Thanks for joining us at the Welcome Events!

During the last week of August, we celebrated the arrival of our new Director Dr. Novotny Lawrence with two lively welcome events. Special thanks to our caterer Chef Lee for the delicious food! The staff provided tours as visitors moved in, out, and around our office space. We also gave away Malcolm X hats and Black Filmmaker Hall of Fame sweaters, dated 1992, to those who wanted to take a little history home with them.

The BFCA team is excited to build partnerships and collaborate with the leaders who visited us from all over campus, the city of Bloomington, and beyond. We were thrilled to open our doors to those of you who were curious about the BFCA as well as attendees in search of community. We know the “What’s your favorite film?” question on the survey stumped a few of you, but we’re still here to listen if you settle on one!

BFCA at the Student Involvement Fair

Ja Quita Joy Roberts and Dr. Novotny Lawrence visited the massive Student Involvement Fair in Dunn Meadow, where there are hundreds of student organizations, departments, social clubs, and more each year. Their subheading reads, “Bring your curiosity. Find your community.” The Student Involvement Fair provides students with opportunities to get involved at IU, while making meaningful connections, powerful change, and lifelong friends.

Dr. Lawrence met students that shared in the excitement of his arrival as the new director of the Black Film Center & Archive and expressed their interest in working with the BFCA in various capacities. We look forward to hosting a table at this amazing event, next year!

Screening this Friday at the 2023 Black y Brown Arts Festival

The Black y Brown Arts Festival is back this weekend bolstering artists of color in the city of Bloomington. At the Kickoff on Friday, September 8th, the BFCA and Cicada Cinema are partnering to bring you two shorts Hi De Ho (Roy Mack, 1937) and Valerie: A Woman, an Artist, a Philosophy of Life (Monica J. Freeman, 1975), plus the animated feature Chico & Rita (Tony Errando, Javier Mariscal, and Fernando Trueba, 2010).

Come out to the 4th Street Storefront Gallery, enjoy the films and the art on display on day one, then rest up for the market, grand stage performances, and more on day two in Switchyard Park! All ages are welcome.

Century of 16mm Events

September 13-16th, the Century of 16mm celebrations culminate with a conference hosted here on IU Bloomington’s campus. The conference will feature discussions of films archived in BFCA collections including Sambizanga (Sarah Maldoror 1972) and Black Economic Power (Jessie Maple 1977). Past BFCA guests, South Side Home Movie Project Archivist Justin Williams and Guggenheim Fellow Crystal Z Campbell, will also present work!

The BFCA is excited to offer tours of our space to conference participants and to meet 16mm scholars and filmmakers from all over the world. To learn more about this IU Libraries Moving Image Archive and Media School collaboration, please visit centuryof16mm.com.

Film Screenings in BFCA’s Waiting Area

Check out our new set up in the waiting area! Each morning, BFCA staff selects a film to screen throughout the day, displaying the breadth of our collection and the richness of Black film history. We’ve spent the day with Miss Juneteenth (Channing Godfrey Peoples. 2020), Naked Acts (Bridgett M. Davis. 1996), Aaron Loves Angela (Gordon Parks Jr., 1975), and more. Next time you stop by the office, you may just find us playing that one film you can recite beginning to end!

IU alum & TV critic to visit Indiana University Bloomington

WFIU will host a lively onstage discussion with Eric Deggans, NPR’s TV Critic and Media Analyst, on Wednesday, September 27 at IU Cinema. Deggans will unpack the actors’ and writers’ strike, chat about the best and worst television has to offer, and discuss what the landscape of TV will look like in the future during this onstage discussion with WFIU’s InnerStates host Alex Chambers. The evening will include a Q&A where Eric will field questions from the audience. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Reserve your seat here!

Social Media Highlights

William D. Alexander

On August 21, we celebrated the birthday of pioneering documentarian, producer, and director William D. Alexander (1916-1991)! Among the earliest successful African American producers, Alexander’s production company made over a dozen all-Black features and musical shorts throughout the 1940s, in addition to 250+ “All-American News” newsreels chronicling Black servicemen, for the U.S. government during World War II. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, Alexander Productions won international acclaim (including a Short Film Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival) for a series of documentaries on newly-decolonized African states (Alexander himself was named official filmmaker of Ethiopia and Liberia). The Black Film Center & Archive retains copies of several Alexander productions, including his newsreel work and one of his only directorial credits, Burlesque in Harlem (1949), a unique filmed vaudeville show of Black comedians, singers, and striptease performers.

(Headshot from the Mary Perry Smith Collection; VHS screenshot of
Burlesque in Harlem from the BFCA General Collection)

Janet MacLachlan

August 27 marked the birthday of screen and stage actor Janet MacLachlan (1933-2010)! Ms. MacLachlan began her career on stage in the 1950s/60s in venues across Harlem, L.A., and Minneapolis, and was an active member in racial equity committees. A 1964 contract with Universal Studios jumpstarted her television career, and she would eventually appear on over 75 shows, including Star Trek (1967), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), and Good Times (1978). Rejecting roles in 1970s Blaxploitation films, MacLachlan took prominent supporting parts in dramas like Uptight (1968), …tick…tick…tick… (1970), Sounder (1972), and The Man (1972), where she appeared alongside performers such as Jim Brown and James Earl Jones.

(Headshot and 16mm screenshots from Sounder and The Man from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)

Anita W. Addison

On September 6, we recognized the birthday of acclaimed television director Anita W. Addison (1952-2004)! One of the few Black women executives working in U.S. network TV in the 1990s, Addison produced shows like Sisters (1991) while directing episodes on a wide span of genre shows, including Quantum Leap (1991-92) and ER (1995). Deeply influenced by the radical spirit of the L.A. Rebellion during her schooling at UCLA, Addison’s directorial film work tackled issues such as sexual assault, Black feminism, and African spirituality across two shorts (1976’s Eva’s Man and 1984’s Savannah) and two TV movies (1993’s There Are No Children Here, starring Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou, and 1999’s Deep in My Heart). Last year, University of Iowa professor Hayley O’Malley published a lovely post through UCLA’s Film & Television Archive blog exploring Addison’s career and significance: https://tinyurl.com/yekwczjz

(Headshot and VHS screenshot from Savannah [1984] from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Mary Perry Smith Collection)

In Memoriam

Ron Cephas Jones

The Black Film Center & Archive celebrates the life of veteran stage and screen actor Ron Cephas Jones (1957-2023), who passed on August 19. A regular performer both On and Off Broadway since the 1990s, Jones achieved wider notice (and 2 Emmys) for his work on the series This Is Us (2016-2022). In one of his first screen roles, Jones gave a nuanced portrayal of an independent director negotiating a nude scene with his lead actress in Bridgett M. Davis’s feature Naked Acts (1996).

(DVD screenshots from Naked Acts from the BFCA General Collection)

The BFCA welcomes new Director Dr. Novotny Lawrence!

On August 1, Dr. Novotny Lawrence joined us as Director of the Black Film Center & Archive! He also begins as an associate professor in The Media School’s Cinema and Media Studies program.

Dr. Lawrence writes:

I am thrilled to be the new Director of the beacon of global Black film archival materials, scholarly research, and programming, or to put it succinctly, all things Black cinema. I earned my doctorate from the Theatre and Film Department (now Film and Media Studies) at the University of Kansas. There, I specialized in Black cinematic representations with an emphasis on Blaxploitation films of the 1970s, a subject that at the time, had only received scant academic attention. Consequently, one of my early goals was to help legitimize Blaxploitation cinema as an area of scholarly inquiry by bringing greater attention to the films, directors, actors, production studios, music, audiences, and the other elements that characterized the movement, to shed light on oft-overlooked Black film histories and to make mainstream accounts of film history more complete. That I have published extensively on Blaxploitation cinema in conjunction with the increased and now-sustained scholarly investigations into the movement, is evidence that my and other researchers’ works are making valuable contributions to Black film discourses.

My approach to the Blaxploitation Movement and representations of Blacks in films, more broadly, intersect with the Black Film Center & Archive’s mission—collecting, preserving, and promoting global and diasporic Black cinema. As Director, I am excited to engage in the work of acquiring collections, delivering programming, hosting filmmakers and scholars, and countless other initiatives. My vision also includes:

• Increasing the Black Film Center & Archive’s presence and role on the IU campus, in the Bloomington community, Indiana, nationally, and internationally;
• Delivering inclusive programming that highlights historic and contemporary Black experiences and the intersections thereof;
• Attending events such as the Heartland Film Festival, the St Louis International Film Festival, Black Film Fest, and the Pan-African-Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) to establish a festival artist to BFCA archive pipeline.

This is a sampling of the initiatives in which I will consistently engage as the new Director of the Black Film Center & Archive. My wonderful staff and I have begun taking small steps that will help bring my larger vision to fruition. However, we also need the help and support of the BFCA’s friends and partners, The Media School, IU, the Bloomington community, and all the film researchers, archivists, and aficionados committed to The Work that is the Black Film Center & Archive. I hope to begin that journey with you all at the Director’s Welcome events on August 30th and 31st!

BFCA’s Open House and meet the new director!

Come check out the BFCA and meet Dr. Lawrence!!

• Wednesday, August 30th, 12:30pm-2:30pm
• Thursday, August 31st, 1:30pm-2:30pm

To begin the fall semester, we’re opening our doors to you all! Come meet us, take a look around, learn about our facility, history, resources and enjoy good food provided by BFCA friend and partner, Chef Lee!

We are located in Herman B. Wells Library Room 044, on the ground floor, across from Media Services and the Bookmark[et] Eatery.

The BFCA Team is looking forward to meeting you or reconnecting with you! Please join us and bring a friend!

IU Cinema Blaxploitation Exhibit

In celebration of our new director Dr. Novotny Lawrence’s research, the BFCA presents a new Blaxploitation-themed exhibit located in the basement level of the IU Cinema: Sticking It to ‘The Man’: Blaxploitation Lobby Cards, 1970-1976. Lobby cards were small collectible prints frequently used from the 1940s-1980s to promote upcoming film releases. A lobby card series typically featured images of key stars or scenes and were displayed and distributed in customer-facing areas of movie theaters. This exhibit of lobby cards for various Blaxploitation titles features beautiful promotional art for films like Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Super Fly (1972), Scream Blacula Scream (1973), and Foxy Brown (1974), and highlights the star image of performers like Pam Grier, Christopher St. John, Richard Roundtree, and Tamara Dobson. Stop by and check it out next time you are near the IU Cinema!

Summer acquisitions

The BFCA is continuously acquiring physical home releases of Black films for our expansive DVD and Blu-ray collections. Our newest batch of acquisitions includes Criterion Blu-rays for titles like Imitation of Life (1934), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Trances (1981), The Watermelon Woman (1996), and Eve’s Bayou (1997), as well as discs for more recent releases like Carlos Lopez Estrada’s Summertime (2020) and A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One (2023).

We are also proud to add two new books by past BFCA directors to our reference library: Akin Adesokan’s Everything Is Sampled and Michael Martin’s 3-volume anthology on African Cinema: Manifesto and Practice for Cultural Decolonization (co-edited with Gaston Kabore). All are available for purchase through Indiana University Press.

Our Summer included a major technology update to the BFCA!!

