THE OBENSON REPORT

Covering Cinema From All Across The African Diaspora

SHORT SHOT - New Short From “Waltz with Bashir" Animation Director

Posted on 1:31 PM comments (1)
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As the international community debates the closure policy in the Gaza Strip, the director of animation of the Oscar-nominated Waltz with Bashir has some harsh messages to convey in his new animated short about Gaza.

During the past 2 years, Israel tightened its grip on Gaza, almost completely restricting the passage of goods and people both to and from the Strip.


PRINT - All-Negro Comics!

Posted on 11:08 PM comments (1)
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print


Hmmm... this is very interesting. I wasn't aware of All-Negro Comics, until I read the below article about its auction.

All-Negro Comics was America’s first-ever comic book, written, illustrated and published entirely by African-Americans, aimed primarily at African American readers. This was in the late 1940s, by the way.

My brief research revealed that there have been relatively few mainstream comic books published by and intended primarily for black audiences. These include Negro Romance (1950) Negro Heroes (1947 - 1948), the venereal disease educational Little Willie (1949), Fast Willie Jackson (1976 – 1977), and a line of comics published by DC Comics in the 1990s (including Blood Syndicate, Hardware, Icon, Kobalt, Shadow Cabinet and others).

According to the AP, the single issue of All-Negro Comics is up for auction.

A copy of All-Negro Comics No. 1, as it was called, is up for sale by comics entrepreneur Stephen Fishler. He says the comic is very rare - lasting one issue in 1947.

All-Negro Comics sold for 15 cents and was the brainchild of a black Philadelphia journalist, Orrin C. Evans.

The comic book, featuring such characters as detective Ace Harlem and Hep Chicks on Parade, is for sale as part of the online ComicConnect Event Auction. It began Feb. 27 and continues March 13, 14 and 15.

Apparently, within the pages of this single issue you'll find: a violent detective story; followed by a fairytale for little children; then an adventure about a Tarzan-like African hero; and finally, a sex-comedy about two opportunistic tramps.

I'd love to get my hands on this!

Anyone familiar? Read the comic book? I'd love to get some first-hand opinions.

Check out more images from its pages below... including the inside-front-cover which details the career of publisher, writer and president of All-Negro Comics, Inc., Orrin. C. Evans: “Former reporter and editor in the Negro newspaper field. Over a period of more than 25 years, he served with the Afro-American newspapers, the Chicago Defender, the Philadelphia Tribune, the Philadelphia Independent, the Public Journal and the American and Musician and Sportsman’s Magazine. He also has been a contributor to the Crisis, official organ of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.”

(click to enlarge)




via FORBES & ODDBALL COMICS

PODCAST - # 46: W/ Aaron Ingram (ActNow Foundation) & Pete Chatmon (Premium)

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Podcast #46

TRT: 60 Minutes

Episode Notes:

- Tambay briefly waxes on the economy and Rush Limbaugh's recent comments.

- Guest, Aaron Ingram, founder and operator of ActNow Foundation, a Brooklyn-based, black-owned and operated non-profit film and theatre company.

- Guest, Pete Chatmon, writer/director of Premium, and founder and operator of the Double 7 Film family of ventures, as well as the 2008 Tribeca All Access award winner for his upcoming film, $Free.99.

Listen below, or subscribe and download for FREE via iTunes. Just open up iTunes on your computer and search for "Obenson Report" in the iTunes store, where you will also find archives of previous shows.





Cheers!

MONDAY FUNNIES - Have You Seen Jesus?

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What's even more humorous about this compilation is that the Jesus they all claim to have seen is the conventional, western, man-made depiction we've all seen in various pieces of artistic renditions of the man. How convenient...

SHORT SHOT - Evangeleo

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short


Figured I'd start taking a closer look at short films by black filmmakers, since worthwhile features are severely lacking!

I've highlighted a few already - most recently Hug, by Khary Jones, which was a Sundance 2009 selection, and will also be at South By Southwest this month.

I just watched an atmospheric 20-minute horror short called Evangeleo by Brandon Harris.

Brandon is a Brooklyn neighbor of mine, and writes for several outlets, notably Filmmaker magazine, Spout Blog, and Hammer To Nail, amongst others. He's also one of the other bloggers featured in a documentary that I was also in - Indie Film Blogger Road Trip, by Sujewa Ekanayake. Riding the bus on my way home this evening, I ran into Brandon, and, amongst other things, asked him where I could see his short film (something I'd been asking him since we first met last summer). And he let me know that the entire film was available for screening on its IMDB page. Once I got home, I got on my laptop, headed for IMDB.com and checked it out. And you could do the same.

By the way, during the film's shoot, the male lead, Irungu Mutu, lived a floor above me in my apartment building. And his sister, an artist with growing fame, Wangechi Mutu, is my landlord.

So, it feels like a family affair :o)

Here's a direct link to Evangeleo, a horror film, which Brandon states was inspired by Bill Gunn's 1973 classic Ganja & Hess, a film I've mentioned previously on this blog.

WARNING - it's not for the squeamish.

I would embed it here, but IMDB foolishly doesn't allow for that, so here ya go: EVANGELEO

SUNDAY FUNNIES - Don't Make Barack Obama Angry... You Won't Like Him When He's Angry...

Posted on 5:42 PM comments (2)
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The Rock Obama lives! Haha - this was funny! Fans of the Incredible Hulk will appreciate!

From last night's Saturday Night Live episode:

SCREENING SIGHTING - A Dry White Season

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The first studio film directed by a black woman can now be screened for free via Hulu.com - Martinique-born Euzhan Palcy's A Dry White Season, which she also co-wrote.

The 1989 film stars Donald Sutherland as a white South African schoolteacher, ignorant about racism in his country, who becomes involved when his black gardener is killed. Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon co-star.

Certainly not Palcy's best work - for that see her debut, Sugar Cane Alley - but, still worth a look, if only for its above significance.

Watch it in full below.

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