (1955, 21 min.), J.M. Kane, M. Sarr, P.S. Vieyra This short film depicts African students in scenes… Read more »
Nina Lorez Collins, daughter of the late Kathleen Collins, whose masterwork LOSING GROUND (1982) was the great rediscovered film of 2015, will read selections from a new book of her mother’s writing entitled NOTES FROM A BLACK WOMAN’S DIARY (2019). The reading will take place April 3, 6PM, at the IU Libraries Screening Room, Wells… Read more »
Through the efforts of BFC/A director Terri Francis, independent silent film historian Lina Accurso, and a generous community of individual donors, arrangements are in place to set a memorial headstone at the unmarked grave of Mrs. Alice B. Russell Micheaux in 2018. Mrs. Micheaux was a pioneering film actress and film producer, as well as the… Read more »
Visiting Curator Greg de Cuir Jr. is in Bloomington for a week-long research residency at the Black Film Center/Archive and a series of programs concluding with his Show & Tell Workshop at the Auxiliary Library Facility on Friday, Jan. 26. Throughout the week, de Cuir will share notes and photos from his residency with our… Read more »