This summer brought major technology upgrades to the Black Film Center & Archive. Thanks to the dedication of Manny Knowles, Learning Space Design Engineer in the Classroom Technology Services Department, our Seminar Room is up and running with cutting-edge software to accompany our sleek new projector, cameras and speakers, legacy deck connectors, and so much more. He brought to life an idea to elevate that space and customized the technology, manually. Next time you schedule a meeting or a research visit with us, you will have everything you need to make it a success!

The day that the College of Arts & Sciences IT Office’s (CITO) representatives and the Media School Tech Team arrived to continue upgrades to individual workstations and our copy machines, the office buzzed with music and shuffling feet as we all helped to unpack boxes, set aside dated tech for IU Surplus, and check off meticulous to-dos on the white board along the way. Now, BFCA staff members can do their best work on computers, Blu-ray players, scanners, and printers that run smoothly–and are from this decade! Thanks to Office Administrator and Finance Officer, Ja Quita Joy Roberts’ persistent advocacy and The Media School administrators’ approvals, we’re no longer behind the times! Thanks to her for overseeing the project and continuing to collaborate with the Media School Tech Team and CITO to complete the testing and troubleshooting processes. There are so many thank you’s that we’d like to extend to each person, individually, but we know that there are many more who were also behind the scenes, as well. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Take a look at our photo gallery below:

Other News

In April 2023, our Finance & Office Administrator, Ja Quita Joy Roberts, was recommended and then unanimously voted into the Indiana Memorial Union Board of Directors. It is comprised of 18 student directors and four non-student directors, and its mission is to unify and represent the students and greater community of Indiana University through diverse, high-quality programming.

As perfectly stated on the IMU website, “We strive to improve students’ academic and personal experience with thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining programs. In addition, we are dedicated to promoting the Indiana Memorial Union as the center of campus life and serving students as stewards of the Union. As a board, we are committed to enhancing the IU community by fostering student involvement and personal growth while upholding the spirit and traditions of Indiana University.”

I’m honored to be part of this wonderful group of doers and look forward to all of the things we will continue to successfully accomplish, together!

Social Media Highlights

July 19 marked the birthday of Pan-African filmmaker Sarah Maldoror (1929-2020)! Born and educated in France, Maldoror was among the first generation of artists to use cinema in the struggle for African liberation, as well as one of the first women to direct films in Africa. Her first feature, Sambizanga (1972), boldly depicts the 1961-74 Angolan War of Independence against Portugal from a Black feminist perspective, and has been recognized as one of the early masterworks of Pan-African cinema. An activist first and foremost, Maldoror repeatedly explained, “For many African filmmakers, cinema is a revolutionary tool, a political education to raise consciousness.”

(Images from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Josef Gugler Collection)

Billy Mitchell

On July 28, we recognized the birthday of character actor Billy Mitchell (1889-1952)! Mitchell appeared in nearly 40 Hollywood productions between 1940 and 1951, including the W.C. Fields vehicle The Bank Dick (1940) and the classic film noir Double Indemnity (1944). He also did voice work for the notorious Looney Tunes short Goldilocks and the Jivin’ Bears (1944), which Warner Bros. pulled from circulation due to its racial stereotyping. Mitchell was almost entirely relegated to uncredited servant roles, and there are few accessible biographical details about his life.

(Screenshots from The Bank Dick [1940] and Mr. District Attorney [1941])

James Baldwin

On August 2, we wished happy birthday to the indelible essayist, novelist, poet, and activist James Baldwin (1924-1987)! Beyond his era-defining writings on race, sexuality, and class, Baldwin’s works have also left a deep cinematic legacy. Documentaries such as I Remember Harlem (1981), James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket (1989) and Raoul Peck’s masterful I Am Not Your Negro (2016) have explored Baldwin’s wide-ranging life and thought, while his novels have been adapted by filmmakers like Stan Lathan [Go Tell It on the Mountain (1984)] and Barry Jenkins [If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)]. In a 2018 interview, Barry Jenkins referred to Baldwin’s work as his “personal school of life.”

(Publicity stills from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Mary Perry Smith and General Collections; discs from the General Collection)

Whitney Houston

August 9 marked the birthday of the Queen of Pop, Whitney Houston (1963-2012)! One of the most influential and beloved recording artists of the 20th century, Ms. Houston’s soundtrack to The Bodyguard (1992), in which she also starred, remains the best-selling album of all time by a female vocalist. Ms. Houston also starred in Waiting to Exhale (1995), The Preacher’s Wife (1996), and Cinderella (1997), and was one of the producers of The Princess Diaries series (2001-2004). Since her 2012 passing, Ms. Houston’s music and life have been subject to multiple documentaries and dramatizations, most recently in Kasi Lemmons’s biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022).

(Betacam screenshots of promotional press kit for The Bodyguard from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Mary Perry Smith Collection)

Edward Mapp

August 17 was the birthday of celebrated Black film memorabilia collector Edward Mapp (1929-2021)! A Professor of Speech and Communication at CUNY, Dr. Mapp published widely on Black American film history and promotional art. Dr. Mapp parlayed his passion for Black cinema into a personal collection of more than 1,200 posters and artifacts from 1921-2001, most of which he gifted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum in the 1990s. Between 2000-2011, he also donated almost 300 of his posters, lobby cards, printed programs, and videos to the Black Film Center & Archive, where they remain permanently available for researchers as the Edward Mapp Collection. Much of the collection has been digitized and is now accessible to the public: https://tinyurl.com/2763pvea.

The Black Film Center & Archive announces new director: Dr. Novotny Lawrence

Novotny Lawrence will serve as the director of the Black Film Center & Archive beginning August 1. He will also join the Cinema and Media Studies program as an associate professor in the Media School.

“The BFCA is world-renowned for Black film, and having the chance to lead it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.

The Black Film Center & Archive dedicates itself to collecting, preserving, and providing historically and culturally significant films by and about Black people. It serves as an open resource for scholars, students, and the general public. The center also supports research on the history, impact, theory, and aesthetics of Black film traditions.

Lawrence will be coming from the Greenlee School of Journalism and the English department at Iowa State University. His research focuses on African American cinematic and mediated experiences, film and media history, and popular culture. He authored Blaxploitation Films of the 1970s, a book discussing trends in black representation in films of the early 1970s.

Lawrence has also been the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Popular Culture since 2019. He was previously chair of the radio, TV, and digital media department at Southern Illinois University, which provided him with leadership experience he believes will be useful in his new role.

“I am also invested in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. I will rely on those principles to lead the BFCA in developing programming, and in further demonstrating its value to the IU campus, Indiana, and across the U.S. and the world, more broadly,” he said.

As director, Lawrence aims to increase the BFCA’s profile across the world, bringing in a host of scholars, filmmakers, and media makers, hosting exciting programming, and working to secure collections. He also aspires to be a good colleague, productive scholar, and effective teacher and mentor to students at IU.

“I’m really looking forward to leading it (the BFCA) and working with its partners/followers to honor past filmmakers’ and scholars’ legacies while also highlighting contemporary researchers and artists as well,” Lawrence said. “I am confident that by being patient and with staunch commitment, we will achieve our goals.”

Black Filmmaker Interviews: Yoruba Richen

The Black Film Center & Archive holds hundreds of rare interview recordings documenting the stories of Black film artists. In our ongoing monthly series, “The Black Film Center & Archive Presents: Black Filmmaker Interviews,” we will widely publish one previously-unreleased interview from our collections.

The series continues with a conversation with independent filmmaker Yoruba Richen, in audio recorded with then-BFCA director Michael T. Martin on March 8, 2008. A transcribed version of this interview was previously published in the Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 28 (3): 183-194.

https://media.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/6d570j30j

Yoruba Richen is a Guggenheim Fellow and Peabody- and Emmy-nominated documentarian whose work has appeared in PBS’s Frontline, American Masters, Independent Lens, and POV series. Her features, including Promised Land (2009), The New Black (2013), The Green Book: Guide to Freedom (2019), The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show (2020), The Killing of Breonna Taylor (2020), and The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (2022), explore issues like post-apartheid land ownership in South Africa, LGBTQ rights in the Black community, welfare reform, and policy brutality. Ms. Richen is currently faculty and founding director of the Documentary Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.

American Black Film Festival

The BFCA’s own Essence London attended the American Black Film Festival virtually June 19-25th and wrote an overview of her top picks! The documentary features impressed her, but there are films from other categories she also recommends you look into. Read “ABFF 2023: The Documentarians Really Shine” here.

On the blog, you’ll also find a special profile on Kyra Knox, director of Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia, which premiered at ABFF and is doing well on the festival circuit. “We Started Out with Trust” discusses Knox’s unexpected yet fulfilling partnership with Executive Producer Mark Mims, alongside the heavy experiences of creating a film focused gun violence in her city.

Media School Cinema Academy Visit

On June 12, the BFCA welcomed the Media School’s Cinema Academy summer program for pre-college students interested in filmmaking. Approximately 30 students participated in the hour-long visit, which included a tour of our facilities, a discussion of archives and the possible definitions of “Black cinema,” and demonstrations of sample archival objects.

Social Media Highlights

On June 8, we observed the birthday of independent filmmaker Joseph B. Vásquez (1962-1995)! Born and raised under difficult conditions in the South Bronx, Vásquez dreamed of becoming a moviemaker from an early age, earning a film degree from the City College of New York. The high point of Vásquez’s film career came in 1991 when New Line Cinema produced his inner-city coming-of-age dramedy Hangin’ with the Homeboys, which won the top screenwriting award at the Sundance Film Festival and featured an early starring role by John Leguizamo. Mental health and AIDS-related struggles cut Vásquez’s film career short, and he passed having completed four features.

In 2013, an unproduced screenplay by Vásquez was posthumously released as The House That Jack Built (2013), directed by Henry Barrial. In recent years, Hangin’ with the Homeboys has been recognized as a uniquely poignant entry in the cycle of “hood films” released in the early 1990s.

(Headshot of Vásquez by Deborah Feingold via Getty Images; VHS screenshot from Hangin’ with the Homeboys from the BFCA General Collection)

Judy Pace

On June 15, we wished happy birthday to TV veteran and Blaxploitation icon Judy Pace (born 1942)! A versatile talent able to shift effortlessly between sweet and villainous roles, Ms. Pace’s performance as Iris in Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), one of the first Blaxploitation films, set a template for the confident and sly femme fatales later embodied by actors like Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson. Through the 1970s, Ms. Pace was a frequent presence on both the big and small screen, with roles in films like Cool Breeze (1972) and The Slams (1973) and shows like Sanford and Son (1974) and Good Times (1975), as well as many TV commercials and fashion ads. In 1971, she helped found the Kwanza Foundation, a Black nonprofit dedicated to supporting other actresses in the industry and fundraising for women’s issues.

(Publicity stills of Ms. Pace and 16mm screenshot from Cotton Comes
to Harlem from the Black Film Center & Archive General Collection)

Donald Faison

June 22 marked the birthday of actor/comedian Donald Faison (born 1974), known as Dr. Chris Turk in the series Scrubs (2001-2010), as well as roles in films like Clueless (1995), Waiting to Exhale (1995), and Remember the Titans (2000). Prior to his star ascension, Faison had cheeky roles in two hip-hop comedy shorts directed by Jamal Joseph — What’cha Gonna Do About Hate? (1992) and Hard Chorus (1994) – both submitted to the Black Filmmaker Hall of Fame’s annual independent film competition in the early ’90s.

