14th Annual Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video
Films
Chicago connection
Mark Spencer in person!
THE BALLAD OF SADIE HAWKINS
2007, Mark Spencer, USA, 70 min.
With Britanie Buggs, Ron OJ Parson
High-flying dreams fuel a young woman’s bid for stardom on a journey that takes her from her hometown of Gary to the bright lights of Vegas. Sadie (played with gutsy verve by Britanie Buggs) risks losing everything that matters when her dream comes true, but she finds that Midwestern roots can’t easily be severed. Director Spencer and a talented cast from the West Side Theatre Guild make enterprising use of northern Indiana locations, including the Gary airport, Majestic Star Casino, and a Michigan City park. DV-CAM video. (BS)
Preceded by CURTAIN CALL.
CURTAIN CALL
2007, Hezekiah Lewis, USA, 17 min.
With Stephen Rider, Hezekiah Lewis Jr.
An African American actor competing for the plum role of Hamlet faces prejudice and the tyranny of tradition while inner demons mount a larger battle for his soul. HDCAM video. (BS)
Mark Spencer, director of THE BALLAD OF SADIE HAWKINS, will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Sunday, August 10, 5:00 pm
Tuesday, August 12, 8:15 pm
‘BAMA GIRL
2008, Rachel Goslins, USA, 72 min.
Although the University of Alabama desegregated 45 years ago, many of the old ways live on via “The Machine,” an all-white Greek cabal that controls campus life and whose power is challenged by feisty African American honor student Jessica Joyce Thomas in her uphill quest to be elected Homecoming Queen. Northerners might be amazed by the school’s extraordinary emphasis on extracurricular activities, and by such campus institutions as “Old South Week” in which frat boys wear Confederate uniforms, but director Goslins’s attitude is smart and subtle rather than snide, as she turns a suspenseful election battle into a microcosm of the contradictions of contemporary Southern life. HD video.
Preceded by CHAMPION SOUND.
CHAMPION SOUND
2007, Andre Mallette Jr., USA, 27 min.
With Emeka Nnadi, Tia Robinson
Friday, August 8, 6:15 pm
Tuesday, August 12, 6:15 pm
Special advance screening
Elvis Mitchell in person!
Free admission!
THE BLACK LIST, VOL. 1
2008, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, USA, 65 min.
THE BLACK LIST, VOL. 1 presents dramatic portraits of some of today’s most fascinating and influential African Americans, who share their stories and insights into the struggles, triumphs and joys of black life in the U.S. The film is a collaboration between celebrated portrait photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, who directs, and award-winning journalist Elvis Mitchell, who interviews such notables as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sean Combs, Thelma Golden, Lou Gossett, Jr., Bill T. Jones, Vernon Jordan, Toni Morrison, Suzanne-Lori Parks, Richard Parsons, Chris Rock, Al Sharpton, Slash, Faye Wattleton, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and Zane. DigiBeta video. (Description courtesy of HBO)
Critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell will be present for audience discussion.
Ticket-holders are invited to a pre-show wine-and-cheese reception beginning at 7:00 pm. This special screening and reception are generously hosted by HBO.
Tuesday, August 5, 8:15 pm
Director in Person!
BONGOLAND II:
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
2008, Josiah Kibira, Tanzania, 100 min.
With Peter Omari, Thecla Mjatta
In his first film BONGOLAND (2003), Josiah Kibira related the misadventures of Juma, a Tanzanian immigrant in Minnesota. In this self-sufficient sequel, Juma returns to Tanzania (aka Bongoland) to manage a company. His American-style ideas about efficiency and motivation meet with a less than enthusiastic response, and, when Mom’s visit produces some jaw-dropping revelations, he discovers that his relationship to his homeland has become even more tenuous. The film’s sharp, angry satire recalls such Ousmane Sembene classics as XALA and GUELWAAR. In Swahili with English subtitles. DV-CAM video. (MR)
Director Josiah Kibira will be present for audience discussion on Friday.
Friday, August 15, 6:15 pm
Wednesday, August 20, 6:15 pm
Chicago connection
Filmmakers in person!
CAUGHT IN THE GAME
2008, Michael Merrill, USA, 104 min.
