| Issue #33, November 10, 2006 |
review: black film festival
By Renée Donlon
Another day, another film festival. Such is life in the Hamptons. But wait! This is one film fest you haven’t seen before. Last Saturday’s East End Black Film Festival was the first of its kind. The first annual, to be exact. And given the success of the day, the festival seems to have many annuals in its future.
The festival’s success appears due to the drive of its creators and organizers. Presented by the East End African-American Museum and Center for Excellence (EEAAMCE), the film fest was created as a means to spread awareness of black culture to the area. The area, in fact, is one that Bonnie Cannon, co-founder of the EEAAMCE and Southampton Town Trustee, finds lacking in its focus on black history and culture. Finding that the Town, the community, the Parrish Museum, the Children’s Museum, and others agreed with her, Cannon started the film fest to help fill the gap.
The day itself was quite full. The festival was a one-day event, but a day packed with six films of varying genre and length, speakers, and ethnic foods (including fried chicken, collared greens, etc.) by Gloria’s of the Hamptons.
Among the speakers were Mayor Mark Epley of Southampton, and actress Ethel Ayler (seen on “The Cosby Show” as Claire Huxtable’s mother) who was in town for the festival.
Ms. Ayler must have gotten a chuckle when, due to technical difficulties with the slated 5 p.m. film, Constellation, the 1975 film Let’s Do It Again was shown instead. The film stars Ms. Ayler’s TV son-in-law Bill Cosby. Everyone else in the theatre got a few more chuckles from watching the comic partnership of Cosby and his co-star and director Sidney Poitier depict a pair of gangster hypnotizing, boxing match fixing, big-hearted schemers.
When the evening changed gears from Sidney Poitier in a lemon yellow suit and cape to a haunting and powerful film about racism, stuntman/producer/director Jeffery Ward lead the transition with a few words. After recent shooting for the upcoming Denzel Washington movie, American Gangster, the festival brought Ward back to his hometown. Ward was born and raised in Southampton, later moving to New York City to pursue his entertainment career. There, trying to stay in shape for stunt work while still paying his rent, he worked as a bike messenger and a fitness instructor at a gym where he was eventually discovered and hired for The Last Dragon. Yet, Ward likens the career of a stunt man to that of a football player; you can’t do it forever. Knowing this, Ward familiarized himself with the workings and people of the business around him and eventually moved into producing and directing.
Ward spoke on behalf on another stuntperson turned director, Lisa France, his friend and the director of the gripping final film of the evening, The Unseen. The Unseen is largely that. The 2005 film was premiered only once before at Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, and has yet to be distributed.
This new film tackles the old issue of racism. Yet as the film points out, an old issue is not necessarily an obsolete one. The racism France’s lead character encounters on his return to his rural Georgia hometown is still strong. France’s strength lies in depicting the unforeseen ways in which racism affects all the individuals in its vicinity. By showing the manifestations of racism on specific, well-developed characters, France manages to tell a haunting story through which the ramifications of hate are organically revealed.
Another painful story was that of the short film When Does It Stop, directed by Derek Koen. The film, which portrays the cycle of violence and suffering brought about by a shooting between teens, was included in the festival as a message of caution for the young adult audience.
Those too young for such graphic matter had their own films to enjoy. Two Children and Family selections were shown in the early afternoon: The Journey of Henry Box Brown, directed by Karyn Parsons and Kirikou and the Sorceress by Michel Ocelot.
Also shown was the 1936 spiritual musical Green Pastures, directed by Marc Connelly and William Keighley. The movie, a string of Old Testament stories performed as imagined by black Sunday-school children in the south, is so rich in stereotypes that Warner Home Video has attached a disclaimer acknowledging the social and political climate of the time. The film was included in the festival for this look at stereotypes and black history. An effective choice: the scene of God embarking on genesis after being inspired by a cup of chowder at the Southern fish fry is quite an insight into the history of black film.
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