(VHS screenshots from What’cha Gonna Do About Hate? and Hard Chorus
from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Mary Perry Smith Collection;
2010 photo of Faison at the Tribeca Film Festival by David Shankbone)

Lena Horne

On June 30, we recognized the birthday of celebrated actor, singer, dancer, and civil rights activist Lena Horne (1917-2020)! Though her movie career was limited by studio and exhibitor racism, Ms. Horne’s fiery screen persona and vocal range in productions like Cabin in the Sky (1943) and Stormy Weather (1943) cemented her as one of the most unforgettable musical actors of classical Hollywood. She left Hollywood in the 1950s to pursue successful nightclub, state, and recording careers, including a one-woman Broadway show that ran for more than 300 performances in the 1980s.

(Publicity stills and signed memorabilia from Ms. Horne from the
Black Film Center & Archive’s Mary Perry Smith Collection and General Collection)

Steve “Peg” Reynolds

July 7 marked the birthday of silent film stuntman Steve “Peg” Reynolds (1892-1945)! Reynolds, who lost a leg in early life under unclear circumstances, parlayed his disability into a short screen career when his friend, director Richard Norman, made him a regular player in six all-Black “race” films he produced in the 1920s. Promoted as the “One-Legged Wonder,” Reynolds’s jaw-dropping stunts—including hopping between train cars and shooting a rifle while riding a bicycle—became one of Norman Studios’ key attractions. A skilled showman, Reynolds traveled the country helping promote Norman films, sometimes performing short variety acts before screenings. Sadly, only one of his film performances (1926’s The Flying Ace) exists today in its entirety, but ample surviving promotional material from Norman Studios testify to Reynolds’s legacy as one of cinema’s first Black daredevils.

(Posters and lobby cards from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Richard E. Norman Collection)

Shari L. Carpenter

July 14 was the birthday of filmmaker Shari L. Carpenter (born 1961)! Her career began after penning a fan letter to Spike Lee, who then employed her as a script supervisor on his films for the next 15 years, including Malcolm X (1992), Bamboozled (2000), and Inside Man (2006).

Ms. Carpenter’s own directorial voice has emerged over many indie shorts and features, commercials, and TV work, including Kali’s Vibe (2002), an episode of Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar (2021), and the hit Lifetime films Single Black Female (2022) and Strength of a Woman (2023).

The Black Film Center & Archive retains Ms. Carpenter’s submission materials for her short film directorial debut Since Lisa, which she sent to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame annual film competition in 1996.

(B&W photo from the BFCA’s Mary Perry Smith Collection)

Black Filmmaker Interviews: Jessie Maple Patton

The Black Film Center & Archive holds hundreds of rare interview recordings documenting the stories of Black film artists. In our ongoing monthly series, “The Black Film Center & Archive Presents: Black Filmmaker Interviews,” we will widely publish one previously-unreleased interview from our collections.

In recognition of her recent passing, the Black Film Center & Archive dedicates this month’s Black Filmmaker Interview release to filmmaking pioneer and author Jessie Maple Patton, recorded with then-BFCA director Audrey T. McCluskey on September 20, 2005 at Indiana University, Bloomington.

https://media.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/41688175k

With her feature debut Will (1981), Mrs. Maple Patton is recognized as the first Black American woman to write and produce a full-length film independently. She also holds the distinct honor of being the first Black woman to join the International Photographers of Motion Picture & Television Union, a struggle she detailed in her book How to Become a Union Camerawoman (1977). With the 20 West Theatre in Harlem (which she founded and managed from 1982 until its 1992 closure), Mrs. Maple Patton worked tirelessly to showcase and promote the work of other Black filmmakers during a historical period of growing independent Black moviemaking work.

Please also see the “In Memoriam” section below, for the statement from Mrs. Maple Patton’s family.

BFCA in L.A.

It was such an honor for the Black Film Center & Archive to participate in the In Frame Project this past week, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, in Los Angeles. Additionally, Amber Bertin (BFCA’s Archivist) and Rachael Stoeltje (BFCA’s Interim Director) were provided a fantastic tour of the Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 exhibition, by Curator J. Raul Guzman. This exhibit includes seventeen items on display from the BFCA’s collections, such as the tap shoes worn by the sibling dance duo Fayard and Harold Nicholas. The exhibit continues until July 16, 2023. More information is available on the Academy Museum’s Regeneration site.

A bonus highlight of our trip was being welcomed by Dr. Jacqueline Stewart, the Academy Museum’s Director. It was also amazing to dine with and see the films by the accomplished filmmaker Lourdes Portillo. The BFCA appreciates everyone at the Academy Museum for such a wonderful visit! There were so many good discussions and tours! We look forward to future collaborations and engagements.

Social Media Highlights

Janet Jackson

On May 16, we wished happy birthday to multi-hyphenate superstar Janet Jackson (born 1966)! Among the best-selling music artists in history and a pop culture icon, Ms. Jackson began her screen career on television with recurring roles in series like Good Times (1977-79) and Diff’rent Strokes (1980-84), as well as the variety show The Jacksons (1965-77) alongside her famous siblings. Jackson made her feature film debut in John Singleton’s Poetic Justice (1993) alongside fellow musician Tupac Shakur. The Black Film Center & Archive holds original promotional material for Poetic Justice, including a making-of featurette with rare interviews with cast and crew.

(Poetic Justice promo photo and featurette screenshots from the
BFCA General and Mary Perry Smith Collections)

Bridgett M. Davis

May 22 marked the birthday of pioneering feminist filmmaker Bridgett M. Davis! The author of two novels and the NYT Editors’ Choice memoir The World According to Fannie Davis (2019), Ms. Davis currently teaches creative writing and screenwriting at Baruch College, CUNY. Her debut feature Naked Acts (1996), a gem of ‘90s independent filmmaking, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with a screening at the IU Cinema in February. The Black Film Center & Archive was honored to host Ms. Davis for a Master Class prior to the screening.

Scatman Crothers

On May 23, we wished happy birthday to actor and musician Benjamin “Scatman” Crothers (1910-1986)! A self-taught guitarist and singer known for his dynamic eyes and raspy-voiced, free-form scat singing, Crothers began his film career in dozens of (mostly uncredited) roles through the 50s and 60s. He found more substantial roles in blaxploitation titles like Detroit 9000 (1973), Black Belt Jones (1974), Truck Turner (1974), Coonskin (1975), and Friday Foster (1975). In the final decade of his life, Crothers gained wider mainstream fame for his appearances in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), The Shining (1980), and myriad TV guest and voice roles, including as the title character in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Hong Kong Fooey (1974).

(Portrait from the Mary Perry Smith Collection; DVD screenshots from Black Belt Jones and Truck Turner from the Black Film Center & Archive General Collection)

Thomas Penick

Happy birthday to writer, poet, and film editor Thomas Penick (1948-2016)! Penick graduated UCLA’s film program in 1971 during the height of the L.A. Rebellion, a period of fiercely independent and oppositional Black filmmaking work. In addition to directing the short 69 Pickup (1969), Penick served as production manager and editor on his friend and fellow UCLA grad Charles Burnett’s feature My Brother’s Wedding (1983). Penick would work in the editing departments at MGM and Paramount through the 70s and 80s, working on Ivan Dixon’s The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973) and Gordon Parks’s Leadbelly (1976), plus various TV series and trailers.

(Photo from the UCLA Film & Television Archive)

In Memoriam

Jessie Maple Patton

“Be blessed. Hug the hugless, love the loveless. Feed the hungry, help the helpless. Encourage the sad and always give an encouraging word.” ~ Jessie Maple Patton

ATLANTA, GA, USA, June 1, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — It is with happy memories and deep sorrow that the family of Jessie Maple Patton announces her transition. She passed away peacefully, at the age of 86, surrounded by family on May 30, 2023 at her home in Atlanta, GA.

Jessie is recognized as the first Black woman to write and produce a full-length film independently. She also holds the distinct honor of being the first Black woman to join the filmmakers’ union. Her films, books, and unapologetic push to highlight discrimination and injustices within the news and entertainment industries will remain for generations to come. The world through Jessie’s lens offers views of humanity that are often overlooked due to race and power dynamics.

Jessie’s Visual History has been captured and made available by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her 1981 film Will, featuring Loretta Devine, is currently being digitized by The Smith Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History (NMAAHC/Smithsonian). A portion of her archives are housed at the Black Film Center & Archive (Indiana University Bloomington).

Jessie loved her family and left an extensive group of family and loved ones to cherish her legacy including husband Leroy Patton, only daughter Audrey Snipes, and grandson Nigel Snipes. She also leaves her Sisters: Lorrain (Al) Crosby, Peggy (Fred) Lincoln, Debbie (Dave) Reed, Camilla (Richard) Clarke Doremus, and Stephanie (Michael) Robinson. Jessie’s extended family includes adopted daughters Alma (Roosevelt) Speight, E. Danielle (Brandon) Butler, and a host of loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

E. Danielle Butler
EvyDani Books, LLC

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We extend our deepest condolences to the entire family of Mrs. Jessie Maple Patton. We are committed and dedicated to honoring her legacy. ~ BFCA

BFCA Awarded NEH Grant to Process the Paulin S. Vieyra Collection

The Black Film Center & Archive has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program for the full amount of $325,582. The BFCA will hire a processing archivist and an M.L.S. grad student for three years to process, digitize, and make available the Paulin S. Vieyra collection. Vieyra (Jan. 31, 1925–Nov. 4, 1987) was a filmmaker, producer, and scholar whose career is central to West African film history. He was the first African film student at the prestigious IDHEC (Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies) in Paris, oversaw Actualités Sénégalaises under Léopold Sédar Senghor’s government, and was one of the founders of both FESPACO and FEPACI, critical institutions that showcase, promote the works of, and advocate for African filmmakers.

“The support of the Vieyra family, especially Stéphane Vieyra, was crucial to the grant application process,” said Associate Professor Akin Adeṣọkan, who was interim director of the BFCA and supervised the writing of the grant application. “They were mindful of the importance of the collection, and this was also reflected in the enthusiasm of Africa-based scholars, who started making inquiries about access as soon as they learned of BFCA’s acquisition of the collection.”

Click here, to read the full news release: BFCA awarded NEH grant of $325,582 to archive and digitize Paulin S. Vieyra’s collection: News: The Media School (indiana.edu) 

Jerald Harkness Collection

When Jerald Harkness was shooting in 1993 for the documentary Facing the Facade — a film that followed the experiences of eight Black Indiana University Bloomington students at a predominantly white institution — the last thing on his mind was how the film would be perceived 30 years later.

But when the death of George Floyd brought a renewed focus on the experiences of Black people in America, it became clear that Facing the Facade and Harkness were having discussions that were ahead of their time. After working with him over a period of months, the BFCA staff are delighted to bring in this collection.

Now, scholars, filmmakers and members of the IU community will have access to this film and many other audiovisual materials from Harkness, an IU alumnus, as he makes IU’s Black Film Center & Archive the home for his film collection. The gift consists of master copies, outtakes, interviews and other production elements from Harkness’ award-winning, 30-year career. Also included are Harkness’ home movies and preliminary interviews from incomplete projects.

