myDylarama

Vanguard Film Festival at Arnolfini

Elizabeth Mizon — 2021-10-26T18:06:52Z

The Vanguard Film Festival was the final of three events making up Vanguard x Vans: On The Screen in Bristol this autumn, a “celebration of street art and skateboarding history”. An advertising boon for skateboarding apparel manufacturer Vans, no doubt, the festival also served to draw attention to street art collective Vanguard's debut exhibition at M Shed: Bristol Street Art: The Evolution of a Global Movement, which runs until 31st October.

That the organisations chose to split their festival into three smaller events seems unnecessary given the cohesion of their themes. However each event was distinct; the films at today's final offering, The Vanguard Film Festival, related specifically to the history of hip hop's street art elements, delivering an almost entirely documentary record of the birth of the graffiti movement, its political and economic fabric, and the connections made between US and UK grassroots cultures.

The line up comprised the world's “first hip-hop feature” and US cult classic Wild Style (1982); the UK documentary Bombin' (1988) featuring a young paint-can wielding Goldie; and Martha: A Picture Story (2019), a dynamic and touching documentary about veteran photographer Martha Cooper, who struggled to get the attention she deserved for devotedly capturing the 1970's NYC street art movement as it was born.

Cooper conducted this street photography around her assignments as the New York Post's first female photographer where her editor had directed her to simply “look for cleavage”. A favourite of mainstream documentary festivals around the world on its release, Martha: A Picture Story was an excellent choice to end on; it gave us a masterful, relatable character-led insight into a dynamic and resonant period of history and, unlike the film's direct contemporary Finding Vivian Maier, one from whom we can still hear. And we did - the festival flew Cooper herself over for a Q&A to finish the day's schedule.

The other two films were also plenty interesting, especially when viewed side by side. Wild Style is almost a drama-documentary; largely a fictionalised ‘slice of life' for street artist ‘Zoro' (played by legendary NYC graffiti artist Lee Quiñones), it has long segments showing parties, club nights headed by Grand Master Flash, montages of shuttling el-trains covered in technicolour lettering and (seemingly) improvised dialogue the authenticity of which is doubtless, if a little wooden. The film frequently makes for dated viewing, but is fun - and a crucial time capsule.

Bombin' then gave an insight into just how strongly the real-life characters of Wild Style would immediately influence art and culture in the UK, as young people discovering the messages of the hip-hop scene were also suffering at the hands of police, poverty, and inner city life. We saw young artist Brim Fuentes and his contemporaries invited to the UK to give hip-hop workshops, voraciously attended by young Thatcher-addled kids. We were also introduced to forerunning young British hip hop artists including a teenage Goldie who, in return, visits Brim in the Bronx. He, too, attended for a Q&A.

Vanguard x Vans: On The Screen was held entirely at the city's premier contemporary art gallery, the Arnolfini, which has often housed important and radical work. But the Arnolfini audience is staunchly white middle-class.

Hosting events celebrating ‘underground/radical/urban/[insert label]' culture in deeply white spaces is not uncommon for corporate funded events, but it was particularly rankling alongside the films characters' vocalisation of how poverty and lack of funding for their activities was affecting their lives. It wasn't a surprise that we didn't see today's Anglo-side equivalent of South Bronx youth turn up, even though the festival was free.

I often wonder in these situations whether the organisers explored holding the event in the community spaces of less affluent areas - numerous film festivals, events and individual screenings, almost certainly with less financial backing, do so throughout the year.

More importantly, it just seems like common sense; a clear effort towards making a small, but key, change to a segregated art scene almost 40 years after Wild Style and Bombin' showed us theirs.

Here's more info on the festival. All three film festivals ran alongside the exhibition Vanguard: Bristol Street Art which finishes on Sunday 31st October 2021.

Our Picks + Waves

Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green, Matt Howsam — 2020-09-13T08:40:40Z

This week we are joined by Matt Howsam, a production coordinator in the VFX industry and a film critic.

We mention the hilarious and highly original One Cut Of The Dead by Shin'ichirô Ueda, a Japanese Zombie comedy in the style of some of the best mockumentaries out there and a homage to low budget filmmaking. Depending on where you are you can watch it on Shudder or buy the DVD (it's from 2017). Abla also highlights the Netflix series Unwell, which looks at the dark side of the wellness industry and some of the products and concepts currently being flogged on the market through - yet again - more MLM initiatives.

