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 »
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 »
On Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7 pm, the BFC/A and the IU African Studies Program are thrilled to present the new restoration of Djibril Diop Mambéty’s HYENAS courtesy of Metrograph Pictures. Hosted by the iu libraries moving image archive: FREE tickets SHORT SYNOPSIS The village of Colobane, devastated by drought and unemployment, sees sudden hope… Read more »
DO THE RIGHT THING (Dir. Spike Lee) Mon, Nov 4 at 7 pm | IU Cinema | $4 tickets30th Anniversary Screening / New 4K Restoration It’s the height of summer and the hottest day of the year—a scorching 24-hour period that will change the lives of its residents forever. Over the course of a single day on… Read more »
In this guest post, past BFC/A Programming Assistant Saul Kutnicki reflects on (Re)Focus: Black America 2018, our exhibit, film and discussion program, which took place October 24, 2018 in the IU Libraries Screening Room. Funded by a grant from Indiana Humanities in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the event brought together IU… Read more »
Meet Dorothy Berry, the Black Film Center/Archive’s 2015-2016 Graduate Assistant. In addition to completing her graduate studies (Masters of Arts in Ethnomusicology and Master of Library Science with an Archives Focus), Berry has played an important role in contributing to the success of the BFC/A’s year-round programming opportunities, including as programmer of the Fall… Read more »
1979, IU Bicentennial, D. W. Griffith
With a filmography spanning over forty years, Senegal’s Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) earned international renown as a revolutionary artist and as the “Father of African Cinema” for his indigenized filmmaking practice. Sembène eschewed Western languages and narrative style for a new cinematic aesthetic drawing from African storytelling traditions, performed in African languages (Wolof, Diola, Bambara), and… Read more »
In the field of moving image archiving, lost films are not uncommon. This issue is especially pervasive in Black cinematographic culture due to the difficulties in accessing cameras, films, and archives to preserve the work created by filmmakers. These films, created by and about Black people of color, represent the history experienced through the eyes… Read more »
The Indiana University Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) has announced its Summer Research Fellowship, a new program offered in partnership with repositories on the Bloomington campus. The Black Film Center/Archive is pleased to be among the partner repositories for this program. Beginning in Summer 2015, IAS will fund a short-term Summer Research Fellowship for a… Read more »