Click here to read the full news release.

Words from Mr. Harkness:

I am honored and humbled that my work spanning my career will have a home at the Indiana Black Film Center Archives – BFCA. My experiences as an undergraduate student at Indiana University laid the invaluable foundation that molded me into the filmmaker that I am today.

I want to personally thank my IU professors, Gloria Gibson, Brian Powell, Gary Doc Sailes, Suzanne Schwibs and James Naremore for their guidance and inspiration.

There were so many IU classmates who helped me along the way, but I want to send a special thanks to Christian Carroll, Angela Horton Huffman, Lara Decker Pastore, Mark Nisenbaum, Anthony-Tony Favors, and Jens Cornelius Knudsen.

I want to extend my sincerest love and appreciation to my family at the Indiana Memorial Union where I had the resources and support to find my voice as an aspiring filmmaker as a Union Board Director.

And finally, I want to extend a huge thanks to the wonderful people at the Indiana University Black Film Center Archives: Rachael Stoeltje – my former “Study Buddy”, Amber Bertin, Ja Quita Roberts, Dan Hassoun, and Essence London.

This means more to me than words can express.”

Black Filmmaker Interviews

The Black Film Center & Archive holds hundreds of rare interview recordings documenting the stories of Black film artists. In our ongoing monthly series, “The Black Film Center & Archive Presents: Black Filmmaker Interviews,” we will widely publish one previously-unreleased interview from our collections.

The series continues with a conversation with legendary filmmaker Spike Lee, recorded with then-BFCA director Audrey T. McCluskey on October 9, 2002 at Indiana University, Bloomington. Mr. Lee was onsite at IU to accept the BFCA’s Oscar Micheaux Distinguished Achievement Award. https://media.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/wp989586g  

One of the most influential voices in contemporary film, Spike Lee has inspired, mentored, and elevated the work of countless BIPOC filmmakers through his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks and his many decades teaching at NYU’s graduate film program. His astonishing body of work across both narratives and documentaries includes She’s Gotta Have It (1986), Do the Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), 4 Little Girls (1997), Bamboozled (2000), 25th Hour (2002), When the Levees Broke (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), BlacKkKlansman (2018), and Da 5 Bloods (2020).

Dr. Akin Adesokan’s Book Launch: Everything Is Sampled

Congratulations, to Dr. Akin Adesokan, former BFCA interim director, current Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, and continuous BFCA supporter! The BFCA was honored to serve as hosts for Akin’s book launch event of his book, Everything Is Sampled: Digital and Print Mediations in African Arts and Letters.

Everything Is Sampled examines the shifting modes of production and circulation of African artistic forms since the 1980s, focusing on digital culture as the most currently decisive setting for these changes. Drawing on works of cinema, literature, music, and visual art, Akin Adesokan. addresses two main questions. First, given the various changes that the institutions producing African arts and letters have undergone in the past four decades, how have the representational impulses in these forms fared in comparison with those at work in pervasively digital cultures? Second, how might a long view of these artistic forms across media and in different settings affect our understanding of what counts as art, as text, as authorship? Immersed in digital culture, African artists today are acutely aware of the media-saturated circumstances in which they work and actively bridge them by making ethical choices to shape those circumstances.

Through an innovative development and analysis of five modes of creative practice—curation, composition, adaptation, platform, and remix—Everything Is Sampled offers an absorbingly complex yet nuanced approach to appreciating the work of several generations of African writers, directors, and artists. No longer content to just fill a spot in the relay between the conception and distribution of a work, these artists are now also quick to view and reconfigure their works through different modes of creative practice.

Everything Is Sampled is available now and can be purchased here: Everything Is Sampled (iupress.org) 

Hélène Charlery & Delphine Letort visit the BFCA

On April 3, the BFCA was delighted to welcome a visit from Dr. Hélène Charlery (Professor of English Lit at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès in Toulouse, France) and a return visit from Dr. Delphine Letort (Professor of English at the University of Maine in Le Mans, France). Dr. Charlery, who is currently conducting research for a project on director Ava DuVernay, examined a selection of unique collection materials put on display by BFCA archivists (including memorabilia from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and publicity material for lost 1920s “race” films produced by Norman Studios).

New Post on the BFCA Blog

Archival Assistant Essence London virtually attended the Atlanta Film Festival April 20 – May 5th. Throughout her viewing, she paid special attention to films by Black directors & films featuring Black actors. Check out her blog post “Top 5 Black Films at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival” for a digest of contemporary works from her unique perspective.

Click here to read her blog post:
https://blogs.iu.edu/bfca/2023/05/11/top-5-black-films-at-the-2023-atlanta-film-festival

Visit from Stephanie Rothman

On April 7, the BFCA was honored to entertain a visit from director Stephanie Rothman, who was a campus guest of the IU Cinema as part of its Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Series. One of the first women to hold an executive position at a major independent film studio, Ms. Rothman directed seven independent features throughout the 1960s/70s — including The Velvet Vampire (1971) and Terminal Island (1973) — that are now recognized for their unique blending of exploitation genre tropes with feminist, racial, and class commentary. During her tour of materials from the BFCA’s collections, Ms. Rothman reminisced a brief early encounter with Pam Grier and spoke on the continued importance of elevating the role of female filmmakers in cinema history.

Dr. Elena Guzman’s emotional & magical keynote at CRRES Symposium

April 13, 2023, IU Assistant Professor and friend of the Black Film Center & Archive Dr. Elena Guzman presented at the Research Symposium hosted by the Center for Research on Race & Ethnicity in Society. Her keynote lecture titled “The Poetics of Afro-Caribbean Ritual Filmmaking: Building a Multisensorial Theory of the Flesh” also included a private screening of her debut feature Smile4Kime (2023).

Dr. Guzman introduced the concept of ritual filmmaking, then applied it to her experience creating the documentary centered on Black women’s friendships and mental health. In addition to a traditional question & answer session, she invited the audience to write offerings on notecards she’s kept—an adaptation of an exercise Johanna Tesfaye closed with during her visit to campus in March 2023. Please send your congratulations to Dr. Guzman, and be on the lookout for more screenings of Smile4Kime!

A new adventure: The Black Film Center & Archive ZINE!!

Archival Assistants Eva Stuart and Essence London spearheaded the publication of Perf, a new zine project designed to increase BFCA visibility and to inspire engagement with the rich tradition of Black film. Zines are mini magazines that have historically combined radical-leaning literature with a do-it-yourself (DIY) aesthetic. The title Perf references internet slang for the word “perfect” as well as the perforations in motion picture stock. We envision the contents including everything from Black film history to glimpses into the film preservation process, and more. Many of you were excited to flip through the zine we launched earlier this year.

We’re pleased to announce issue 2 of Perf is hot off the press! It’s decorated throughout with pressed flowers as a nod to the theme “media preservation & home movies” and to celebrate the warm weather. Inside, you’ll find a filmmaker’s guide to preservation, a shoutout to the South Side Home Movie Project, a special feature on BFCA content available at Media Collections Online, and much much more. Stop by the office for your copy!

Black Congratulatory Ceremony

Our Finance and Office Administrator, Ja Quita Joy  Roberts, was asked by Dr. Gloria Howell, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Director and friend, to participate in this year’s Black Congratulatory Ceremony. She was asked to place the Kente Stoles onto the undergraduates in attendance, during the sacred “Rites of Passage” part of the ceremony. One of the undergraduates included her daughter, Javenique Roberts, who is a graduate from the School of Public Health. Congratulations to all of the IU Class of 2023 Graduates!

A message from Dr. Howell, to the faculty and staff participants:

“On behalf of the NMBCC team, I extend thanks for all that you contributed to this year’s Congratulatory celebration! I think having you all as faculty and staff who have walked alongside the graduates during their tenure at IU participate in the ceremony is one of the strongest demonstrations of “the village” concept in our community. I know the personal significance of calling names and placing stoles for some of you, (like Joy who had a daughter walking across the stage 🙂); so, it was a joy witnessing your joy! 🙂 Thank you again for not only participating but assisting as we laid the stoles and prepared for the event to begin.”

BFCA class presentation

Ja Quita Joy Roberts, BFCA Finance and Office Administrator, was asked to provide an “Intro to the BFCA” to Jay Kincaid’s Media School C223 Class: Intro to Design and Production. She talked about the history of the BFCA, gave a virtual tour made possible by the Matterport Scan of the BFCA that she spearheaded and coordinated in March of 2022, which allowed her to easily discuss the collection’s items, hosted a trivia game section, and then ended with a Q&A. From Jay Kincaid: “My goal is to expose the students to all aspects of media including collections, while also providing diverse perspectives and engagement.”

Social Media Highlights

Zeinabu irene Davis

On April 13, we wished happy birthday to educator, scholar, and pioneering filmmaker Zeinabu irene Davis (born 1961)! A member of the L.A. Rebellion movement, Ms. Davis has produced astonishing narrative, documentary, and experimental works of Black feminist cinema for over 40 years, including Cycles (1989), A Period Piece (1991), A Powerful Thang (1991), Compensation (1999), and Co-Motion: Tales of Breastfeeding Women (2010).

As Professor of Communication at UC San Diego, Davis continues to produce films (including the upcoming short Pandemic Bread) while mentoring new generations of visionary artists. The Black Film Center & Archive is honored to house many of Ms. Davis’s works, including a 16mm print of Cycles and a work-in-progress edit of Compensation submitted to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1993.

(1998 photo of Davis and film still from A Powerful Thang from the BFCA General Collection; still from Compensation edit from the Mary Perry Smith Collection)

Noble Johnson

On April 18, we observed the birthday of actor and pioneering producer Noble Johnson (1881-1978)! After working as a horse trainer and cowboy for several years, Johnson entered the new motion picture industry in the early 1910s as a supporting actor. Dedicated to addressing the lack of African American screen representation, in 1916 Johnson co-founded (with brother George) the Lincoln Motion Picture Company, the first Black-owned studio dedicated to producing films for Black audiences. Johnson produced 5 features as the Lincoln Co.’s president and star actor, often supporting the business with the paychecks he earned acting in other studios’ productions. Unable to balance being both a working actor and a company head, Johnson reluctantly closed the Lincoln studio in the early 1920s after receiving an ultimatum from Universal Pictures to choose between the two career paths.

Johnson would act (often uncredited) in over 140 films from the 1910s-1950s, including as the Skull Island native chief in King Kong (1933). Given his striking 6’2” frame and light skin complexion, Hollywood execs frequently consigned him to “exotic” Native American, Arabian, or “native” roles typical for many non-white actors at the time.

Sadly, almost none of the Lincoln Co.’s output exists today outside of short surviving fragments.  Although he is an obscure figure today, recent work by historians (including IU professor Cara Caddoo) continue to unearth the story of Noble Johnson as one of African American cinema’s earliest creative pioneers. https://tinyurl.com/yyjnfzfc

Jacquie Jones

April 28 marked the birthday of public media leader and filmmaker Jacquie Jones (1965-2018)! A graduate of Howard University and Stanford, Ms. Jones dedicated her professional life to expanding the focus and accessibility of public media within minority and low-income communities. From 2005-2014, she was executive director of the National Black Programming Consortium (now called Black Public Media), where she pioneered digital media initiatives such as the Katrina Project, the Masculinity Project, and NMI: Project. As a filmmaker in her own right, Ms. Jones won a Peabody Award for her masterful documentary series Africans in America (1998) tracing the history of American slavery.

