The following films are divided into separate cultural categories. The initial category of "Multicultural" includes films that deal with two or more cultures.
Commentary within quotation marks is always taken from the cassette
jacket, unless otherwise noted. I've also included call numbers, except
when I list films that the University of Arizona library does not yet own.
The address and phone number (where possible) of the film distributor is
also given. Information for distributors that appear often are at the
start of the list. My own commentary, if I have any, is at the end of each
entry.
I am always working on this list,
so be
prepared to stumble in a few places.
California Newsreel, 149 Ninth St./420, San Francisco CA 94103
Filmakers Library, 125 East 40th St., New York NY 10016, (212)
808-4980
Women Make Movies, 462 Broadway, Suite 501, New York NY 10013,
(212) 925-0606
Columbus on Trial, color, 18 min., 1993. Directed by Lourdes
Portillo. Women Make Movies.
E 111 C65 1992
Using actors for Columbus, a defense attorney ( a Native American named
Storm Cloud), a prosecutor (a Mexican American named Bob Oso), and a
judge (a Mexican woman), Portillo's film responds to the Quincentennary
celebrations with a
farcical contemporary trial, which tries to determine once and for all if
Columbus was a rapist or an explorer and whether or not his name as a
famous discoverer should stand in the history books. Some of the most
effective parts of the film include the film backdrop behind the Judge (a
Mexican woman) which contrasts with and comments on the procedures in the
courtroom. Scenes include commentary on coalitions between people of color
and international indigenous movements. The film's ending, enacted by
Storm
Cloud's sister, offers possibilities for discussing solutions to
historical imbalances.
Almost Free: A History of the Black Experience in Arizona,
color, 48 min., 1992. Directed by William McCune. Production for
Television.
E 185.93 A7 A56 1992
McCune's film starts out with a short history of African American movement
to the West, moves to a general history of African American presence in
Arizona, first documented in 1860, and finally focusses on major figures
in Phoenix, which holds the largest African American presence in Arizona.
A combination of still photos and interviews with major figures and their
descendants provides a thorough introductory discussion of the
history of African Americans in the state.
Ethnic Notions, color, 58 min., 1989. Directed by .
California Newsreel.
E
This film is a must see! Using stills and clips from literature, music,
and movies, the director intersperses interviews with academics (like
literary critic Barbara Christian) and artists to show how popular images
of African Americans conformed to the political needs of the dominant
culture. The film traces this process chronologically and focusses on
the time period from slavery to the mid-1900s with a final hint at how
the late twentieth century continues the process.
No Loans Today, color, 56 min., 1994. Directed by Lisanne
Skyler. First Run/Icarus Films, 153 Waverly Place, New York NY 10014,
(212) 727-1711.
E 185.8 N6 1995
This film "documents daily life in the African-American community of South
Central Los Angeles. Centering on the ABC Loan Co., a twenty-five year old
pawnshop/check cashing outlet, the film explores the lives of several
people who've either chosen or been forced to remain in this community.
With interviews and cinema-verite scenes of day-to-day living, NO LOANS
TODAY examines the relationship between pawnshops and check cashing
outlets -- also known as "fringe banks" -- to other economic problems that
this community endures, such as crime and unemployment."
This film translates the economics of the post-'92 riot period of African American South Central LA into images and biographies that effect immediate and clear understandings of the workings of money, and the impact of bank, employment and loan availabilty. Shots vary between the camera inside the pawn shop window looking out at the people who use the pawn shop, with close-up interviews of those people and others in the community.
A Place of Rage, color, 52 min., 1991. Directed by Pratibha
Parmar. Women Make Movies.
E 185.61 P64 1991
Parmar's film attempts to remedy the exclusion in historical
discussions of women's critical
participation in the Black Power Movement through interviews with
significant and powerful figures such as June Jordan, Angela Davis and
Alice Walker. These artists/activists' description of their participation
in the 60s, the influence of other women activists on their lives, how
they view the 60s now and what their lives and work are like today form a
moving and highly informative film.
A Question of Color: Color Consciousness in Black America,
color, 58 min., 1992. Producer/Director Kathe Sandler. California
Newsreel.
E 185.625 Q47 1992
"A Question of Color is the first documentary to confront 'color
consciousness' in the black community. It explores the devastating effect
of a caste system based on how closely skin color, hair texture and facial
features conform to a European ideal. It provides an unique window for
examining cross-cultural issues of identity and self-image for anyone who
has experienced prejudice.
Director Kathe Sandler asked scores of African Americans of all shades
about their experience with the 'color question' - from New York City to
Alabama, from teenagers to a 96 year old great great grandmother. We
experience the psychological and emotional turmoil that the issue
engenders in a college president, a mayor, a TV
anchorwoman, young rappers and others - including the filmmaker herself."
Sandler's film does an excellent job of probing the difficult and painful ways that self-definition is affected by cultural definitions of beauty. Comments by interviewees on discovering their own internalized color prejudice are some of the most powerful parts of the film.
Tales from Arab Detroit, color, 45 min., 1995. Directed by
Joan Mandell. ACCESS and Olive Branch Productions, 1511 Sawtelle Blvd.
