Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Midnight Ramble

Midnight Ramble: Oscar Micheaux and the Story of Race Movies. US © 1994 Northern Lights Productions / WGBH Productions. P: Pam A. Thomas, Bestor Cam. COORD. P: Beth Deare. D: Pearl Bowser, Bestor Cam. SC: Clyde Taylor. DP: Bestor Cam, Bruce Johnson. COMMENTARY: James Avery. FEATURING: author Toni Cade Bambara, historian Robert Hall, illustrator Elton Fox, archivist Pearl Bowser, film director Carlton Moss, actress Frances Williams, actress Shingzie Howard McClane, journalist St. Claire Bourne, Sr., actress Edna Mae Harris. Original format: video. 58 min. Dvd 54 min. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (Black History Month), 9 Feb 2010.

Revisited Pearl Bowser and Bestor Cam's excellent survey into the birth of the African-American cinema. In the early days, audiences were segregated, and black people had to watch films after midnight. The terrible insult of The Birth of a Nation. The rise of the independent African-American cinema and its story from the 1910s till the 1930s. Noble Johnson. The story of Oscar Micheaux, the top African-American director of his time.

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