(Headshot of Ms. Jones by Breht Gardner; screenshot of Africans in America from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Mary Perry Smith Collection)

Rosario Dawson

May 9 was the birthday of actor/producer Rosario Dawson (born 1979)! Ms. Dawson is well-known to audiences from her roles in high-profile productions like Sin City (2005), Clerks II (2006), Death Proof (2007), Trance (2013), and as Ahsoka Tano in various Star Wars series. Early in her career, Ms. Dawson co-starred alongside Denzel Washington and Ray Allen in Spike Lee’s classic sports drama He Got Game (1998).

(DVD screenshots from He Got Game from the Black Film Center & Archive General Collection; 2011 headshot of Ms. Dawson by Frazer Harrison via Getty)

In Memoriam

Harry Belafonte

The BFCA remembers the life and legacy of music and screen legend Harry Belafonte (1927-2023), who has passed at age 96. A towering figure of 20th century pop culture, Belafonte popularized Jamaican calypso music across the world and his Hollywood success in films like Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) helped break the color barrier for Black men in serious dramatic roles. A lifelong peace and social justice activist, Belafonte used his fame and wealth to support other people of color (including bailing Martin Luther King, Jr. out of jail in Alabama and funding various civil rights and anti-apartheid groups). He made his final film appearance in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman (2018), fiercely schooling a group of young activists about U.S. lynching history and the radical importance of saying that “Black lives matter.”

(Headshot of Belafonte & 16mm screenshots from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)

Justin Williams Event & Visit to the BFCA

Justin Williams is the Project Manager and Archivist at the University of Chicago’s South Side Home Movie Project (SSHMP). At this talk, they introduced new interactive features on the South Side Home Movie Project’s recently redesigned website (www.sshmp.uchicago.edu) that allow users to create and share “community tags” and “memories.” These features allow users of all kinds to immerse themselves directly in descriptive practices as full partners. Williams presented on the collaborative design process that led to the development of these features and the SSHMP’s innovative programming approach.

SSHMP is a community-engaged initiative to collect, preserve, digitize, research, and exhibit small-gauge home movies made by residents of Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods. To date, SSHMP has served over 35 families and preserved more than 700 films shot between the mid-1930s and the mid-1980s. This time period overlaps with the growth of Chicago’s African American communities fueled by the Great Migration. This racial demographic shift is evident in the first-hand accounts of family and community life, social and cultural events, and historic moments depicted within SSHMP’s collections.

Unique in its focus on home movies from this region, SSHMP aims to build an alternative, accessible visual record, filling gaps in existing written and visual histories. The project brings materials that are typically kept in private collections into public light and discussion. By asking home movie donors to share their footage, describe it from their personal perspectives, and allow it be creatively reused in novel ways, SSHMP hopes to transmit the cultural heritage of Chicago’s South Side and ensure it reaches new audiences and will be available to future generations.

Carmen Jones Film Screening on April 4th

In partnership with the local chapter of NAACP and the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center (NMBCC), we hosted a public screening of Carmen Jones (1954) in the IU Libraries Moving Image Archive screening room. The film features an all-Black cast starring Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, and Pearl Bailey. Set to the music of Georges Bizet’s famous opera Carmen, it changes the setting from a cigarette factory in bull-fighting obsessed Spain to a World War II American parachute factory. Oscar Hammerstein II wrote new lyrics, but the murderous love triangle remains.

The screening was followed by a panel with former BFCA Director Dr. Audrey McCluskey and Director of the NMBCC, Dr. Gloria Howell.

Black Filmmaker Interviews

The Black Film Center & Archive holds hundreds of rare interview recordings documenting the stories of Black film artists. In our ongoing monthly series, “The Black Film Center & Archive Presents: Black Filmmaker Interviews,” we will widely publish one previously-unreleased interview from our collections. The series continues with a conversation with filmmaker Regina Kimbell, recorded February 5, 2008 with then-BFCA archivist Mary Huelsbeck.

https://media.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/9z903m479

Regina Kimbell is an award-winning filmmaker, cinematographer, and photographer. Growing up in Indianapolis, Ms. Kimbell earned her B.A. from Indiana University, Bloomington and worked as a fashion photographer in California before graduating from the film program at Los Angeles City College. A true independent filmmaking voice, Ms. Kimbell worked for years (with co-director Jay Bluemke) on her first feature-length documentary, My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage (2006), exploring the politics and cultural history of African American hair and beauty standards. Her experience with the film led her to found the nonprofit Nappywood, which has produced various lifestyle exposition events since 2013, including a multi-media exhibit in 2020 on the history of Black women hairstyles at the Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

Kyra Knox visits the BFCA

The Black Film Center & Archive has launched an outreach campaign focused on filmmakers, no matter where they are in the world, introducing the BFCA as a home for them as well as for their work. Among the filmmakers excited to connect is Philadelphia native Kyra Knox. She made time out of her busy production schedule to stop by for an in-person visit!

Knox viewed archival materials on display, including Lena Horne’s graphite handprint for the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and a letter from Spike Lee to our Founding Director Dr. Phyllis Klotman. She also sat down with us to share the experience of making her first feature documentary Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia, scheduled for release this summer. We look forward to Knox’s next visit and to all that unfolds with her promising career.

Johanna Tesfaye “Performing Memory Through the Archive” event

In a talk on March 29th, Johanna Tesfaye drew connections from the academic and creative work of queer Black filmmakers, artists, and scholars to her own creative and memory practices. As she shared a trajectory of past projects, she encouraged the audience to challenge temporal conceptualization of archives. She also screened an exclusive clip of her work-in-progress How Those Who Were Sent Away Wept and Made a Plan.

Johanna Tesfaye is an artist, researcher, and therapist. Her creative and academic work utilizes film, sound media, art exhibition work, historical documents, and fiction/non-fiction text to synthesize historical narratives focused on Black temporal realities that interrogate the archive, re-imagining and documenting a cosmos of work, thought, and life in pursuit of alterity.

The Black Film Center & Archive co-sponsored this event which is one of many within IU Cinema’s semester-long program Forever Queer: Community, Memory, Survival.

Social Media Highlights

Tim Story

March 13 marked the birthday of filmmaker Tim Story (born 1970)! Co-founder of The Story Company with wife Vicky Mara Story, Mr. Story is one of Hollywood’s most financially successful Black directors, helming popular hits like Barbershop (2002), the Fantastic Four series (2005-2007), the Think Like a Man series (2012-2014), and the Ride Along series (2014-2016).

Prior to his industry breakthrough, Mr. Story’s first feature One of Us Tripped (1997) won best feature at the Black Filmmaker Hall of Fame’s (BFHF) annual film competition. The Black Film Center & Archive retains a work-in-progress cut of Mr. Story’s film The Firing Squad, which he submitted to the BFHF in 1997.

(Screenshots from The Firing Squad from the Mary Perry Smith Collection; headshot of Mr. Story from the Collins Jackson Agency)

Al Freeman Jr.

On March 21, we recognized the birthday of stage/screen actor and educator Al Freeman Jr. (1934-2012)! A Broadway star for much of the 1960s, Mr. Freeman earned more mainstream success on screen starring in Anthony Harvey’s searing race drama Dutchman (1967), acting opposite Frank Sinatra in The Detective (1968) and Burt Lancaster in Castle Keep (1969), and securing a Daytime Emmy for his role as Captain Ed Hall in the soap series One Life to Live from 1972-1988. Mr. Freeman dedicated much of his later career to teaching and chairing at Howard University’s Theatre Arts department, though Spike Lee convinced him to return to the screen playing Elijah Muhammad in the 1992 biopic of Malcolm X.

A friend of the Black Film Center & Archive, Mr. Freeman met with our founder Phyllis Klotman at Howard University in 1992.

(Photo of Freeman with Phyllis Klotman from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection; publicity stills from The Detective and Castle Keep from the African American Contributions to Film Collection)

Mya Taylor

On March 28, we wished happy birthday to actress Mya Taylor (born 1991)! After several years working on the margins as a sex worker in California, Ms. Taylor was recruited by director Sean Baker to star in Tangerine (2015) alongside her real-life roommate Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. Ms. Taylor’s fierce, funny, and loosely autobiographical performance as Alexandra was hailed as one of the best of the year, making her the first openly transgender actor to win a Gotham Award and Independent Spirit Award. Since her breakthrough role, Taylor has appeared as gay liberation icon Marsha P. Johnson in Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel’s short Happy Birthday, Marsha! (2016), as well as roles in the AMC series Dietland (2018) and film Stage Mother (2020). Frustrated at the lack of opportunities offered in Hollywood, Ms. Taylor obtained a nursing degree and, as of 2022, was working at a nursing home in North Dakota.

(Screenshot from Tangerine from the Black Film Center & Archive General Collection; Gotham Awards image by Kevork Djansezian via Getty)

Maya Angelou

April 4 was the birthday of legendary activist, poet, and memoirist Maya Angelou (1928-2014)! In addition to her landmark legacy in the written word, Dr. Angelou also made frequent contributions to film and TV, from guest appearances on Sesame Street, to narrating M.K. Asante’s Kwanzaa documentary The Black Candle (2008), to small acting roles in John Singleton’s Poetic Justice (1993). Her screenplay for Georgia, Georgia (1972) was the earliest produced film written by a Black woman, and she achieved her lifelong goal of directing a feature film with Down in the Delta (1998).

(Screenshot of Angelou in Poetic Justice, poster for Georgia, Georgia, and photo of Angelou with Black Film Center & Archive founder Phyllis Klotman from the BFCA General Collection)

In Memoriam

Lance Reddick

The Black Film Center & Archive remembers the life and career of veteran character actor Lance Reddick (1962-2023), who passed on March 17 at age 60. A performer of unique power and poise, Reddick lent his gravitas to productions both large and small, from the John Wick franchise (2014-2023) to Rodney Evans’s Brother to Brother (2004) and Nia DaCosta’s Little Woods (2018). Among his dozens of TV roles, admirers will remember his unforgettable turn as Lt. Cedric Daniels in every episode of The Wire (2002-2008). Our condolences to his loved ones.

(Headshot by Jeff Vespa via WireImage)

Happy Women’s History Month

The BFCA’s collections include hundreds of original posters and promotional materials from productions across the breadth of Black film history. We rotated in a new themed exhibit of posters (entitled “A Woman’s Touch: Black Women and the Power of Solidarity”) to observe the start of the Fall 2022 semester. If you are in Wells Library, please stop by our reception area on the ground floor level for a quiet place to hang out or study while being surrounded by beautiful historical examples of Black film promotional art.

Bridgett M. Davis visits the BFCA

The Black Film Center & Archive was honored to welcome back multi-talented writer, novelist, teacher, and filmmaker Bridgett M. Davis on Thurs., Feb. 23. Ms. Davis is Professor of Journalism and the Writing Professions at Baruch College, CUNY, where she instructs classes in creative writing and screenwriting. She is the author of two novels, Shifting Through Neutral (2004) and Into the Go-Slow (2014), as well as the New York Times Editors’ Choice memoir The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers (2019). Her film directorial debut Naked Acts (1996) was a landmark feminist exploration of Black women’s sexuality and body image, capturing a rich period of ‘90s independent cinema when increasing numbers of BIPOC film artists were expanding the range of acceptable Black screen representations.

