Film Updates

From Watts to Chad:
Nickelodeon Festival Shows Range and Depth of Black Filmmaking
Posted February 9, 2004
Excerpted from The Free Times, Columbia SC, Feb. 4-10,2004 issue

African-American/International Film Festival
Nickelodeon Theatre: Friday, Feb. 6 - Thursday, Feb. 12
Benedict College: Saturday, Feb. 7

By Dan Cook

Festival Schedule

Wattstax
Nickelodeon Theatre
Friday, Feb. 6 — 7 and 9:15 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 7 — 3, 7, and 9:15 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 8 — 3, 7, and 9:15 p.m.
Rated R.

Short Films
Benedict College, Ponder Auditorium
Saturday, Feb. 7 — 1 p.m.

Skin Deep
Nickelodeon Theatre
Monday, Feb. 9 — 7 and 9 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 10 — 7 and 9 p.m.
Not rated — graphic sexual content.

Abouna
Nickelodeon Theatre
Wednesday, Feb. 11 — 3, 7 and 9 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 12 — 7 and 9 p.m.
Not rated. French/Arabic with English subtitles.

If you're looking for a documentary on Harriet Tubman, you've come to the wrong festival.

But if you'd like to see a documentary featuring Isaac Hayes, Richard Pryor and Jesse Jackson in early '70s Los Angeles, then you might be in the right place. Toss in a controversial and racially charged thriller, a coming-of-age story set in Chad, and several short films by up-and-coming black filmmakers, and it should be evident that the Nickelodeon's Third Annual African-American/International Film Festival isn't about re-visiting your high school history books.

Instead, it's about presenting dynamic films that speak to modern circumstances.

"One of the things we have tried to do is bring films that have not been seen in the Southeast," says Bill Vaughan, who served on the festival's selection committee and organized the festival's program of short films. "Anybody who is a filmgoer should like the variety and depth of the films we are bringing in."

The festival's three feature-length films, all of which will screen at the Nickelodeon Theatre, are Wattstax, Skin Deep and Abouna. Four shorter films — Red Eye, Positive Attitude, His/Her Story and My Nappy Roots — will be shown at Benedict College. Regular admission applies at the Nickelodeon, while the Benedict program is free.

"These films have pedigrees," Vaughan says. "They have a string of awards that are following them. This will be a real treat for moviegoers."

Wattstax

From bell-bottoms and Afros to funk and radical politics, Wattstax is a landmark film celebrating the spirit of black culture in the early '70s. Filmed in Los Angeles in August 1972, it documents the Wattstax concert at Memorial Stadium with footage of musical icons like Isaac Hayes, Mavis Staples, Albert King and Johnnie Taylor, as well as comedy by the then-unknown Richard Pryor and interviews with local residents. The concert attracted more than 100,000 people and was part of the broader Watts Summer Festival.

"It was considered the black Woodstock at the time," Vaughan says. Originally released in 1973, Wattstax enjoyed a brief run in theatres but has been unavailable for the past 30 years because of legal issues. The re-released Wattstax has been re-mastered and features new footage, including previously lost songs from Hayes.

"We felt Wattstax was a really important documentary [to bring]," says Anne Raman, executive director of the Nickelodeon. Raman says the early '70s were a time when idealism flourished and there was a wider range of ideas in the public discourse, in contrast to what she sees as the more restricted and bottom-line orientation of society and mass media today.

"Looking back at where our society was at that point and where black Americans were at that point, it was such a time of change and growth," Raman says. "And it's important to revisit that and measure what has been accomplished since then and possibly what remains to be done."

"This is the market premiere of the special release," Vaughan says. "It's historically important, and it's a great film to see at the Nick."

Skin Deep

Skin Deep — which won Best Film at the American Black Film Festival in 2003 — casts its gaze on racism and racial stereotypes. But far from being a film that preaches, it's a sexually charged, fast-paced murder mystery that's more likely to entertain — and offend — than to bore its audience with platitudes.

"It's a piece of black film noir by a first-time director that is well acted; a very titillating piece of work," Vaughan says. "It's very controversial, and we are glad to have it."

In fact, director Sacha Parisot says "politically correct" white audiences are the most likely to be offended.
"Black audiences get into the humor and laugh a lot," Parisot says. "The white people don't know how to interpret the humor: 'Am I supposed to laugh? Is this politically correct?'"