For our festival picks, this week we recommend Visionmaker's Indigenous Filmmakers Festival, which runs from 31 August to 5 October, the Encounters Short Film Festival, one of the world's best short ff, which runs from 18 September to 11 October and is offering a £10 pass! A few films to highlight are Mahdi Fleifel's 3 Logical Exits, Clermont-Ferrand Grand Prize winner Anthony Nti's Da Yie and Morad Mostapha's Henet Ward.

Matt recommends Women Make Films, a 14-hour doc series, and the Japanese cinema season, both on BFI Player.

Matt chose to discuss Trey Edward Shults's Waves, a dizzying and theatrical film about a family dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy. We discuss the highly cinematic and aesthetic qualities of the film, the impact that has on the emotional punch of the story and the portrayal of the characters, and the somewhat problematic or baffling portrayal of family dynamics that are very personal to the (white) director through the prism of a black family.

Our Picks + Black Is King (Special Guest)

Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green, George Crosthwait — 2020-08-19T16:41:18Z

For this episode of Mydylarama's Top Picks podcast, we're joined by our guest, academic, film programmer and Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Festival producer George Crosthwait. George Crosthwait.

George's pick of the week, and also his first trip back to the cinema since February, is Shannon Murphy's debut film 'Babyteeth'. An Australian coming-of-age drama that both impressed and confused him due to it's tonal eccentricities.

Abla's picks of the week include Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic (2013), now available on Sky, a pretty engaging and informative documentary about the comedian's life, and a couple of festivals to look out for: the Cologne International Film Festival, whose first - and entertainingly eclectic - edition will run on 11-12 September 2020 across various venues in the city, and the London Kurdish Film Festival (15-24 August), offering a collection of 50 screenings carefully curated into various themes, all available ONLINE and for FREE!

George's choice for this episode take the podcast deep into the beehive for Beyoncé's ambitious new visual album 'Black is King'. A kaleidoscopic collage of symbolism, music and visual splendour, involving an impressive rollcall of African diasporic performers and artists, 'Black is King' is the first in a reported three picture deal between Beyoncé and Disney.

We discuss the film's aesthetic qualities and cultural merit, as well as its more problematic dimensions, its simplistic, potentially fetishistic depiction of a vague and all-encompassing "African" culture, its celebration of opulence and capitalist ambitions as a lever of Black empowerment, and the way it highlights a melancholic search for identity, roots and heritage among many African Americans. We mention a number of other films, namely The Burial Of Kojo, that you can watch on Netflix, the excellent Black Girl by Ousmane Sembene, freely available on YouTube!

As an aside, here is an article Abla mentions about Disney's dodgy credentials when it comes to matters of race and ethnicity - not to mention its history of plagiarism, sexism and dubious business practices.

Our Picks And American Horror Story: Apocalypse

Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green — 2020-08-05T14:38:44Z

Another fortnight, another episode! We start with our picks and move on to a discussion about American Horror Story: Apocalypse (S8, 2018).

As huge horror fans, we'll have other episodes down the line in this genre....

Coco's Top Pick is American Son (2019), performed as a one set straight play, in which an interracial couple waits at the police station for news of their teenage son's whereabouts, revealing the lies a family has told themselves about political race and the limitations of family and love. Despite the gratification of seeing Nia Long and Omar Epps in a sexy thriller, the best thing to say about Fatal Affair (2020) is that it should be saved for date night when you don't really need to finish the film. Two documentaries worth watching are Cannabis (S1E5, The Business of Drugs, 2020), which provides the history of small businesses pushing for legalising the cannabis industry in California and the encroachment of big businesses, and Holy Hell (2016), chronicling 22 years of the Buddhafield cult with file footage from the their videographer, Will Allen, and capturing the emotional journey of Allen's path to accepting the truth.

Abla's picks are thin on the ground, so thankfully Coco's detailed comments more than make up for that! These are Season 1 of The Sinner on Netflix, an intriguing suspenseful watch, led by Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman who both pull off nuanced and engaging performances. Abla brings it up because it illustrates a point about some police departments in the US that resorted to pinning crimes on one person to help expedite cases. This was discussed in this thoroughly informative podcast: In The Dark (Season 1). She's also flagging the upcoming Independent Iraqi Film Festival, which will be screened online, showcasing work often made in very difficult conditions. Keep on eye out for updates on their website.