Ms. Davis led a special Master Class from 11am-12:30pm at the BFCA office (Wells 044) on Thurs, February 23, where she led participants in an intimate conversation about her writing and filmmaking techniques and experiences as an independent filmmaker. Many thanks to all of the attendees and amazing questions.

The Q&A with Bridgett Davis and IU Prof. Elena Guzman was incredible. Special thanks to Prof. Guzman for hosting this post-screening dialogue with Ms. Davis! Thanks to all of the attendees, as well.

Ms. Davis is posing by our special exhibit from the BFCA including original materials from the production of Naked Acts. It is still available to view in the IU Cinema’s basement level until the end of the Spring 2023 Semester.

While on campus, Ms. Davis visited with professors and former BFCA Directors, Dr. Akin Adesokan and Dr. Michael Martin, along with Black Camera staff.

Black Filmmaker Interviews

The Black Film Center & Archive holds hundreds of rare interview recordings documenting the stories of Black film artists. In our ongoing monthly series, “The Black Film Center & Archive Presents: Black Filmmaker Interviews,” we will widely publish one previously-unreleased interview from our collections. The series continues with a conversation with filmmaker Julie Dash, recorded October 29, 2006 with then-BFCA director Michael T. Martin at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
https://media.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/hx11z3002

Julie Dash is one of the most prominent and acclaimed members of the L.A. Rebellion (a movement of independent filmmakers who expanded the possibilities of Black screen representation from the 1970s-1990s). Beginning with her short films like Diary of an African Nun (1977) and Illusions (1982), Ms. Dash began developing a compassionate, lyrical body of work exploring the Black female experience. Her feature debut, the stunning Daughters of the Dust (1991), was hailed during its release for its striking visual design and experimental use of Gullah dialect, and made history as the first film by an African American woman to receive general theatrical distribution. In her subsequent music video and television work, including TV movies like The Rosa Parks Story (2002), Ms. Dash has continued her life project of giving nuanced voice to the struggles and achievements of Black women.

A new adventure: The Black Film Center & Archive ZINE!!

Archival Assistants Eva Stuart and Essence London are spearheading the publication of Perf, a new zine project designed to increase BFCA visibility and to inspire engagement with the rich tradition of Black film. Zines are mini magazines that have historically combined radical-leaning literature with a do-it-yourself (DIY) aesthetic. The title Perf references internet slang for the word “perfect” as well as the perforations in motion picture stock. We envision the contents including everything from Black film history to glimpses into the film preservation process, and more. Issue #1 focuses on reframing the often dismissive mainstream view of Black film in higher education and encourages readers to go beyond restrictive curriculums and educate themselves through community events and the BFCA’s resources. There’s also a filmmaker spotlight on Bridgett Davis, who was gifted the very first copy of the zine during her recent visit!

“I’ve made zines with friends in the past and noticed increasing numbers of DIY zines in the IU music and art scenes, and as Generation Z continues to mimic and worship vintage aesthetics, I thought it could be an effective way to reach undergrad students. I wanted to connect film students with the invaluable resources we have at the BFCA, as well as bring visibility to Black film in our community.”  – Eva

The first issue of Perf can be found at numerous locations around campus and Bloomington, but the BFCA office remains the best place to pick up your copy. The second issue is set to be published in early April and will focus on home movies and personal film preservation.

Black ArchiveZ Pop-up Exhibit at the Lilly Library

On Wed, February 15, IU’s Lilly Library (in partnership with the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center) hosted a Black History Month pop-up exhibit highlighting the history and legacy of the Black Panther Party. The BFCA contributed materials to the exhibit, with our archivists onsite to answer questions.

Congratulations to all of the departments that collaborated on a successful event and thanks to everyone that came out!

BFCA co-sponsors Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts at Univ. of Chicago

The BFCA was proud to co-sponsor the University of Chicago’s Sojourner Truth Film Festival of the Arts. The event commemorates an historic 1976 festival of the same name, held at New York’s Women’s Interart Center, that brought together pioneering groups of Black feminist artists and activists to celebrate, analyze, and advocate for the then-emerging body of work by Black women filmmakers. The first festival focused on Black feminist film issues (predating the rise in Black women filmmaking output in the 1980s and 1990s), this ‘76 event featured screenings, performances, lectures, and panel discussions with figures such as Camille Billops, Monica Freeman, Madeline Anderson, Ayoka Chenzira, Carol Munday Lawrence, and many others.

The BFCA’s Interim Director, Rachael Stoeltje, attended and conducted a workshop on film preservation. She was thrilled to connect with so many amazing people, such as Julie Dash, our featured Black Filmmaker interviewee for March.

Congratulations on 15 Years at IU, Ja Quita Joy Roberts!

This month marks 15 years as Appointed Staff at Indiana University, for our Finance & Office Administrator! Congratulations, Joy!

BFCA Spotlight 

Archival Assistant Essence London attended the Royal Anthropological Institute’s virtual conference March 6-10, 2023, hosted from the UK. She presented her short matriline ritual with an accompanying creative paper titled “How to Use Home Movies as a Rememory Tool” in the panel Autoethnographic Film as a Site of Self-Making. Indiana University graduate students Corryn Anderson and Narmeen Ijaz also presented, and Assistant Professor & Friend of the BFCA Elena Guzman facilitated the conversation.

Saint Omer Screenings hosted by The Ryder Magazine & Film Series

Fri, March 24 at 7pm • Sat and Sun, March 25 and 26 at 4pm and 7pm IU Fine Arts Theater • Purchase Tickets

Sat and Sun, April 1 and 2 at 4pm and 7pm
IU Radio & Television Theater • Purchase Tickets

When asked why she killed her infant daughter, the accused, a young Senegalese-French woman – a PhD student writing on Wittgenstein – answers, “I don’t know.  I hope this trial can help me understand.” What would compel such a shocking act, and why would an accomplished writer obsessively attend the woman’s trial? The complex mysteries at the heart of this absorbing, wholly original take on both the courtroom drama and the African immigrant experience, unfold like a Russian nesting doll of gazes and projections. Is the accused a liar, a victim, a sorceress, or all of the above? In her first fiction film, Senegalese-French documentarian Alice Diop uses her sharp eye for political realism to craft a captivating portrait of motherhood amid cultural isolation.

in French with subtitles • 122 minutes

Performing Memory Through The Archive Talk & Film Screening with Johanna Tesfaye

Filmmaker, artist, and researcher Johanna Tesfaye interrogates the imperial archive as a project and process of power.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023, 4:00pm, at the IU Libraries Screening Room (Wells 048); Free, no ticket required.

The imperial archive functions as a project and process of power. Housing plundered and dispossessed objects and stories, it credentials imperial narratives and legitimizes the perpetual violence and dispossession of all peoples. Archival structures reify who gets to tell stories, whose stories are told, and how. How might those dispossessed through hegemonic archival practices transform the archive into a praxis of recollection? What might creative practices that counter imperial archives, and ultimately epistemologies rooted in violence, look like? Building off the cosmos of academic and creative work of queer Black filmmakers, artists, and scholars, this talk will outline memory performance to re-establish the temporal body. This talk will include a screening of How Those Who Were Sent Away Wept and Made a Plan, a short experimental film utilizing research, historical artifacts, and performance. Inspired by Ethiopian emperor Yohannes’ letter to Queen Victoria in 1872, requesting the return of stolen Ethiopian objects, the film looks at Ethiopian history and myth as it relates to Black diasporic identity and its representation in the archives.

Johanna Tesfaye is an artist, researcher, and therapist. Her creative and academic work utilizes film, sound media, art exhibition work, historical documents, and fiction/non-fiction text to synthesize historical narratives. Her focus is on Black temporal realities that interrogate the archive, re-imagining and documenting a cosmos of work, thought, and life in pursuit of alterity. Her work extends to numerous performance pieces and film experiments.

Sponsored by the Black Film Center & Archive.

Social Media Highlights

Zelda Harris

On Feb. 17, we celebrated the birthday of actor/performer Zelda Harris (born 1985)! Following small roles on shows like Sesame Street at age 6, Ms. Harris won an open audition over 1,000 other child actors for the lead character of Troy Carmichael in Spike Lee’s beloved coming-of-age drama Crooklyn (1994). She went on to appear in The Baby-Sitters Club (1995), as well as another Spike Lee joint, He Got Game (1998). Since receiving her Bachelor’s from Princeton and a Master’s in Education from UCLA, Ms. Harris has focused her talents toward teaching and academic advising. An active musician, she also leads the neo-soul group Zelda and the Lo Los.

(Crooklyn publicity photo from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection; headshot of Ms. Harris © Vanie Poyey Studio)

Kaycee Moore

Feb. 24 marked the birthday of actor and activist Kaycee Moore (1944-2021)! Raised in Kansas, Ms. Moore moved to California for an acting career in the 1970s, where she met budding UCLA film students like Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry, and Julie Dash, whose daring, social realist works on Black American life would be known as the “L.A. Rebellion.” Ms. Moore’s powerhouse starring roles in Burnett’s Killer of Sheep (1978), Woodberry’s Bless Their Little Hearts (1983), and Dash’s Daughter of the Dush (1991) were praised in her NY Times obituary for their “outsize impact” on American cinema and depictions of Black life. Ms. Moore would only appear in one more film (Kevin Willmott’s Ninth Street in 1999), eventually dedicating most of her professional life to advocacy for Black Americans with sickle cell disease in her role as founder and Executive Director of the Kansas City chapter of the Sickle Cell Disease Association.

(Screenshots of Ms. Moore in Killer of Sheep and Daughters of the Dust from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)

Lupita Nyong’o

On March 1, we wished happy birthday to Oscar winning actor Lupita Nyong’o (born 1983)! Critically and popularly renowned for her unforgettable roles in 12 Years a Slave (2013), Us (2019), and the Black Panther films (2018 & 2022), Ms. Nyong’o is a prominent advocate for workplace gender equality, animal welfare, and Black women’s self-image. In 2009, before her launch to stardom, Ms. Nyong’o wrote and directed In My Genes, a documentary about discrimination against albino people in her native Kenya.

(Screenshots from In My Genes from the BFCA General Collection)

Madame Sul-Te-Wan

Happy birthday to Nellie Crawford (1873-1959), better known as Madame Sul-Te-Wan, one of the earliest Black actors to work as a contracted film performer! A prolific character actor in the movies for over 40 years, she appeared in dozens of Hollywood productions, including King Kong (1933), Imitation of Life (1934), Sullivan’s Travels (1941), and Carmen Jones (1954). Sul-Te-Wan’s career was hampered by a segregated film industry that only allowed her subservient (and often uncredited) roles like natives, maids, or cooks. Nevertheless, Sul-Te-Wan carved out a space for herself in the film world, and her legendary grit and self-advocacy helped open the door to many other talented Black actors who would continue the fight for equitable screen representation.

In 1986, Sul-Te-Wan was posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. (BFHFI), a California-based non-profit dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the work of Black cinema artists. The organization acquired a stately oil painting of Ms. Sul-Te-Wan (date and artist unknown), depicting her in the kind of grand, centralized, and dignified posture she was too often denied in her professional life.

