IAAA Contact: Joan K. Harris, 212.998.2981, jkh4@nyu.edu
New York University’s Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) will host filmmaker William Greaves for a series of screenings and discussions March 29 and 30 and April 17-20. All events will be held at the Cantor Film Center, 36 E. 8th St. (at University Place).
All events are free and open to the public. RSVP by calling 212.998.4222. Subway Lines: A, B, C, D, E, F, V (West 4th Street); N, R, W (8th Street); 6 (Astor Place).
Greaves, an artist-in-residence at IAAA, is considered the dean of independent African-American filmmakers. He has produced more than 200 documentary films-eight of which have won more than 70 international film festival awards, an Emmy, and four Emmy nominations.
Thursday, March 29, 6:30 p.m.-Screening and Panel Discussion “Black Power in America: Myth or Reality?” (1986), 60 min. Made in 1986, this rarely screened film takes a look at the first post-civil rights generation of African Americans who rose to positions of power and influence within the American mainstream.
Panel speakers include: Manthia Diawara, director, Institute of African American Affairs; St. Clair Bourne, filmmaker; William Greaves, filmmaker; Chuck Stone, Walter Spearman Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina School of Journalism
Friday, March 30, 6:30 p.m.-Screening (Excerpts) and Panel Discussion “Black Journal” (1968-1970), 80 min. Nineteen sixty-eight saw the launch of the first network television series “for, by and about” African Americans. Created by National Educational Television, the EMMY award-winning series provided a much-needed outlet for a broad range of African American voices and launched the careers of several outstanding Black film and television producers.
Panel speakers include: Manthia Diawara, director, Institute of African American Affairs; filmmaker William Greaves; “Black Journal” producers St. Clair Bourne, Kent Garrett and Madeline Anderson; series executive editor Lou Potter; and Joan K. Harris, associate director, Institute of African American Affairs (moderator)
Tuesday, April 17, 6:00 p.m.-Screenings
“Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey” (2001) 117 min. This award-winning film re-examines the legacy of the pioneering African American scholar, activist, and international statesman known as “Mr. UN,” the mediator extraordinaire of the Middle East conflict of 1948 and the first person of color to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
Screening : 6:15 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.
“Ali, The Fighter aka The Fight” (1971) 70 min. excerpt This 70 minute excerpt from the cinema-vérité style documentary follows the lead up to the Ali-Frazier championship title bout, billed by its promoters as the “Fight of the Century.” Screening: 8:45 p.m. - 9:55 p.m.
Wednesday, April 18, 6:00 p.m.-Screenings “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 ½” (2005) 99 min. “Take 2 ½” is the long-awaited sequel to Greaves’ daring experiment “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One,” made 35 years earlier. Screening : 6:15 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.
“Ida B.Wells: A Passion for Justice” (1989) 54 min. The story of the daring newspaper woman from Holly Springs, Mississippi is documented in this multi-award winning film. Wells, who was born in slavery, launched a national anti-lynching campaign during the post-reconstruction period. Screening: 8:45 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 19, 6:30 p.m., “Harlem Then and Now”-Screenings and Panel Discussion “Just Doin’ It: A Tale of Two Barbershops” (1976) 30 min. Shot candid-camera style in two Black neighborhood barbershops - the film captures the spirit of a generation of African Americans who had recently emerged from the civil rights struggles of the Sixties.
“From These Roots” (1972) 30 min. Created entirely of period photos and graphics, this multi-award winning film explores the social, economic and cultural factors that produced the artistic creativity and intellectual ferment of the Harlem Renaissance. The original score was composed and performed by the legendary jazz man, Eubie Blake.
“Once Upon a Time in Harlem” (Work-in-Progress) 22 min. An excerpt from a longer work-in-progress, this short piece is made up of selected takes from a large cache of live action footage shot in 1971. The footage will form the basis of a proposed 90-minute documentary on the Harlem Renaissance. This material will be supplemented with cinema vérité footage of artists working in Harlem today.
Panel speakers include: William Greaves, filmmaker; David Levering Lewis, professor of history, New York University; Professor John L. Jackson, Jr., University of Pennsylvania; and Joan K. Harris, associate director, Institute of African American Affairs (moderator)
Friday, April 20, 6:30 p.m., “Art, Africa and the Diaspora”-Screening and Panel Discussion “The First World Festival of Negro Arts” (1966) 40 min. This historic event, which drew over 2,000 writers, artists, musicians and performers from Africa and the African Diaspora to Dakar in the spring of 1966, is viewed by the filmmaker as both an expression and a celebration of the creative spirit.
Panel speakers include: William Greaves, filmmaker, Manthia Diawara, director, Institute of African American Affairs; Jayne Cortez, poet; Awam Amkpa, director, Africana Studies, New York University