American Horror Story (2011–present) is a 9 season series that airs on FX. Apocalypse (S8) incorporates the characters and storylines from S1, the 12-episode Murder House (2011) and S3, the 13-episode Coven (2013–14). Apocalypse can be summarised as Hogwarts meets The Shining (1980) meets Ghost (1990) meets Rosemary's Baby (1968) meets The Exorcist (1973) meets Lost (2004–2010) meets The Stand (1994). Although Coco thinks the film does avoid the magical Negro trope, which is endemic in horror and fantasy genres, the Benetton Dream Team cast Blacks, Asians, and Latinos is not enough to cover up the two-dimensional strong, black, and unnecessarily single women, e.g., Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) and Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett); but the series is good fun overall, telling an old story in an interesting way, so is recommended.

Our Picks And The Staircase

Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green — 2020-07-21T11:32:33Z

In this episode, we discuss our picks of the fortnight and focus on true crime documentary The Staircase and the issues that it brings up.

The Dark finale was definitely a highlight, a truly gripping series, with twists and turns as bonkers as those in Lost, with none of the incoherence and sheer wackiness. Palestinian filmmaker Sameer Qumsieh's doc Walled Citizen, in which he explores travelling with the world's lowest ranking passport was screened as part of the Galway FF selection. You will hopefully be able to catch it at the UK Adventure Travel film festival and the Manhattan Film Festival in August.

Kaveh Abbasian's A Long Distance podcast is on Soundcloud. Art of Persia is still available on BBC iPlayer.

Korean Film Nights and Birkbeck's season- Trapped! The Cinema of Confinementstarts this week.

Made-for-TV movie The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel(2019) proved to be more than a melodrama. It's about the price one family paid to change the gospel genre forever and the moving concert scenes are the icing on the cake. Other top picks are College Behind Bars (2019), a four-part documentary series profiling the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) which is a vehicle for inmate rehabilitation, redemption and transformation; and Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (2020) which raises questions around gender and sexuality in Latin American media representation, but bizarrely not race, providing a cautionary tale of ownership and exploitation in show business.

We'll be focusing on Secorro's recommendation - The Staircase, currently available on Netflix, and discuss issues it brings up around culpability, social and marital expectations, the nature of factual evidence and all sorts of anecdotes. Tip: Watch ALL 13 episodes to understand the full scope of the discussion!

Top 5 on Netflix - The Black Middle Classes

Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green — 2020-07-09T13:15:15Z

Mydy's second podcast! It's the second part Secorro's look at the Netflix Black Lives Matter collection and associated films. We're still tinkering with tech and format. Other episodes will feature discussions with more back and forth, as well as interviews and guest spots. As always, comments welcome!

This week, from five films on Netflix, (1) Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker (2020); (2) Strong Island (2017); (3) Skin (2019); (4) I Am Not Your Negro (2016); and (5) Black Privilege (2019) emerges the theme of the ‘Black Middle Classes.' While they all hit the mark for entertainment value, some fall short in misrepresenting a fantasy of black life that is more based-on-aspirational than matter-of-fact; and the documentaries provide insights on the functions, politics, and practices of black middle classes.

In light of the solidarity expressed by the Black Lives Matter movement - and other protesters and campaigners - with Palestinians, our intro is about Palestinian films that shed light on the current issue of annexation. Abla talks about the London Palestine Film Festival collection, Mats Grorud's The Tower (available via Amazon Prime), Wassim Safadi's State of Siege (available on YouTube) and Mahdi Fleifel's A World Not Ours (also Amazon Prime). Get in touch if you want more info about any of these!

Double-bill from the London Migration Film Festival 2018

Kai Ellis — 2018-11-15T08:36:14Z

The Postman by Vahid Keshavarz

Vahid Keshavarz's documentary short The Postman profiles Hadi, an Iranian poet living in London and working as a postman. There is a quiet dignity to Hadi as he goes about his round, scribbling his verses as they come to him on Royal Mail delivery cards, fearful of forgetting them later on. Hadi doesn't talk of fleeing Iran, but rather of coming to London to follow his wife as she undertook a post-graduate course in 2004. We see him contemplatively take a smoking break while sat on a wall as we hear him read his poetry in Farsi. It's unfortunate that in places the English sub-titles have not been proof-read, which is a distraction at times. He laments that “there is not much eye contact here between the people.” Keshavarz takes a considered pace for this simple portrait, but I couldn't help feeling that we could have got to know Hadi more than we do. At one point we see him return home to collate the day's stanzas and he calls up to his child, but this is not developed, and there is seemingly no sign of his wife either, leaving the viewer to wonder if she remains a part of his life. Still, it's a timely reminder of those who visit us every day, often taken for granted, and have a story of their own to tell.