(Photo of Sul-Te-Wan from BFCA General Collection; painting from the Mary Perry Smith Collection)

In Memoriam

Safi Faye

The BFCA honors the work and legacy of Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye (1943-2022), who passed away on Feb. 22 at age 79. Faye made cinematic history when her film Kaddu Beykat (1976), chronicling daily life in a small Senegal village, became the first feature by a Black African woman to be commercially distributed. The recipient of a PhD in ethnology, Dr. Faye was a pioneer of cinéma vérité techniques blurring fiction and documentary and a patient chronicler of African women’s experiences across films like Selbe: One Among Many (1983) and Mossane (1996). Our condolences to her loved ones.

(Promo image of Mossane from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection; headshot by Fethi Belaid via Getty Images)

Welcome, 2023!

Happy New Year to you and your families, from all of ours! Thanks again for all of your love and support in 2022! We hope that you’ve had a great year and wish you the best into the new year, as well!

The Black Film Center & Archive is back to normal business hours and look forward to seeing you all, soon!

The Black Film Center & Archive Presents: Black Filmmaking Interviews

Did you know that, in addition to film-related items, the BFCA also archives substantial collections of interview recordings? These rare and often one-of-a-kind recordings document the voices and stories of hundreds of luminaries from Black film history, from screenwriters and directors to actors, critics, and scholars. Many of these recordings have been published to IU’s digital collections repository Media Collections Online, but staff at the BFCA are continually working to transcribe and publicize more interviews from our collections for the public to discover.

Once per month from January to July 2023, the BFCA will be publishing one filmmaker interview from our collections. We kick off January with a conversation with filmmaker, historian, and writer S. Torriano Berry, recorded during his visit to the IU-Bloomington campus in November 2002. The co-author of The 50 Most Influential Black Films (2001) and director of films such as The Embalmer (1996), Berry has been a central figure in independent film for more than five decades, and as a film professor at Howard University from 1990 to 2016, he mentored and influenced hundreds of emerging BIPOC film artists. The BFCA’s S. Torriano Berry Collection collects various publications and interviews from Berry’s career, including compilations of Howard University student film work that he helped oversee.

Access the interview with Berry at this link, and stay tuned for further interview releases in coming months.

Screening of Summer of Soul

On Saturday, January 21, the BFCA will be hosting a screening of Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) in the Wells Library Screening Room. Chronicling the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, the film showcases stunning footage of performances by artists like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and the Staple Singers that had not been widely available for over 50 years.

This screening is sponsored by the Indiana University NAACP, Monroe County NAACP, the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, and Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. A discussion panel will follow the screening, featuring Dr. Audrey McCluskey (former BFCA director and AAADS Professor Emerita), Dr. Olivia Ekeh (Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Race and History), and Brother William Morris (attorney and host of the WFIU radio program Soul Kitchen).

This event is free, but ticketed. Visit https://events.iu.edu/libraries/event/820467-1 for details.

BFCA co-sponsors Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts

For the spring 2023 term, the BFCA is proud to cosponsor the University of Chicago’s Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts. The event commemorates an historic 1976 festival of the same name, held at New York’s Women’s Interart Center, that brought together pioneering groups of Black feminist artists and activists to celebrate, analyze, and advocate for the then-emerging body of work by Black women filmmakers. The first festival focused on Black feminist film issues (predating the rise in Black women filmmaking output in the 1980s and 1990s), this ‘76 event featured screenings, performances, lectures, and panel discussions with figures such as Camille Billops, Monica Freeman, Madeline Anderson, Ayoka Chenzira, Carol Munday Lawrence, and many others.

The 2023 Sojourner Truth Festival includes a free nine-week “open classroom” series of screenings and discussions held in conjunction with Dr. Allyson Nadia Field’s University of Chicago course on 1970s Black Women’s Filmmaking. From March 2-4, the series concludes with a symposium of keynote lectures and roundtable discussions with both original festival participants and contemporary directors exploring the past, present, and future of Black women filmmaking. In addition to contributing films and research assistance for the event, the BFCA plans to host a workshop on archival practices led by interim director Rachael Stoeltje, as well as virtual class visits with students from the University of Chicago and University of Iowa.

Please visit https://voices.uchicago.edu/sojourner for more info on this special event, including screening dates and symposium participants. Consider joining if you are in or near the Chicago area!

BFCA partners with Cicada Cinema on screening of Love Jones (1997)

On Sunday, February 5, at 8pm, Cicada Cinema and the BFCA will be screening the 1997 classic Love Jones at the Blockhouse Bar in downtown Bloomington. Starring Lorenz Tate and Nia Long, Love Jones follows an aspiring writer and photographer as they embark on a steamy long-distance relationship while trying to figure out if they’ve got a “love thing” or are just “kicking it.” Cicada Cinema is a volunteer-run and community driven, local pop-up cinema with the mission to provide high-quality screenings of underrepresented cinema. If you would like to learn more about their programming, you can visit their website: cicadacinema.com.

Bridgett M. Davis to visit in February

In February, the BFCA welcomes back director and author Bridgett M. Davis for a special 25th anniversary screening of her feature Naked Acts (1996). A landmark feminist exploration of Black women’s sexuality and body image, Davis’s film captures a crucial period in ‘90s independent cinema as many filmmakers were starting to produce more nuanced representations of Black life beyond the constraints of Hollywood or the “urban decay” stereotypes popularized by ‘70s Blaxploitation. Long difficult to find, Naked Acts will screen at the IU Cinema on February 23. A Q&A with Bridgett Davis and IU Prof. Elena Guzman will follow the show.

Info and ticketing information available here. A special exhibit from the BFCA including original materials from the production of Naked Acts will be available to view in the IU Cinema’s basement level.

Pop-up Exhibit at the Lilly Library

On Wed, February 15, IU’s Lilly Library (in partnership with the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center) will host a Black History Month pop-up exhibit highlighting the history and legacy of the Black Panther Party. The BFCA will be contributing materials to the exhibit, with our archivists onsite to answer questions.

Exhibit exploration will run from 5:00-6:00pm at the Lilly Library. A faculty talk with Dr. Jakobi Williams,  chair of the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, will follow the exhibit from 6:00-7:00pm, proceeded by a reception at the Neal-Marshall Bridgewaters Lounge.

Social media highlights

Euzhan Palcy

On January 13, we wished happy birthday to trailblazing director Euzhan Palcy (born 1958)! Raised in Martinique in the French West Indies, Palcy took the international film scene by storm in 1983 with her anti-colonial, social realist debut feature Sugar Cane Alley. With her follow-up A Dry White Season (1989), Palcy became the first Black woman director with a film produced by a major Hollywood studio.

One of the world’s most celebrated filmmakers, Palcy’s work is widely studied in cinema and African studies courses, and her many achievements include being the first female jury president of the FESPACO film festival (2013). In her 2022 Honorary Oscar acceptance speech, Madame Palcy continued to raise her voice against industry myths that “Black is not bankable” and advocate for the humanitarian potentials of filmmaking: “With my camera, I don’t shoot; I heal.”

(Publicity photos of Palcy and poster of Sugar Cane Alley from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Josef Gugler Collection)

Season’s Greetings & Winter Break Hours

Season’s greetings to you and your families, from all of ours! Thank you for all of your love and support in 2022! We hope that you’ve had a great year and wish you the best into the new year, as well!

The Black Film Center & Archive will be closed to walk-in visitors and only open limited days and hours for scheduled appointments, during winter break. Please be sure to email us at bfca@IU.edu to schedule an appointment.

Visit from Prof. Colleen Ryan and Dr. Fred Kuwornu

We had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Fred Kuwornu, Italian-Ghanian Director, and Prof. Colleen Ryan, IU Department of French and Italian, and welcoming them to the Black Film Center & Archive. Dr. Kuwornu was in town for the screening of his film, Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema. Congratulations on all of your success and best wishes into the future.

Social Media Highlights

Dorothy Dandridge

On November 9th, we wished happy birthday to the legendary Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965)! Emerging as a singer on the nightclub circuit (both as a solo act and with her older sister Vivian), Dorothy began supplementing her income with small (often uncredited) roles in film productions and musical shorts starting in the late 1930s. Dandridge’s meteoric, if brief, rise to mainstream Hollywood stardom began when she was cast in the title role of 1954’s Carmen Jones and became the first Black performer nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.

She would appear in several other high-profile roles (like 1957’s Island in the Sun and 1959’s Porgy and Bess), but her film career was hampered by financial difficulties, abusive men, and industry racism (Dandridge openly refused to accept many stereotypical and minor roles after her Oscar nomination). She found a wider range of roles overseas, including in the British crime drama Malaga (1960), and the French-Italian slave drama Tamango (1958) where she broke taboos against interracial kissing. One of the earliest Black stars to be widely marketed for her beauty and sexuality, Dandridge’s iconoclastic and diva-like persona has been rightly celebrated in the decades following her death for helping expand the range for acceptable Black female representation.

(Portrait of Dandridge from the Mary Perry Smith Collection; posters for Carmen Jones, Tamango, and Porgy and Bess from the Edward Mapp and Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collections)

Lisa Bonet

We wished a happy birthday to actor and fashion icon Lisa Bonet (born November 16, 1967). Most recognizable to TV audiences as Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984-1991) and its spin-off A Different World (1987-1989), Ms. Bonet bravely fought against typecasting and charted her own path in the industry beyond family-friendly roles as she aged. Provocative appearances in Rolling Stone and Interview magazines and a Saturn Award-nominated role in the horror thriller Angel Heart (1987) attracted considerable controversy at their time. In addition to other roles in Enemy of the State (1998) and High Fidelity (2000), Ms. Bonet has also directed music videos for Angel Haze, Cree Summer, and Lenny Kravitz. Her daughter Zoë Kravitz continues her legacies in film, television, and fashion.

(Portrait of Bonet from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)

Janelle Monáe

On December 1st, we wished a happy birthday to musician, actor, activist, and all-around Electric Lady Number One, Janelle Monáe (born 1985)! Blending R&B, pop, space rock, and other musical influences with an Afrofuturist bent, Monáe’s concept albums The ArchAndroid (2010), The Electric Lady (2013), and Dirty Computer (2018) have netted 8 Grammy nominations and considerable critical and popular acclaim. Since 2016, Monáe has expanded their talents to the silver screen, starring in Moonlight (2016), Hidden Figures (2016), Harriet (2019), Antebellum (2020), and the upcoming sequel to Knives Out. An outspoken social justice advocate, Monáe’s 2015 protest song “Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout)” has been a frequent soundtrack to Black Lives Matter and racial justice movements, and was described by David Byrne as “one of the most moving political songs that I’d ever heard.”

(Hidden Figures poster part of the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)

Bill Pickett

On December 5th, we wished happy birthday to rodeo star and early Black film cowboy Bill Pickett (1870-1932)! Raised in Texas by his formerly enslaved father Thomas, Bill Pickett built a national name as a rodeo stunt performer and inventor of a cattle-wrestling technique called bulldogging. This caught the interest of film producer Richard E. Norman, who hired Pickett to headline the all-Black westerns The Bull-Dogger (1921) and The Crimson Skull (1922). Unfortunately, no complete print remains of either film, but surviving film fragments and publicity materials testify to the legacy of Bill Pickett as one of cinema’s first Black cowboys.