Suite 265, Los Angeles CA 90025, (310) 444-9715.
E 184.A65 T354 1995
"When an Arab American community center brings an Egyptian poet to
perform a 1000-year-old epic, sparks fly. The result is a familiar
American tale: parents trying to pass on cherished traditions and
language, while their children are at home in a world of McDonald's and
MTV. With mesmerizing imagery, humor and warmth, Tales from Arab
Detroit
blends voices, poetry, song and dance into everyday stories of cultural
conflict and resilience within the largest Arab community in North
America.
Meet the storytellers and artists, old and new: from debkeh
dancers to a
hip-hop artist, from a fiddle-playing bard to an Arab American rapper.
Attend the celebration of a Lebanese wedding, and enjoy the rhythms of
Yemeni dancers in a neighborhood park. Hang with the Warren Street Boys
and root for the Fordson girls basketball team, as you explore the often
contradictory ways a community weaves new traditions with the threads
of old."
Excellent. This film also serves as a model for many of the issues and challenges in any "hyphenated" culture: the importance of language, generational differences, cultural synchresis, acculturation and cultural pride.
Slaying the Dragon,
Imagining Indians by Victor Masyesva, color, 56 min., 1992.
PN 1995.9 I48 I52 1992.
"This
Hopi filmmaker presents a Native perspective on the misrepresentation of
Native Americans in feature films. Masayesva breaks with strict
documentary conventions and feels free to use a combination of scripted
scenes, documentary and feature archival footage and interviews. Weaving
a complex narrative, he plumbs the ways in which Native Americans react
to, attempt to work with, or overtly resist their representation by the
dominant White culture. We get an eye-opening look at recent popular films
by Kevin Costner and Robert Redford. Intercut through all this is a
subtheme about how a romanticized 'noble savage' view of American Indians
has gone hand-in-hand with the commodification (commercialism) and
appropriation of their arts and material culture."
Masayesva intercuts a scene in a dentist's office throughout the film; the dentist is an anglo male, the patient in the chair is a native woman. Sometimes we hear the monolog of dentist to patient; often this monolog is obscured by a voiceover regarding the issues mentioned in the above paragraph. This recurring scene both comments on and constitutes a part of the issues raised in the film.
The Red Road to Sobriety: Documenting the Contemporary Native
American Sobriety Movement, color, 90 min., 1995. Directed by
Chante Pierce and Gary Rhine. Kifaru
Productions, 1550 California St. #275, San Francisco, CA 94109.
E 98 L7 R43 1995.
"The Contemporary Native
American Sobriety Movement is flourishing throughout the Indian
communities of North America. This vital social movement combines ancient
spiritual traditions with modern medical approaches to substance abuse
recovery. In this spirited, and very hopeful documentary, American Indian
health practitioners and traditional medicine people reveal the importance
of tribal values and spiritual awareness in the recovery process."
The first section of the film offers excellent summaries of history and in particular, lots of information of the role of alcohol in indigenous communities before European conquest, and after. Some of the experts interviewed are women, and some of the figures interviewed in the second half of the film are also women, but the majority are men. There is a surprising lack of important women activists. And although the film does an excellent job of outlining important aspects of indigenous faith, sometimes the approach ends up conflating all indigenous groups into one. Nevertheless, this is an extremely helpful and compelling film.
The Right to Be - color, 27 min., 1994. Produced by Harriet
Skye and Stefano Saraceni. Filmakers Library, 124 East 40th St., New York
NY 10016, (212) 808-4980.
E 99 D1 R53 1994
The front cover and
the start of the film contains this quote from Ohiyesa of the Santee
Tribe: "Long before I heard of Christ or saw a white man ... I knew
God...Civilization has not taught me anything better." At 57, Harriet Skye
entered the N.Y.U. Film School and graduated when she was 61. A Lakota
woman from the Standing Rock, ND Reservation, Harriet returns home "to
investigate with her own eyes what was happening on the reservation since
she had left. Having seen Indians misrepresented in the media all her
life, she wanted to produce honest, realistic portrayals of her tribe."
Skye's film is a mix of interviews with people like David Gipp, the
principal of the United Tribes Community Council, and members of the Sioux
Tribal Council, who work as elected officials to deal with problems such
as an 85% unemployment rate. Skye also includes the filming of a sweat
ceremony held in her honor. The end of the film shows the flooded
reservation land caused by the U.S. Government dam on the Missouri River.
Skye says:"The 'Custer mentality' is alive and well. They don't use guns
anymore; they come in three-piece suits and use the law, the water. The
only thing that has helped us is that we hung on to our belief system.
That's why we're still here today."
Where the Spirit Lives - color, 97 min., 1990.
PN 1995.9 I48 W53 1989
"Two Native
Indian
children are kidnapped by the government and placed in an environment
where they are emotionally and sometimes sexually abused. Later they are
told that their parents have died and they must remain in the institution,
where they are forced and deceived into giving up their language, their
heritage and - almost their spirits. Their only chance lies in escape."
Page last revised: 5 July 1997.