With Cordell Williams, Amanda Dee, Simeon Henderson
The game of love intersects with a cheater’s game of life when real estate whiz Lisa, who’s clandestinely laundering money for her drug-dealer boyfriend, meets Joshua, the man who just might topple her little world of high living and second-rate romance. Director Merrill (EVEN TRADE, COMATOSE) aptly juggles the conflicted intimacy of a love triangle with the claws-out camaraderie of Lisa’s big-money profession in a finely scripted bait-and-switch story. Simeon Henderson is a standout in the role of Joshua. Beta SP video. (BS)
Director Mike Merrill and other members of the cast and crew will be present for audience discussion on Friday and Monday.
Friday, August 22, 8:15 pm
Monday, August 25, 8:15 pm
Thursday, August 28, 6:15 pm
Filmmakers in person!
FAUBOURG TREMÉ:
THE UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK NEW ORLEANS
2008, Dawn Logsdon, USA, 68 min.
Located just outside the French quarter and little frequented by tourists, Faubourg Tremé is New Orleans’ most fascinating, history-rich neighborhood--the fabled birthplace of jazz, the epicenter of civil rights battles long before Rosa Parks, and a mecca for poets, painters, and composers to rival the Harlem Renaissance. Dawn Logsdon began documenting Tremé five years before Katrina hit, little realizing how much would disappear. Times-Picayune columnist Lolis Eric Elie serves as our guide, interviewing the residents and revisiting the past of a unique community that has survived catastrophes (Jim Crow, urban renewal) before. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Director Dawn Logsdon, producer Lucie Faulknor, and writer Lolis Eric Elie will be present for audience discussion at both screenings. Following Saturday's audience discussion will a be a reception hosted by NOLA in Chicago with music provided by New Orleans-born singer Tovi Khali and her band.
Saturday, August 23, 6:15 pm
Monday, August 25, 6:15 pm
Chicago connection
Filmmakers in person!
THE GILDED SIX-BITS
2006, Mark Spencer, USA, 66 min.
With Ansa Akyea, Erynn Mackenzie
Adapted for the screen by Chicago playwright David Barr III from the short story by Harlem-Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston, THE GILDED SIX-BITS is a Depression-era tale of betrayal and forgiveness set in a small Florida town. From the distance of decades, an old man reflects back on the threat posed to his newlywed happiness the day a slick stranger came to town. Solid performances and colorful period settings characterize this production shot entirely in Gary, Indiana, with a cast from the West Side Theatre Guild. DV-CAM video. (BS)
THE DOLL
2007, Dante James, USA, 19 min.
With Clayton LeBouef, Jan Forbes
Emmy-winning producer James (Slavery and the Making of America) directs THE DOLL, based on a story by Charles W. Chesnutt. A small-town barber circa 1900 faces a crisis of conscience when the man who killed his father settles into his chair for a shave. Beta SP video (BS)
Mark Spencer, director of THE GILDED SIX-BITS, and Dante James, director of THE DOLL, will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Sunday, August 24, 5:00 pm
Wednesday, August 27, 6:15 pm
Director in person!
A GOOD DAY TO BE BLACK & SEXY
2008, Dennis Dortch, USA, 92 min.
With Kathryn Taylor, Brandon Valley Jones
“An entertaining glimpse into black sexuality and romance.”--Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter
Few films have treated sexuality--black, white, or otherwise--with such startling candor as Dennis Dortch’s wave-making debut feature. What makes the film so effective is its grasp of emotional as well as physical intimacy, as displayed in six erotic, ironic episodes, including a sly woman who plays power games with oral sex, an intrusive cell phone that brings about a playa’s downfall, a curious teenage girl who grows up fast on the Fourth of July, and an Asian girl who attempts to hide her live-in black boyfriend from her parents. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Director Dennis Dortch will be present on Saturday for audience discussion.
Saturday, August 23, 8:30 pm
Wednesday, August 27, 8:30 pm
HEART OF FIRE
(FEUERHERZ)
2008, Luigi Falorni, Germany, 94 min.
