THE OBENSON REPORT

Covering Cinema From All Across The African Diaspora
Showing posts with label short shot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short shot. Show all posts

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.


SHORT SHOT - Evangeleo

Posted on 7:04 PM comments (2)
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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

SUNDANCE 2009 - Shorts On iTunes

Posted on 10:42 AM No Comments
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This year 10 short films from the 2009 Sundance Film Festival will be presented as FREE content available January 15th through the 25th, exclusively on iTunes.

All 10 short films are available for viewing for the 10-day period.

Sundance, via iTunes, will be spotlighting one of the ten films every day, including the behind-the-scenes story on the film's production.

The festival's day one spotlight is a film called Hug, by fellow Brooklyn-based African American filmmaker, Khary Jones.

Hug was made as part of the MFA in Film Directing program at Columbia University.

You'll have to go to iTunes to download and watch the short, which I'll be doing right after posting this.

Here's the direct link, which will open up iTunes on your computer: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMovie?id=301220079&s=143441

For the full list of 09 films, visit iTunes.com/Sundance

SHORT SHOT - Black Women Walking

Posted on 1:27 PM comments (3)
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Speaking of over-sexualized black men...

I remember once, as I walked down a busy mid-town New York city sidewalk, about 10 feet behind a young black lady, who was soon accosted by a black man, as he put his arms around her, pulling her into his body, as if he knew who she was, and had that kind of intimate relationship with her. At least, from my POV, that's what it looked like.

However, I quickly realized that wasn't quite the case, when the woman immediately shoved the man, pushing him away from her, angrily, as she yelled various obscenities at him, all while he simply laughed.

By now, the mass of people around me, walking in my direction, had reached a red "Don't Walk" traffic light. The young lady and the man who harassed her were also at the light, still several feet ahead of me. It was then that her words became much clearer to me, when I heard her say something like, "who the fuck do you think you are, walking up on me like you know me. If my boyfriend was here he would kick your fucking ass. Fucking asshole!"

And still this poor excuse for a man continued to laugh, responding to her with words like, "oh come on baby... honey... sistah..." etc.

The light changed, and the young lady stormed ahead, while the dude went off in another direction, laughing it all off, obviously not realizing just how incredibly wrong what he did was - or maybe he was aware, but just didn't care... because he's a man, and she's a woman, and he believed that he had the upper hand.

I was dumbfounded at his boldness! I've seen and heard men call out to women as they pass by, sometimes incorporating insults, and other times not so much. But rarely have I seen a man actually put his hands on a woman the way the above idiot did.

Of course, neither scenario is appropriate.

Black Woman Walking, created by artist, Tracey Rose, presents a dialogue among women of color that explores the nuances of street harassment. Through personal stories and analysis, the women interviewed reveal how this accepted, socially tolerable form of violence affects the way they view themselves, the men in their communities, and the potential for violence that lives at the intersection of race and gender. Brooklyn Arts Festival

I appreciate and applaud the effort by the artist in the video below, but I don't necessarily like what feels like an obvious comparison of black men (the bad) and white men (the good). A few times in the film, black female interviewees make distinctions between the two - often implying that the above kind of behavior is common only amongst black men, which is misleading, and I think dangerous to continue to emphasize! I'd say that this is less about race and more about class (a word that always make me cringe whenever I hear/see/speak it). None of the black men I know personally would behave this way. And I've witnessed several instances in which white men are the culprits.

Short Shot - Blaxploitation Meets Godard

Posted on 8:17 PM No Comments
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The film is called Happiness Is No Fun, and is described by the filmmaker, Brandon Harris, as "a short blaxploitation-tinged remake of Godard's seminal Breathless."

Of course it really helps if you've seen Godard's innovative original 1960 work before you watch this one, otherwise you'll miss all the references.

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