Watch the film in our Short of the Week section.

Our Kind of Love by Azeem Bhati, Elham Ehsas

Azeem Bhati and Elham Ehsas share writing and directing credit on this charming short that tells the story of a young couple, Samira (Afsaneh Dehrouyeh) and Harun (Elham Ehsas), who are seemingly on a blind date. We meet them in a London sushi restaurant, both nervous yet clearly attracted to each other. We learn that Samira has only recently arrived from Afghanistan whereas Harun is evidently a seasoned Londoner, albeit of Afghani heritage. Initial small talk of the difference between dogs in London and Kabul (in the former they are pets, in the latter guard dogs) and their shared love of Afghan music soon turns to more heart-felt conversation. Samira pines for someone who remains in Aghanistan, clutching a letter and a passport photograph of them close by. Meanwhile, Harun is distracted by phone calls he initially tries to ignore before giving in and trying to cut ties with the caller, who is seemingly from his recent past. Samira returns to thoughts of home as we see projections of her inner memories: birds flocking above the streets of Kabul, accompanied by the distant sound of children's voices. Samira and Harun stand on the precipice of a new life together, yet with its foundations clearly rooted in their
shared traditional heritage. Can they leave their old lives behind and step into the future together? Our Kind of Love is elegantly paced with a simple, yet heart-felt, story and Ehsas and Dehrouyeh give touching performances, portraying a genuine, human connection throughout.

The London Migration Film Festival runs from 29 November to 5 December. More information and full programme of films and talks here.

Akasha at LFF 2018

Abla Kandalaft — 2018-10-16T14:02:11Z

Making the most of the seasonal break in the conflict in Sudan, when the heavy rains and mud make it impossible to fight, filmmaker Hajooj Kuka enrolled the dwellers of a village in the Nuba Mountains to make this offbeat comedy that celebrates the resilience and spirit of those village communities.

Following an argument with his exasperated girlfriend Lina, Adnan legs it out of the bedroom leaving behind Nancy, his beloved AK-47. He ends up running into Adsi, who's dodging the Kasha, the yearly round-up of soldiers, that Adnan has escaped. The truants then embark on a 24h risky yet comedic quest to reunite Adnan with his gun and with Lina.

Kuka's previous film was the documentary Beats of the Antonov, which focused on the way music in particular helped local populations in Sudan deal with and navigate life in a war zone. According to him, the people were constantly and actively seeking out the moments in which they could party. It's this lightness and emphasis on celebration that motivated him to make his next film a comedy.

During those in-between periods of respite in the rainy season, Kuka organised drama workshops with young people in the area. He ended up making Akasha with those very same people, who make up the cast and crew. Kamal Ramadan who plays Adnan was the sound engineer on their previous shorts and Kuka thought it only fair that he should finally get an acting part, so cast him as the lead. In the words of its director, the film is a "work of love" for and by this community. Kuka filmed longer scenes just to allow everyone to appear in the film. He even cast Makala as the bride to give her the chance to experience the wedding celebration she never had in real life.

The film is impressive on many levels. Kuka's cinematography highlights the beauty of the landscape and, considering the very numerous hurdles the team faced, they created well polished, technically impressive film. It's also funny and well-crafted, with moments of sharp observational comedy, paying homage in particular to the resilience and the powerful social and political role of the women in that part of the country.

Find more information on the film's official website or get in touch with us directly if you have any questions you'd like to ask the director.

Get Out - "Timely representations of blackness"

Coco Green — 2017-04-11T14:53:34Z

In short, loved it. In long, ‘Get Out' is everything you've heard and more. Consistently, whether I'm in book club, the bar, in a secret black people meeting at work, people who've seen it want to see it again. And those who have seen it twice offer to go with me to see it for a third time. The only thing armchair critics are wrong about is that the film is scary. Not sure who billed it as a horror film, but know that it is suspense and social commentary.