With Letekidan Micael, Solomie Micael
The producers of NOWHERE IN AFRICA and the director of THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL join forces to create another sensitive and revealing look at an unfamiliar culture. Raised in an orphanage run by Italian nuns, 10-year-old Awet is suddenly reclaimed by her father and forced to fight in the long and bitter Eritrean civil war. Though based on a true story, this gritty drama is no “misery memoir”--as portrayed by the remarkably assured Letekidan Micael, Awet is a tough, shrewd individual who learns how to survive without losing her humanity. In Tigrinya and Italian with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)
Friday, August 22, 6:15 pm
Tuesday, August 26, 6:15 pm
Filmmakers in person!
KINGS OF THE EVENING
2008, Andrew P. Jones, USA, 99 min.
With Tyson Beckford, Lynn Whitfield, Glynn Turman, Linara Washington, Reginald T. Dorsey
Winner of the Audience Award at the San Francisco Black Film Festival and Best Film at the San Diego Black Film Festival, KINGS OF THE EVENING uses superb ensemble acting and rich period atmosphere to tell a genuinely moving story from a difficult era of American history. Returning to his small Texas town during the depths of the Great Depression, recently released convict Homer Hobbs (Beckford) finds that life is scarcely less arduous outside of jail. The black community struggles not just to survive, but to maintain their pride and self-respect--an aspiration epitomized by a weekly contest (based on a South African custom) in which local men compete to be the snazziest of them all. 35mm. (MR)
Director Andrew P. Jones, actress Linara Washington (a University of Chicago graduate), and actor Reginald T. Dorsey will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Saturday, August 16, 8:15 pm
Thursday, August 21, 7:30 pm
LIBERTY KID
2007, Ilya Chaiken, USA, 93 min.
With Al Thompson, Kareem Savinon
“There’s not a single wrong note in LIBERTY KID...tender, wise and deceptively low-key.”--Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
New York critics praised this festival prize-winner as one of the subtlest yet most effective films to capture the impact of 9/11 on the city. Two buddies working at a Statue of Liberty concession lose their jobs after the towers fall; over the ensuing years, their friendship is put to the test by poverty, drugs, war, jealousy, and jail. As in her earlier feature MARGARITA HAPPY HOUR, writer-director Chaiken demonstrates a sure sense of place and characterization in capturing the authentic textures of urban life. HD video.
Preceded by URBAN GENESIS.
URBAN GENESIS
2007, Larry Bryant, USA, 15 min.
With Christopher Carrington, Stephen Rider
Living with his daughter after a 20-year prison stretch, Clifford sees a mirror-image of his younger self in her hostile boyfriend. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Monday, August 11, 6:00 pm
Wednesday, August 13, 6:15 pm
Chicago connection
David Muhammad in person!
THE OPPOSITE OF LIFE
2008, David Muhammad, USA, 88 min.
With Sarah Kopp, Zach Hawkins
Explosive family drama centers on wrenching choices faced by two women. Teenaged Ashley confesses to her boyfriend that she’s been raped and is now pregnant with her attacker’s child. Law student Terri conceals from her husband the unexpected positive results of her home pregnancy test. Director Muhammad places the conflicted women and their two men in the eye of the storm when the question of abortion becomes personal and the question of who makes the choice becomes a deal breaker. Mini-DV video. (BS)
Director David Muhammad will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Sunday, August 17, 5:00 pm
Tuesday, August 19, 6:15 pm
Chicago connection
Filmmakers in person!
THE PARTY LINE
2006, Deri Tyton, USA, 88 min.
With Derek Dow, Natasha Parker
This romantic comedy by the director of TOOT’S AND BLOW’S sparkles with a lively cast and highlights locations around Chicago’s South Side, including the venerable Army & Lou’s restaurant. A jinxed Valentine’s Day dawns with Spank heading for a breakup with his girlfriend thanks to a certain hidden camera in the bedroom. A buddy clues him in to The Party Line, a telephone hookup source, and the adventure begins for this “party-line virgin,” with women including a crazy dominatrix, a baby-mama looking for a new sugar daddy, and the inimitable “Peaches.” DV-CAM video. (BS)
Director Deri Tyton and other members of the cast and crew will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Saturday, August 9, 8:15 pm
Thursday, August 14, 8:30 pm
Filmmakers in person!