(Photos from the Black Film Center & Archive’s Richard E. Norman Collection)

Eslanda Goode Robeson

On December 15, we wished a happy birthday to activist, scientist, writer, and actor Eslanda Goode Robeson (1895-1965)! The wife, initial business manager, and first biographer of the legendary Paul Robeson, “Essie” made her own career as a lifelong activist against racism, sexism, colonialism, and Cold War-era McCarthyism. After earning a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1946, Robeson published her book African Journey, which broke ground not only for its Black female perspective, but also its celebration of South and East African customs. In 1930, Robeson made a rare lead acting appearance alongside her husband in the independent silent feature Borderline, which dared to explore then-taboo topics of Black sexuality and interracial relationships.

(Screenshots of Eslanda in Borderline from the Black Film Center & Archive’s General Collection)

In Memoriam

Irene Cara

The Black Film Center & Archive celebrates the life and work of Irene Cara (1959-2022). One of the most iconic voices of the early 1980s, Ms. Cara’s performances of the title songs for Fame (1980) and Flashdance (1983) won two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Prior to becoming an internationally-acclaimed musician, Ms. Cara’s place in Black film history was cemented by her starring roles in beloved ‘70s classics like Aaron Loves Angela (1975) and Sparkle (1976). Our condolences to her loved ones.

(Portrait and poster images of Irene Cara from the Black Film Center & Archive Collection.)

Upcoming Event

Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness In Italian Cinema – A call-to-action documentary that uncovers the careers of a population of entertainers never heard from before: Black actors in Italian cinema. Q&A with the filmmaker to follow the screening.

Curated by Prof. Colleen Ryan of the IU Department of French and Italian. Co-sponsored by the Black Film Center & Archive.

About Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema:
A documentary that uncovers the careers of Black actors in Italian cinema, crafted through modern-day interviews and archival footage. The film discloses the personal struggles and triumphs that classic Afro-Italian, African American and Afro-descendant actors faced in the Italian film industry, while mirroring their struggles with those of contemporary actors who are working diligently to find respectable, significant, and non-stereotypical roles but are often unable to do so. Blaxploitalian is more than an unveiling of a troubled history; it is a call-to-action for increased diversity in international cinema through the stories of these artists in an effort to reflect the modern and racially diverse Italy. [65 mins; documentary; English and Italian with English subtitles]

Director Fred Kuwornu is scheduled to be present. Kuwornu is an Italian of African descent, a filmmaker, and an activist-producer-educator. Born and raised in Italy and based in Brooklyn, he is best known as the director of critically acclaimed documentaries such as Blaxploitalian, Inside Buffalo, and 18 IUS SOLI.

Visit from Vernon A. Williams

Congratulations again to Vernon A. Williams who stopped by the Black Film Center & Archive the morning of October 21, prior to receiving his 2022 Indiana University Distinguished Alumni Award that evening. In addition to a 50+ year career as reporter and columnist on publications like the (Gary) Post-Tribune and the Chicago/Gary Crusader, Mr. Williams has taken active leadership roles in a host of media and culture organizations across Indiana, including: Indiana Black Expo, IUPUI’s Africana Repertory Theatre, OnyxFest (the first and only Indiana theater festival spotlighting works of Black playwrights), the Indianapolis Association of Black Journalists, and the Heartland Film Festival.

During his BFCA tour, Mr. Williams checked out rare publicity materials for lost all-Black “race” films from the 1920s and artifacts from the now-defunct Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. He, in turn, regaled the BFCA staff with stories of interviewing performer/activist Lena Horne in the late 1970s.

Visit from Delphine Letort, Charles Joseph, & the Black Camera Staff

On October 24, the Black Film Center & Archive welcomed a visit from: Dr. Delphine Letort, an accomplished scholar of Black Cinema and most recent publications include The Spike Lee Brand (SUNY Press, 2015); Dr. Charles Joseph, Associate Professor and expert in North American Cultural Studies (both of Le Mans University, France); Dr. Michael Martin, former BFCA Director and current Editor-in-Chief of the Black Camera Journal, an international scholarly film journal; Allison Brown, Black Camera Editorial & Production Manager; and Cole Nelson, Black Camera Assistant Editor.

Dr. Letort and Dr. Joseph examined materials from the BFCA’s William Greaves Collection and recently rediscovered footage of Spike Lee’s 1987 acceptance speech for the Clarence Muse Award from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

New Journey for MarQuis Bullock

October 20th, 2022 marked the last day as an archival assistant at the Black Film Center & Archive for MarQuis Bullock, who was with us from February 2021 to October 2022. MarQuis accepted a new position as a Product and Sales Development Associate with Adam Matthew Digital, a digital publishing company and a subsidiary of SAGE publications. He will primarily work forging partnerships with archival and other information institutions to procure materials for the company’s new digital collections platforms and facilitate and close sales interactions for the company’s digital products. Because the position is remote, upon graduating in December, MarQuis will be making a big move to North Texas to be closer to family. Though change is inevitable, leaving the BFCA is quite bittersweet for MarQuis.

He writes of his time here at the BFCA: “This place has meant so much to me and has truly been a second home. To be able to work in and contribute to an institution that centers the work and perspective of Black people in cinema, who still remain marginalized in the cinema landscape, was beyond significant and I will carry the invaluable skills, experiences, and lessons with me everyone I go as I continue my career beyond IU. Working at the BFCA has without a doubt been the best part of my experience here on campus and I am forever changed by the institution and the people I feel very blessed to have worked with here. I thank them for advocating for me, making space for me to be here, and for nurturing me as a fledgling archivist. This place is and the people within it are a treasure and I hope nothing ever gets in the way of the BFCA being all that it can be and more. I will truly miss it, especially since I will have to complete the rest of my semester here and will no longer be able to use my key and come in through the staff entrance. I will always support and advocate for the BFCA as it did for me in so many ways.”

Social media highlights

Tessa Thompson

On October 3, we recognized the birthday of Tessa Thompson (born 1983)! Versatile across dramatic, comedic, and action roles, Ms. Thompson has taken Hollywood by storm since her breakthrough 2014 roles in Justin Simien’s Dear White People and Ava DuVernay’s Selma. Balancing large franchises and more intimate character pieces, Thompson has brought her talents to the Creed films (2015-present) as Bianca and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Valkyrie (2017-present), as well as starring in Sorry to Bother You (2018), Little Woods (2018), and Passing (2021)—the last two of which she also executive produced.

(Screenshots from Dear White People, Sorry to Bother You, and Little Woods, from the BFCA General Collection)

Belva Davis

October 13 marked the birthday of trailblazing journalist Belva Davis (born 1932)! One of the first female Black American TV and radio journalists, Ms. Davis’s nearly 50-year career as a reporter and anchor for stations around the Oakland and Bay Area (as well as nationally through PBS) earned her eight Emmys and numerous lifetime achievement awards. From 1975 to 1993, she served as volunteer, advisor, and Board member for the now-dissolved Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame (BFHF), an Oakland non-profit dedicated to celebrating and supporting Black film artists.

In 2015, Ms. Davis (along with husband, pioneering photojournalist William Moore) generously donated hundreds of paper and audiovisual records of BFHF events to the Black Film Center & Archive. These items, which include unique recordings and correspondences with dozens of film professionals (from super-stars to more obscure figures), provide a priceless documentation of Black film history in the latter half of the 20th century.

(1983 photo of Belva Davis and William Moore from the BFCA’s Mary Perry Smith Collection; 2016 photo by Carrie Latimer via the IU Media School)

Fronza Woods

On October 20, we wished happy birthday to pioneering director Fronza Woods (born 1943)! One of the earliest Black American woman filmmakers with surviving work, Ms. Woods began experimenting with filmmaking in New York in the 1970s after experiences working with ABC television and attending community art workshops. Her two stunning resulting shorts, Killing Time (1979) and Fannie’s Film (1981), broke boundaries in their tragicomic depictions of Black female consciousness, suicidal ideation, and work-a-day drudgery. Unable to earn a living in the East Coast film scene, Ms. Woods taught filmmaking at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for a period before moving to France and leaving behind the film world.

After decades of obscurity, Ms. Woods’s two films have begun to earn rediscovery and belated recognition. A 2017 revival screening of Killing Time in Brooklyn prompted New Yorker critic Richard Brody to call it “very simply one of the best short films I’ve ever seen,” and restorations of her work are now available to stream on the Criterion Channel. In 2021, Ms. Woods wrote a lovely essay for Milestone Films on the bittersweet feeling of being a “rediscovered” artist. https://milestonefilms.com/blogs/news/40-years-and-19-979-520-feet-from-stardom-or-the-perils-of-being-rediscovered-by-fronza-woods

(Stills of Woods in Killing Time from the BFCA General Collection)

Ashton Sanders

On October 24, we wished happy birthday to actor Ashton Sanders (born 1995)! Mr. Sanders has appeared opposite Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2 (2018) and Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield in Judas and the Black Messiah (2021), as well as starred as Bigger Thomas in Rashid Johnsons’s 2019 screen adaptation of Native Son. In 2016, Mr. Sanders wowed moviegoers around the world as the teenaged Chiron in Barry Jenkins’s masterpiece Moonlight. The film’s celebrated poster, designed by Steve Reeves and Jeff Wadley with InSync PLUS and featuring Sanders’s face composited with actors Trevante Rhodes and Alex Hibbert, proudly adorns a wall in the BFCA office.

(Poster and screenshot from Moonlight from the BFCA General Collection)

Ethel Waters

October 31 was the birthday of the great Ethel Waters (1896-1977)! One of the highest profile Black American stars of the early 20th century, Ms. Waters extended her talents across music, film, television, and stage. Bursting onto the Harlem Renaissance scene as a jazz and blues pioneer in the 1920s, Waters gained national fame for her performances at the Cotton Club and with Columbia Records (including the original recordings of the tune “Stormy Weather”).

She parlayed her recording successes into a stage and screen career, becoming (for a time) Broadway’s highest-paid star and co-starring in rare all-Black Hollywood musicals such as Rufus Jones for President (1933) and Cabin in the Sky (1943). A dramatic turn in Pinky (1949) made her the second Black actor to be nominated for an Academy Award. With her short-lived The Ethel Waters Show (1939) and starring role in the first season of Beulah (1950-1951), Waters also became the first Black American to star in a TV program. Ethel Waters had difficulty finding dignified work throughout her life despite her many successes, but helped fight the color barrier in every industry she entered.

(Screenshots of Waters with Mantan Moreland from a 16mm print of Cabin in the Sky in the BFCA General Collection.)

In Memoriam

Sergio Mims

We celebrate the life of film critic, journalist, and historian Sergio Mims (1955-2022). A co-founder of Chicago’s first Black-focused film festival, Blacklight (which evolved into the annual Black Harvest Film Festival), Mims was a beloved champion of the Chicago arts community for decades, promoting and curating countless filmmakers and events around the area. In November 2018, Mims traveled to Indiana University to participate in a series of BFCA events honoring veteran filmmaker Michael Schultz, including interviewing Schultz onstage as part of the Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Lecture series at the Indiana University Cinema. Our sincerest condolences to all of his loved ones.