This film is a meet the parents story, with black Chris, and white Rose, off to meet her parents, in a post-Obama colourblind America, in which Rose, to Chris's consternation, doesn't even need to tell her parents that he's black. Although Chris is Rose's first black boyfriend, she's not worried about her parents; they voted for Obama after all. But ‘Get Out' does try to reassure audiences early on that Rose is not naïve. When confronted with what she believes is overt racism directed at Chris, she is vocal in her opposition. But the question remains, what happens when the racism is covert? Can Rose recognise microagressions and what does she understand about white privilege and interracial relationships? And what is expected of her on all of these fronts?

The film works primarily because of the suspense/science fiction element, which is also a refreshing change from the slapstick, dramas and documentaries that aim to tackle similar issues. This also taps into the concept of black anxiety and pessimism, in which Chris is justifiably wary and not used as a reconciliatory character to alleviate white fears that there are grounded, smart, monogamous black men out there. Peele, who also wrote the screenplay, lulls you with recognisable comedic dialogue before taking a sharp turn to incongruous objects or reactions, then violence.

‘Get Out' is also timely in a number of ways. After viewing, what immediately came to mind are representations of blackness. One trope is that ‘positive' media representations are necessary to counteract the bad, so that a thug can't represent black people in general when you have a doctor starring in a series, too. However, I would argue that positive representations can be just as dangerous when they neither speak truth to power nor reflect inner truths or knowledge created in subjects racialised as black. Then, of course, is the question of authenticity: who has the right to tell black stories? Instead of asking whether or not director Jordan Peele is really black, we should be asking what is he telling us about black manhood, masculinity and desire, when that body is in a white, progressive context? But I'm not sure I will ask that either, because the film does such an excellent job of moving the body and story away from institutions and into the home of liberal white America.

A surprising revelation in the film is an uncomfortable element of a particular form of multiculturalism in which racial diversity is welcome, as long as you're Christie. Characterised as Barbie's black friend, she is essentially chocolate Barbie with brown hair. She doesn't have a different world view, history or smaller pool of romantic partners due to deindustrialisation and ghettoisation. In this brand, diversity is bringing something desirable to the dominant group which, ironically, strengthens and legitimises their culture. All the more better if it's beautiful, delicious or entertaining. It's also convenient: one can absorb the most accessible parts of a culture without ever having to share power or recognise the more toxic elements of that culture that results from structural inequality. It's blues without the pain, passion without the heart.

So please, go see ‘Get Out'. See it twice.

Miles Ahead

Coco Green — 2016-05-22T13:22:51Z

The good news is that Miles Ahead, the Miles Davis biopic, has a lead actor (Don Cheadle) playing the title character that strongly resembles Davis (side eye, whilst still supporting, to you Zoe Saldana and David Oyelowo). The better news is that those wary of biographies which take you through a troubled childhood, discovery, downfall and comeback, highlighting little known facts of creative genius, will find none of that here. It was more a day-in-the-life-of in which Davis's dialogue and flashbacks tell us enough about who he is and where he is going. The bad news is that those looking for Davis's music will be disappointed because there are few Davis tunes.

In Miles Ahead we find Davis living in disarray and being spoken of by both music critics and producers in the past-tense, although he's still very much alive. Just with nothing to say, and lonely in a world of notoriety. So he stays home—managing pain, demanding cheques from Columbia (Records) and having parties for one with drugs and alcohol, until journalist Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor) comes looking for a story—and maybe a sneak peak of his much anticipated album.

At a Ritzy Picturehouse screening on 6th April, Cheadle, who also directs, explained that with the support of Davis's children and ex-wife he created a story to reflect the essence of Davis's music—alive, dynamic and pushing boundaries. This is accomplished visually and through storytelling techniques—with flashbacks that share scenes with the present and car chases. Listening to Cheadle talk about what audiences should expect reminded me of Quentin Tarantino discussing The Hateful Eight roadshows, highlighting the cinematic experience of 70mm film because, like Tarantino, Cheadle wants to take viewers on a journey. If you surrender to it, suspend what you think you know about Miles, his myth and his music, and tales of redemption; and go in expecting stories of love, money and addiction (both the redeeming and destructive kinds), you'll find something that exceeds your expectations and makes you question how this film took 8 years to make.

Dir. Don Cheadle, 2015