PUBLIC ENEMY:
WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME
2007, Robert Patton-Spruill, USA, 100 min.
The greatest of all hip-hop groups gets the portrait it deserves in this candid, compelling documentary that captures the unique chemistry among Public Enemy’s three key members: front man Chuck D, loose cannon Flavor Flav, and controversialist Professor Griff. Rousing live concert performances of such anthems as “911 Is a Joke,” “Son of a Bush,” and “Shut ‘Em Down” demonstrate the group’s undiminished power, while admirers such as Spike Lee, Beastie Boys, Henry Rollins, Ice Cube, DMC, and Talib Kweli testify to their enormous influence. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Producers Walter Leaphart Jr. and Lathan Hodge will be present for audience discussion on Friday.
Friday, August 8, 8:15 pm
Wednesday, August 13, 8:30 pm
Chicago connection
Calvin Standifer in person!
Shorts Program: Being a Woman
2007-8, Various directors, USA, 94 min.
There’s no one formula for being your own woman, as illustrated by this resourceful, hopeful selection of shorts. A lonely journalist sees a kindred spirit in a 9-year-old boy who might be an equally lonely teller of tall tales in Rosalynn Coleman Williams’s DRAWING ANGEL (2007, 19 min.). A young slave pregnant by her man but hounded by her lustful master chooses her own form of freedom in Karen Hayes’s AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL (2007, 19 min.). A faltering marriage is the catalyst for a wife’s journey from passivity to prolific creativity in Calvin Standifer’s FREE TO BE FREE (2008, 27 min.). A talented dancer struggles to balance single motherhood with waning dreams of a Broadway career in Randall Dottin’s LIFTED (2008, 29 min.). Various video formats. (BS)
Calvin Standifer, director of FREE TO BE FREE, will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Monday, August 11, 8:15 pm
Thursday, August 14, 6:15 pm
Chicago connection
Filmmakers in person!
Shorts Program: Chicago Connected
2007-8, Various directors, USA, 90 min.
Four films featuring Chicago talent: Family discord reigns in Kameishia Wooten’s SOUTHERN CROSS (2007, 12 min.) when a little girl becomes enamored of a colorful cushion bearing an all-too-familiar motif. A husband’s reverie of lovemaking with his wife in Adedapo Akisanya’s BEHIND CLOSED EYES (2008, 15 min.) gives away to a nightmare scenario. The young dude in Torsten Evans’s THE DIRTY BIRD (2007, 26 min.) nearly sinks his social life by treating friends to lowdown behavior. In Francis Polo’s 9 TO 5 (2008, 30 min.) trouble looms for an upscale couple when their little boy isn’t the only one asking what daddy really does for a living. Various video formats. (BS)
Directors Kameishia Wooten, Adedapo Akisanya, Torsten Evans, and Francis Polo will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Monday, August 18, 8:15 pm
Wednesday, August 20, 8:15 pm
Chicago connection
Filmmakers in person!
Shorts Program: Love African American Style
2007-8, Various directors, USA, 75 min.
Five films that look into the heart and under the sheets: In Tyrone Huff’s hilarious CHILES (2007, 15 min.), a young black man has to win over his Latina girlfriend’s hostile father, and the weapon of choice is chile peppers. Kofi A. Oliver’s sharply written VISTA/VIEW (2007, 17 min.) explores hanky-panky in a Hollywood apartment court. In Stacy Pyles’s MISTA NICE GUY (2007, 12 min.), revenge is sweet--and profitable--for the lone tomcat in an office full of she-cats. Darnell T. Nesbitt’s RARE FORM (2008, 15 min.) is a raunchy fable about an uptight husband’s inhibition-loosening encounter with a swinging couple. Michael Larnell’s IT SOOTHES MY SOUL (2008, 16 min.) is the tragicomic tale of a dedicated stud who doesn’t believe in protection. Various formats. (MR)
Please note: Due to scheduling conflicts, the post-screening reception scheduled for Thursday, August 28, has been cancelled. The Gene Siskel Film Center apologizes for the inconvenience.
