The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Films are able to offer us another person’s point of view with unprecedented immediacy and power. The lights go low and all of the sudden we see with another’s eyes. For instance, this first-person perspective was used to great effect in conveying the perturbed perception of an escaped convict in the 1947 Humphrey Bogart noir classic “Dark Passage.” These days the first-person perspective is more common in video games, but always geared to the same end: to draw us ever deeper into foreign experience.
There is educational value above and beyond the entertainment value of the first-person perspective, since seeing through someone else’s eyes is tantamount to walking a mile in their shoes. In this way, privileged parties can get a taste of the oppressive objectification of the “male gaze” or the askance glance that belies suspicion of shoplifting.
The eight films comprising the Black Lens program of the Milwaukee Film Festival utilize the power of the cinema to educate, edify and present a cross-section of the contemporary black experience. This showcase for emerging and established African-American filmmakers is now in its second year as part of the MFF.
Here are précis of the films as well as links to their trailers:
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A Ballerina’s Tale
(USA / 2015 / Director: Nelson George) Trailer. Misty Copeland, the first AfricanAmerican female soloist at New York's American Ballet Theatre, would be the first to tell you that, based on body type, pedigree and background, she shouldn't be a part of one of the world's most prestigious ballet companies. But her inspirational story of dogged determination (overcoming a debilitating shin injury, eating disorders and racial issues), filmed here in a raw, cinéma vérité documentary, will leave no doubt as to how this trailblazer shot her way up the ranks and overcame all obstacles to turn in breathtaking performances in Firebird and Swan Lake.
Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
(USA / 2015 / Director: Stanley Nelson Jr.) Trailer. Into today’s era still struggling with police brutality, racial discrimination and extreme poverty comes master documentarian Stanley Nelson's stirring portrait of the Black Panther Party. Following the party from its inception in the early ’60s to its bitter dissolution a decade later, MFF alumnus Nelson captures the essential history of the movement, elegantly mixing archival footage alongside interviews with FBI informants, journalists, supporters, detractors and lowerlevel members of the party. This is a profoundly resonant portrait of a period of time when impatience bred revolution and a vibrant group rose up to bring civil rights issues to the forefront.
Cincinnati Goddamn
(USA / 2014 / Director: Paul Hill and April Martin) Trailer. It's a story that has become all too familiar — young, unarmed black men killed by law enforcement agents who have sworn to protect them, followed by proteststurnedriots sparked by the men’s untimely demise. But before Michael Brown and Ferguson, there was Timothy Thomas, Roger Owensby and Cincinnati. A powerful examination of a moment preceding the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the documentary Cincinnati Goddamn presents a chilling and revealing look into what one academic calls "urban genocide" — a volatile cocktail of systemic racism, widespread poverty and unchecked police brutality — and the grassroots activism that took to the streets to challenge it.
A Girl Like Grace
(USA / 2015 / Director: Ty Hodges) Trailer. Seventeenyearold HaitianAmerican Grace (newcomer Ryan Destiny, in a spirited breakout performance) finds her dysfunctional existence thrown further into upheaval following the suicide of her best friend, Andrea. Grace is already a social pariah tormented by a clique of bullies (led by RavenSymoné), and her desire to understand her friend's decision leads to Andrea's older sister Share (Meagan Good), who encourages Grace to embrace her sexuality, leading her down a rocky road of discovery. This sensitive comingofage story anchored by a stunning lead performance captures the social hardship inherent in a young woman coming to terms with herself.
Imperial Dreams
(USA / 2014 / Director: Malik Vitthal) Featurette. A redemption tale anchored by an amazing lead performance from John Boyega (star of the upcoming Star Wars film), Imperial Dreams is a family drama with an astonishingly realized father/son relationship at its core. Bambi (Boyega) is coming home to Watts; recently released from prison, he has designs on earning a living as a writer (having been published while incarcerated) to provide for his young son Day. But he quickly realizes the deck is stacked against him and it's going to take everything he has to achieve his dreams in this stunning, multiple awardwinning drama.
In A Perfect World
(USA / 2015 / Director: Daphne McWilliams) Trailer. Documentarian Daphne McWilliams was looking to craft a film about young men raised by single mothers, so she turned to the strongest source she knows — her son. This courageous examination into modern family life, with McWilliams grounding her sociological study through extraordinarily intimate interviews with her son, Chase, as well as other men raised without a father figure, is revelatory. A story of boys becoming men despite the absence of a male presence and the utterly unique relationships they forge with their mothers, In a Perfect World is stirring, relevant filmmaking.
Last Night
(USA / 2015 / Director: Harold Jackson III) Trailer. A whirlwind romantic encounter perfect for fans of the Before Sunrise trilogy, Last Night pairs its mismatched strangers on a night of soulbaring disclosures and verbal sparring on the streets of Washington, D.C. Gorgeous fashion model Sky is escorted on an unexpected eveninglong adventure with impulsive businessman Jon — the only catch being that this is Sky's final night in D.C. before moving to North Carolina to live with her boyfriend. The film is a warmly shot, exquisitely performed look at romantic longing between two people who realize they may only ever have this extended moment between one another.
Little White Lie
(USA / 2014 / Directors: Lacey Schwartz and James Adolphus) Trailer. documentary released at a perfect point in our culture when knotty intersections of race and identity are making headlines, Little White Lie tells one woman's remarkably intimate story of a life spent between two worlds. Raised white with her dark skin color and curly hair explained away as an inheritance from her Sicilian grandfather, the director Lacey Schwartz can't fight the nagging feeling that her uppermiddleclass Jewish upbringing is hiding something, only to find she was the product of her mother's affair with a black man. After her biological father's passing, she cannot hold back this family secret any longer.
An extensive screening schedule for the Milwaukee Film Festival will be released early next month. Glossy programs can be picked up on Saturday, September 5, from 4 to 11 p.m. at Cathedral Square Park at WMSE’s Backyard BBQ, which will feature the live music of Jim Liban and The Joel Paterson Trio, Pill Hill, Devil Met Contention, Dirty Bourbon River Show and J.D. McPherson.
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