Tuesday,
April 14 at 7pm
Scribe
Video Center Producers’
Forum
The
Masculinity Project
Produced
by the National Black Programming Consortium
Filmmakers
Phil Bertelsen, Nonso Christian Ugbode & El Sawyer in person
The
American black male character is often the product of a popular
culture image without true context. The Masculinity Project
is a new media project conceived and produced by the National
Black Programming Consortium, which tells an intergenerational
story of black maleness intended to broaden the very definition
of the word "masculinity."
BmX
dir.
Tesfaye Negussie, Jed Kim & Tristan Ahone, US, video, 10
mins
Rob, a twenty-something extreme BMX bike riding enthusiast from
the Bronx, balances a less than stellar financial position with
the overwhelming desire to be the next best extreme BMX biker.
Harlem
Greenthumb
dir. Kay Shaw, Nonso Christian Ugbode & Tate Nova, US,
video, 8 mins
On the corner of 131st Street and Madison Avenue in Harlem,
a group of retired men meet every other day to cultivate vegetables
and friendship. When a developer buys the lot they have lovingly
tended they must face the loss of not only their garden but
the community they have created.
Remix:
Outside Looking In
dir.
Phil Bertelsen & Sabrina S Gordon, US, video, 10 mins
Filmmaker
Phil Bertelsen explores his layered heritage through his own
trans-racial adoption and that of his young nephew, also named
Phil, who is living a parallel existence. Together uncle and
nephew explore the changing fault lines of black male identity
which still continue to evolve.
Barack
& Curtis: Manhood, Power & Respect
dir. Byron Hurt, US, video, 10 mins
Filmmaker Byron Hurt (Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes)
conceived of this short doc just as Barack Obama was emerging
as a presidential front-runner and rapper/mogul Curtis Jackson,
aka 50 Cent was named Forbes Magazine's top-earning
rapper. On the surface, Obama's manhood appeared to be the polar
opposite of the image of black masculinity we've come to expect
from hip-hop and popular culture. Yet both are rock stars, feared
and admired. This juxtaposition is intended to stimulate conversations
about how these black men have taken different paths to achieve
manhood, power and respect.
Beirut
Boys
dir. El Sawyer, prod Eugene Martin, US, video, 27 mins
Living in North Philadelphia, 17-year-old Derrick Toler navigates
two worlds, shifting between "corner boy" and aspiring
college student. Filmmaker El Sawyer collaborates with Derek
and the other self-dubbed “Beirut Boys” of the Fairhill neighborhood
to create vivid portraits of their lives. Central to the film
are Derrick’s video diary entries as he transitions to a life
out of his neighborhood and the riveting spoken word interludes
performed in the streets.
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