Tuesday, August 26, 8:15 pm
Thursday, August 28, 8:15 pm
Filmmakers in person!
SOUL OF A WOMAN
2006, David Weathersby, USA, 79 min.
Film portraits of twenty-five minority women artists representing the U.S., Tibet, and Rwanda are rendered in a stark and timeless setting as their words and their works unfold in lush beauty. A major exhibition of the same title mounted by the South Shore Cultural Center was the basis for this documentary, which features artists including Pearlie Taylor, Yaounde Olú, Michelle Reyes, Carol Sawall, Duhirwe Rushemeza, Johannah Silva, Luzviminda Calo, Katie Hogan, and Esther Issachar. Mini-DV video. (BS)
Director David Weathersby and curator Tony Smith will be present for audience discussion at both screenings. A brief performance by the percussion collective Drum Divas will conclude the Q & A on Sunday.
Sunday, August 3, 5:15 pm
Thursday, August 7, 6:15 pm
Chicago connection
Filmmakers in person!
SUBTLE SEDUCTION
2008, Christopher Nolen, USA, 88 min.
With Jacquelynn “Jaci” Williamson, Eric Lane
Sexy intrigue and male rivalry make for an entertaining mix in a production loaded with local talent. Vanessa sees every man as a lowdown cheater and is hell-bent on proving it before exacting her own special brand of revenge. Two bullheaded cops in an escalating rivalry vie to stop the lethal lady in her tracks: suave Damien moves into the lead by acting as bait, but will his feisty nemesis Reuben (Simeon Henderson) be first at the finish line? Mini-DV video. (BS)
Director Christopher Nolen and other members of the cast and crew will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Friday, August 15, 8:15 pm
Tuesday, August 19, 8:30 pm
Chicago connection
Filmmakers in person!
T.A.C.T.I.C.A.L.
2007, Sidney “Mansa” Winters, USA, 110 min.
With Eric Lane, Tommy “Red” Phipps, Simeon Henderson
A paramilitary police unit sets out to hunt one of their own, an officer with amnesia, on the lam with a lingerie-clad gangster’s moll in tow. The cause of justice appears to be MIA while this action-oriented adventure zigzags between tension-filled chase sequences and unexpected flashes of comedy before the mystery of the secret brotherhood of cops is revealed. DigiBeta video. (BS)
Director Sidney “Mansa” Williams and other members of the cast and crew will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Saturday, August 2, 8:15 pm
Wednesday, August 6, 8:15 pm
Special advance screening
TROUBLE THE WATER
2008, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, USA, 90 min.
“Superb...one of the best American documentaries in recent memory.”--Manohla Dargis, The New York Times.
A sensation at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, TROUBLE THE WATER is one of the most compelling documents to emerge from the Katrina catastrophe. Filmmakers Lessin and Deal went to New Orleans to cover the activities of the National Guard, but, after being blocked by red tape, chanced upon a much more interesting subject in the form of Kimberley Roberts--Ninth Ward resident, rapper, and amateur videographer. What emerges from her on-the-spot footage and powerful personality is an amazing story of authentic heroism in face of unimaginable adversity. Special advance screening courtesy of Zeitgeist Films. 35mm. (MR)
Wednesday, August 6, 6:15 pm
WHITE LIES, BLACK SHEEP
2007, James Spooner, USA, 78 min.
With Ayindé Howell, Jeremy Bobb
Winner of the Black Harvest Audience Award in 2003, James Spooner’s documentary AFRO-PUNK dealt with the double alienation of African Americans in the punk movement. His latest film examines a similar phenomenon in both fictional and metafictional form. A largely offscreen filmmaker named James follows the go-go-go lifestyle of AJ, a young scenester whose specialty is organizing ultra-hip parties. Dating white girls and acting less “black” than his white hip-hop friends, AJ considers himself above racial categories, until a series of unsettling incidents precipitates an identity crisis. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Preceded by SPENT.
SPENT
2008, Boris Schaarschmidt, USA, 15 min.
With Tracy Costello, Lee Garlington
The road to ruin is paved with designer duds and “It” bags for a young L.A. realtor who finds that conspicuous consumption comes with a hefty hidden price tag. HD video. (BS)
