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AFRICAN-AMERICAN
FILM FESTIVAL This event is made possible with public funds from: New York State Council on the Arts (a State Agency), National endowment for the Arts, Suffolk County Office of Cultural Affairs, The Town of Huntington. Sponsored by Stuart and Ginger Polisner. Special Thanks to Bob Carter and Sandy Thomas Friday, April 28
2:30pm — Chisholm ‘72: Unbought
& Unbossed Saturday, April 29 2:30pm — Faces of Change Sunday, April 30 2:30pm — The Boys of Baraka Monday, May 1 2:30pm — Street Fight Tuesday, May 2 2:30pm — Chisholm ‘72:Unbought &
Unbossed Wednesday, May 3 2:30pm — Manderlay Thursday, May 4 2:30pm — Faces of Change
The schoolmarmish appearance of Ms. Chisholm did not match her
contribution to the history of African-American women. A nursery
school teacher, she broke new ground for Black women: from her
Brooklyn-Bed-Stuy neighborhood she was the first African-American
woman elected to Congress and in 1972 was a serious candidate
for the Presidency of the USA. As Congresswoman and presidential
candidate unbossed and unbought she was an unusual mix of hard-headed
realism and idealism that paved the way for future African-American
women in politics. —Vic Skolnick
Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, Lauren Bacall & Chloë Sevigny Controversy is the hallmark of Lars Von Trier’s films and Manderlay is no exception. The set, laid out on a wood floor (as in his previous film Dogville) is an Alabama cotton plantation, the year 1933, but its African-American inhabitants live there as if slavery had never ended. Into this setting comes Grace, white idealist daughter of a powerful gangster. Moved by what she sees as their plight, she is determined to liberate them and encourages them to move out into the world. Is Von Trier saying that, given the murderous hell of racism that is depicted in a photo essay at film’s end, going out into racist White America is another hell to be avoided? (Denmark, 2005, 139 min, color • Director/writer: Lars Von Trier • Narrator: John Hurt • Cannes Film Festival • Toronto Film Festival)
Herbie Hancock describes Possibilities as a real collaboration. It’s all been decided at the end when the album, a record without borders, is woven like a tapestry with many colors. The artists Hancock works with to create a finished piece through improvisation include:Santana, Christina Aguillera, Paul Simon, Annie Lenox, and Sting. Hancock’s genius at exploring and developing his and guest artist’s musical themes is remarkable. (USA, 2005, 90 min, color • Director/writer: Jon Fine, Doug Biro • Cast: Herbie Hancock, Christina Aguillera, John Mayer, Raul Miden, Trey Anastasio, Damien Rice, Brian Eno, Annie Lennox, Joss Stone, Paul Simon, Sting, and Wayne Shorter)
What happens in Kambi, Cameroon, a small village guided by conservative Islamic religious values when two strong-minded African women lawyers: one a judge who serves as Court President and the other a State prosecutor–by their words and work stiffen the resolve of women fearful of bringing their husbands to court for physical abuse, child custody and abandonment. Even if they win in civil court they must face the village’s religious Islamic Court that has moral but not legal power. Justice is served. (USA, 2005, 94 min., color and b/w • Director/writer: Kim Longinotto • Cast: Vera Ngassa, Beatrice Ntuba • Cannes Film Festival—Prix Art et Essai & Special Mention Europa Cinemas • Hawaii Film Festival— Best Doc • Toronto Film Festival)
Stephenson puts the camera in the hands of five people from disenfranchised communities on five different continents, each with a direct personal experience of racism. Among them are a Bulgarian Roma (Gypsy) who overcomes poverty to become a doctor but not his Roma identity; a Mauritanian with direct experience of slavery, an Indian untouchable, a Southerner fighting against environmental racism – the use of low income African-American neighborhoods as a dumping ground of toxic wastes. Their stories are raw and personal and often inspired. (USA, 2005, 80 min, color • Director/writer: Michelle Stephenson • Cast: Elodia Bianco, Kathir Raj, Ivan Ivanov,Mohamed Ould Bourbosse • 2005 African Diaspora Film Festival Winner: Best Film directed by a Woman of Color • Locarno Film Festival)
The Silver Belles are five African-American women aged 84 to 96, who as veteran tap and chorus dancers came out of retirement in 1985 to relive their Harlem glory days as Apollo Theater dancers during the 1930’s Harlem Renaissance and beyond. They shared the stages with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, entertained the troops in World War II. The film looks at their illustrious past and surprising present as they still continue to dance. (USA, 2005, 81 min., color and b/w • Director/writer: Heather Lyn MacDonald • Cast: Bertye Lou Wood, Cleo Hayes, Marion Coles, Fay Ray, Elaine Ellis, Mercedes Ellington)
The journey of a young Gay Black artist contending with his family’s rejection of his sexual identity meets Bruce Nugent an elderly African-American man in a homeless shelter and discovers that he was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Together they venture into the past and encounter Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Aaron Douglas apostles of Black Gay Pride who shared a house, they named Niggerati Manor. Their story and their art have transformative power for the young man. (USA, 2005, 94 min., color and b/w • Director/writer: Rodney Evans • Cast: Anthony Mackie, Bruce Nugent, Larry Gilliard, Jr., Duane Boutte, Daniel Sunjata • Sundance Film Festival: Special Jury Prize • Outfest • Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival • Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Film Festival • Berlin Film Festival)
Young boys from a battered Baltimore Black neighborhood were offered an escape hatch to Kenya Africa. There a free boarding school offered a basic training in getting their life back on track: the skills were the traditional reading and writing, but equally as important was personal responsibility and cooperation as part of the group that included caring for animals and school gardening. Alas in mid-year the school runs out of funds and the film records the boys’ varied responses upon their return home. (USA, 2005, 84 min. • Directors/writers: Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady • Cast: Devon Brown, Romesh Vance, Montrey Moore)
Both candidates were African-American but there the similarities end. Sharpe James the veteran four term incumbent was a traditional Democratic urban machine politician. well-versed in political dirty tricks. He played the race and class card against the light skinned Cory Booker who came from a middle class family (60s civil rights advocates) and with an Ivy League pedigree in education. Booker ran a brilliant freshman Kennedy-style campaign focusing on the need for better housing, schools, health care and jobs. James nailed Booker as a carpetbagger and almost white skinned and won by a narrow margin. The director/cinematographer Marshall Curry, was targeted as an interloper and often banned from filming by the local police. (USA, 2005, 83 min., b/w, & color • Director/writer: Marshall Curry)
Today in the hoods of Los Angeles wearing a clown costume is akin to wearing a Red Cross insignia on the battlefield. The clown culture had an inauspicious beginning after the violence following the Rodney King beating. Tommy Johnson ex-prisoner and gang member was asked to don a clown’s get up for a kid’s party. Moved by the experience, Tommy the Clown went on to organize other clown groups that became an alternative to the lure of gangs, drugs and crime. The clown uniform became the seeding of krumping, an aggressive virtuosic form of dance performed at breathtaking speed. There are now major contests involving hundreds of dancers. (USA, 2005, 84 min., color • Director/writer: David LaChapelle • Cast: Lil C., Tommy the Clown)
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