1. BGLA Ordinary People Film Series: A Marlon Riggs’ Retrospective

    The Black Gay & Lesbian Archive’s Film and Book series - Ordinary People presents

    A Marlon Riggs Retrospective - Screening and Panel Discussion

    Affirmations, Anthem and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regret)

    On Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. 

    Marlon Riggs (1957-1994) was a gay African-American filmmaker, educator, essayist, and human rights activist. Riggs produced, wrote, and directed several television documentaries, including Ethnic Notions, Tongues Untied, Color Adjustment, and Black Is… Black Ain’t. Riggs’ aesthetically innovative and socially provocative films examine past and modern representations of race, gender and sexuality in the US. 

    We asked our panelists to talk about what excites them about Marlon Riggs’s work. Here’s what they had to say: 

     

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    “He was a fiercely intelligent person who was also very down-to-earth and regular… a sweeter person you couldn’t find, except when it had to do with business.  He was quite matter-of-fact about what he wanted, what he would and wouldn’t do.  And that came through in the quality and universality of his work, the fact that it stands the test of time.”—Al Cunningham

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    “25 years after he created Tongues Untied, the film is still relevant. There are areas where we can see the conversation has grown and expanded in terms of black masculinity and sexual identity, but there are still people who haven’t seen the film but who watch it for the first time and have a similar reaction to the work as people did during the height of the culture wars of the late 80s and 90s.” —Rhea Combs

     

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    “I find Marlon’s work exciting because as Alice Walker said years ago, he was “undaunted by anticipated criticism,” which means he was fearless.  I also liked that he dug into sensitive areas around race, gender and sexuality for everyone, but that he particularly wanted to communicate with Black folks about these issues. He challenged us to examine issues with the hope that – in the end - we would be stronger.”—Cornelius Moore

  2. What impact did “The Polymath, or The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman” have on your personal life as you were creating this project?

    “I wondered how I, a straight white filmmaker in a completely strange environment, could possibly find the courage to do justice to this subject. Although I had traveled and made films in West Africa, and Central and South America where I had justifiably felt a complete outsider, the feeling of being out of my depth in New York was very strange.

    My filmmaking style is to try and be as unobtrusive as possible, to avoid giving directions, to follow the subject instead of lead it, and to let the natural flow of events suggest the direction of the film. Making a film with/about Chip was full of surprises, and one of them was how completely his openness to life and experience helped me find courage that I didn’t know that I had.”—Fred Barney Taylor

    Tomorrow, December 4 at 6:30 p.m. the Schomburg Center’s BGLA will screen The Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. After the screening, join the filmmaker for a dialogue. Free.

    Register here and spread the word!

  3. Fred Barney Taylor’s film about Samuel R. Delany, appropriately called The Polymath, offers viewers a moment to take in the personal and professional life of an American genius. Taylor wisely allows the elder statesman glimpses of his unbridled life in this stunning documentary and tells us (below) what he thinks about the man, the writer, the genius.  “Samuel R. Delany is one of the most interesting, charismatic, and inspirational men I have ever met. I made a film about New York writers several years ago, and he was but one of several subjects. I knew right then and there, that I had to make a longer, more intensive film about this astonishing character.” “I’m not quite sure what a genius is, but “Chip”, as he has been called since childhood, must be awfully close. He is an award-winning writer who has written 25 novels, numerous critical essays and theoretical tracts, an autobiography, pornography, and several issues of Wonder Woman. He has been called by some one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 20th century.” “Chip is also a gay black man with a history of a gloriously promiscuous lifestyle. I approached this project with the intention of making a film about a writer and his writing. But when Chip started telling stories about his sexual adventures and attendant philosophy, I was taken completely by surprise. I realized then there were many levels to this film previously unimagined.” Next Monday, check back on Tumblr as Taylor tells us how he came to the project and how it impacted his life. On Tuesday December 4 at 6:30 p.m. the Schomburg Center’s BGLA will screen The Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. After the screening, join the filmmaker for a dialogue. Free. Register here and spread the word!

    Fred Barney Taylor’s film about Samuel R. Delany, appropriately called The Polymath, offers viewers a moment to take in the personal and professional life of an American genius. Taylor wisely allows the elder statesman glimpses of his unbridled life in this stunning documentary and tells us (below) what he thinks about the man, the writer, the genius.

     “Samuel R. Delany is one of the most interesting, charismatic, and inspirational men I have ever met. I made a film about New York writers several years ago, and he was but one of several subjects. I knew right then and there, that I had to make a longer, more intensive film about this astonishing character.”

    “I’m not quite sure what a genius is, but “Chip”, as he has been called since childhood, must be awfully close. He is an award-winning writer who has written 25 novels, numerous critical essays and theoretical tracts, an autobiography, pornography, and several issues of Wonder Woman. He has been called by some one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 20th century.”

    “Chip is also a gay black man with a history of a gloriously promiscuous lifestyle. I approached this project with the intention of making a film about a writer and his writing. But when Chip started telling stories about his sexual adventures and attendant philosophy, I was taken completely by surprise. I realized then there were many levels to this film previously unimagined.”

    Next Monday, check back on Tumblr as Taylor tells us how he came to the project and how it impacted his life.

    On Tuesday December 4 at 6:30 p.m. the Schomburg Center’s BGLA will screen The Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. After the screening, join the filmmaker for a dialogue. Free.

    Register here and spread the word!

  4. Tiona M., Executive Producer/Director of Harriet’s Gun Media, is an award winning multi-media artist whose mission is to make the invisible, visible and to humanize her subjects. She (along with Lisa C. Moore) is currently in production with the Untitled Black Lesbian Elder Project, and shared some information about the current phase of the project. “We finished round one of filming last fall and we are preparing for the next round of filming and fundraising.  We are currently creating a field research campaign to secure about 4-5 field researchers in different regions throughout the nation that can join us in illuminating black lesbian elder history on a regional scale as well as assist us with locating potential interview subjects for the film. The goal is to present a brief cut/extended trailer of the film early next year that will showcase the general aesthetic that we are striving to reach for the film as well as address the content that we will be exploring within the film. I want to present a high quality film at the end of the day and we also want the various communities that have supported us in financing the film to understand where they funds are going and how they have been used thus far. Events such as the one with the BGLA at the Schomberg allow us to have a check in with the community and hopefully will encourage more folks to join us in spreading the word about the film.”

    Tiona M., Executive Producer/Director of Harriet’s Gun Media, is an award winning multi-media artist whose mission is to make the invisible, visible and to humanize her subjects. She (along with Lisa C. Moore) is currently in production with the Untitled Black Lesbian Elder Project, and shared some information about the current phase of the project.


    “We finished round one of filming last fall and we are preparing for the next round of filming and fundraising.  We are currently creating a field research campaign to secure about 4-5 field researchers in different regions throughout the nation that can join us in illuminating black lesbian elder history on a regional scale as well as assist us with locating potential interview subjects for the film. The goal is to present a brief cut/extended trailer of the film early next year that will showcase the general aesthetic that we are striving to reach for the film as well as address the content that we will be exploring within the film. I want to present a high quality film at the end of the day and we also want the various communities that have supported us in financing the film to understand where they funds are going and how they have been used thus far. Events such as the one with the BGLA at the Schomberg allow us to have a check in with the community and hopefully will encourage more folks to join us in spreading the word about the film.”