From: edsum02@venus.lerc.nasa.gov (Cassondra Pope)
Subject: Producing Black films (Was Re: 'Daughters of the Dust'..Wow!)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
Distribution: usa
Date: 14 Aug 1992 10:51 EDT  

In article <ISBELL.92Aug12230013@pop-tarts.ai.mit.edu>, isbell@ai.mit.edu (Charles L Isbell) writes...
>HF.GTD@forsythe.stanford.edu (Gabrielle Daniels) writes:
>|ronaldd@cbnewse.cb.att.com (ronald.h.davis) writes:
>|>i agree, (regarding "Daughters of the Dust"), it is a good movie.
>|hard to believe that it took 10 years to get the dough to complete
>|the film; especially when you see mindless drivel like (pauly
>|shore's) "encino man" and [howard stern's upcoming movie] "the
>|adventures of fartman" readily getting bucks.  you know what i
>|mean...
> 
>|Drivel sells, dear! Anything that remotely makes people THINK is
>|consigned to begging bowls.
> 
>More than true.
> 
>|Right now, I'm observing an interesting phenomena, which I hope
>|begins to fade. Whenever there is a black (cast) film, there seems
>|to be a knee-jerk response to support it, no matter how BAD it is.
> 
>I had a long argument with someone when _Do The Right Thing_ came out
>who said exactly what you just did.  I beg to differ.  Was it not this
>very newsgroup that slammed _Mo' Money_?  I've heard only bad things
>about _Bebe's Kids_, etc.  I don't really think we do that.  (In fact,
>one could argue the opposite--_Daughters of the Dust_ wasn't around
>that long and it surely wasn't swamped by hordes of Black folx).
> 
>On the other hand, I must agree with the notion that we cannot send a
>message that all we need to see are Black faces to be happy.  *I* want
>to see quality stuff like _To Sleep With Anger_, _Daughters of the
>Dust_, _Boyz N The Hood_, _Do The Right Thing_, and _Hangin' With The
>Homeboys_ (and I also think Eddie Murphy's _Boomerang_ was good--I
>like to laugh).  If we send the right message we can hopefully avoid
>another _The Wiz_.  Oh, and another _Leonard, Part 6_ the worst movie
>I have ever seen in my entire life.
> 
>|I know: we love seeing ourselves, our lives legitimized in some
>|manner. I felt that way the year I saw "Diva" and "The Color Purple"
>|--the grand coming out of beautiful black women.  But hey, enough
>|street brothers, gang movies, and the like. Let's begin, even now,
>|to look for and demand something more.  Let's build some
>|distribution venues, let's lean on Oprah and Cosby--the ones with
>|bucks--to start something totally independent and viable.  If George
>|Lucas can call the shots from Marin County, CA (just outside SF, to
>|you folks back midwest and east), we can do the same.
> 
>A-damn-greed.  I must give dap (dap, dap) to Spike Lee for bumushing
>Eddie Murphy on exactly that way back when.  Speaking of which, didn't
>Oprah et al finally come around and support (ie put up some duckets)
>the new _Malcolm X_ movie?
> 

Does anyone know if Forty Acres and a Mule has produced anything other than
Lee films??  I honestly dont think so.  I know that Spike Lee didnt want his
company to be a mecca for ALL Black filmmakers but was his intent for it to be a
mecca only for himself??!!

Also, I think that SL has a Musicworks company in addition to his Filmworks.
Who does this produce?

I agree totally with the above sistuh (Gabriel, I believe), we need to have our
own studio PERIOD!

>|Off soap box.

> 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american