"The thing I thought was ironic was that whites in the audience were feeling insulted for blacks — [thinking] that we are being unfair to blacks," Parisot says. "Yet the blacks are not saying that. I am not even sure how to interpret that."

The film revolves around two couples: Tony and Victoria, and Michael and Sarah. Tony, who is black, is married to a white woman (Victoria) but having an affair with a black woman at the office. Michael and Sarah, who are black, are outgoing in their sexuality. Adding to the volatile mix of race and sex, Michael strongly disapproves of Tony's wife. Sexual shenanigans abound as the couples relax in a hot tub, and one of the four ends up dead.

"One of the ideas of the movie has to do with almost a reverse racism if you will," says Parisot, who wrote the screenplay with Ken Karn. "Michael's attitude about race relations in the United States is an attitude that is shared by many blacks in the United States, in that people feel they are always being kept down. Michael is suspicious of everything that is white. As a result of being so suspicious of 'the system' — the government, police — he makes decisions that are incredibly foolish."

"I have friends who have that kind of attitude," Parisot says. "I took a premise and took it to an absurd conclusion for dramatic effect — to show how dangerous it is to have these kinds of attitudes."

"There are serious elements," he says, "but we were going after cutting the tension with humor."

Abouna

The third feature-length film, Abouna, brings an international perspective to the Nickelodeon festival.

Set in the hot and dusty capital of Chad, Abouna tells the story of two brothers, aged 8 and 15, whose father mysteriously disappears one morning, failing to show up at a soccer game he was scheduled to referee. After an unsuccessful search for their dad, the boys take refuge in the cinema. While watching a film one day, they're convinced they recognize their father. This leads them to steal a reel of film — and leads their mother to enroll them in a strict Koranic school. Made by Chadian filmmaker Mahamet Saleh Haroun, the story avoids both typical Western story development and typical Hollywood endings. Quoted in press materials for the film, Haroun said, "When you make a happy end in Chad, they know that it's not true."

Short Films

In addition to the feature-length films at the Nickelodeon, the festival will present four short films on Saturday at Benedict College. The program at Benedict is free.

The 17-minute film Red Eye, by Kevin Gordon, "is about how a black man is envisioned by different people in different walks of life," Vaughan says. "It's about one person and perception — it's a fascinating piece." The film won Best Experimental Short at the 2003 Jamerican Film Festival.

His/Her Story is a relationship story — though not about your average couple. "It's about the choices that a woman must make who is involved in a relationship with an activist," Vaughan says. "We rarely see a relationship of that type, and the filmmaker really hit on that rarely seen aspect."

Positive Attitude is a seven-and-a-half-minute film by Deborah Marcano, who has been a featured extra on Sex in the City. "It was shot at Ben Affleck's old home," Vaughan says. "This young filmmaker was able to get his permission to shoot on his property. She also showed a lot of inspiration by seeking out one of her favorite artists, [percussionist] Vinx, who composed a song for the film. It seems like every star she asked for help, they gave it to her."

My Nappy Roots: A Journey through our Hair-itage features former Facts of Life star Kim Fields in a film that combines humor and pop culture with serious historical footage. "It looks at dreads and the hair choices that women have made," Vaughan says. "They manage to edit a lot of historical footage with contemporary hair styles, to show where [those styles] came from. It should be an audience favorite at Benedict."

With its third African-American/International Film Festival, as well as annual Jewish, Native American and Latino festivals, the Nickelodeon — currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding organization, the Columbia Film Society — has found a new way to present a broader range of films while also tapping into the breadth of Columbia audiences.

"Our partnership with Benedict has been great," Raman says. "One of our festival co-chairs, Marjorie Hammock, teaches there, and there has been a lot of involvement with students and faculty."

"I think taking your programs to any other venue or organization gives you exposure to people who haven't heard of your organization," Raman says. "The Nick has a fairly low profile. We don't do a lot of advertising and don't have a lot of street presence. You pretty much have to be looking for us to find us."

By offering wide-ranging programming throughout the year and at festivals like this one, the Nickelodeon can only hope that despite its limited visibility, people will continue to come looking.

"This festival is really in its infancy," Vaughan says. "We'd love to see it grow."

Tickets will be sold on an individual-film basis. Tickets are $6.50 for general admission; $5.50 for seniors, students and military; and $4.50 for members of the Columbia Film Society. The program at Benedict College is free. For more information, visit www.nickelodeon.org or call 254-8234.