Top 5 movie-going moments of 2012

I did this last year, so I think I'll try it again this year. My top ten movies list won't be ready for another month at least, so in lieu of that, I'm presenting a different list, one more relevant to this blog in particular. Movie-going can sometimes lead to a surprise or two, or a distinctive moment that lingers in the memory for months or years afterward, and that's what this top five list is devoted to. If nothing else, consider it an incentive to continue seeing movies in theaters and/or other people. It's an act that, regrettably, was a little less safe this year, but I doubt it'll ever fully go away.

5. Salim Akil makes fun of my cell phone camera at Urbanworld. He wasn't cruel about it, and he laughed and shook my hand afterward, so I hold no grudge. Maybe next year, I'll stop trying to do two jobs at once and just focus on writing about the films at the festival. Hell, I'll bet I could even wrangle an interview or two instead. What do you think - would you rather see pictures or read interviews from a festival? In addition to reviews, of course.

4. The director and cast of Wet Hot American Summer makes a surprise appearance at a screening of their movie. It was the first time I had seen the movie, so it wasn't like I had any great attachment to it, or any of the stars, but the crowd at Brooklyn Bridge Park sure did - and boy, were they thrilled when this happened! It was quite a moment, and I'm glad I was there for it.

3. Halloween at the Loews Jersey City. I originally had a different theme for Halloween this year, but between the William Castle-inspired gimmicks for Homicidal, the "haunted house" section of the second floor, the costumes, and the movies themselves, I knew I couldn't miss going to the Loews the weekend before Halloween (and before Hurricane Sandy, too - talk about trick or treat). There were even more movies than the ones I ended up writing about, and I wish I could've seen them all. Side-note: I spent that Saturday afternoon up in City Island dropping off my artwork for my gallery show, which would've been the following weekend if not for Sandy, so I ended up covering a tremendous amount of ground: from eastern Queens through Manhattan up into the Bronx and City Island, then back down into Manhattan and over into Jersey City, then back into Manhattan and ultimately home to Queens. All in one day!

2. Seeing Battle for Brooklyn on the night the Barclays Center opened. You gotta understand - I, like many New Yorkers, had been reading about the impending opening of the new sports arena in downtown Brooklyn for months, and about what it'll mean for the borough in general - and lost in all the shuffle was the hard reality that a number of neighborhood residents were displaced from their homes in order for this to happen. While watching this compelling documentary, the Barclays was literally right down the street, laser lights flashing into the sky. It felt a bit surreal... and yet quintessentially New York also, in this time where the 99 percent are making their voices heard.

1. Opening day for The Avengers. I've said it before, but if you haven't been reading superhero comics most of your life, I doubt you can fully comprehend what this day meant to people like me, and in Astoria/LIC, where I saw the movie, there was a certain atmosphere floating outside the theater. From the Applebee's across the street where the waiters were dressed in superhero outfits, to the sidewalk comics dealer selling comics and posters, to the kids running around the hallway of the theater giddy with anticipation, this was what going to the movies should feel like. Lots of high-falutin' film critics love to cite movies like Avengers as heralding the death knell of "real" cinema, and I've admitted that I'm beginning to get a little burned out by effects-driven spectacle movies all the time, but I'm proud I was part of this. My inner child wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Urbanworld FF: Runnin' down a dream

(Between Won't Back Down and a film with "Mary Jane" in the title, I felt the need to continue the Tom Petty theme.)

So did I mention how Being Mary Jane director Salim Akil made fun of me for having a cellphone camera? It was on Thursday, during the red carpet photo op prior to the movie, and both Akil and his wife, writer Mara Brock Akil, took their turn in front of the paparazzi. All the hotshot media people were there, with their digital cameras and video cameras and there I was, little ol' me, clutching my cellphone camera like a lifeline, thinking that if I just look like a serious journalist, I'll fit in. 

I hope Salim Akil's pic came out
as good as mine.

I imagine I did a better job of blending in than this guy in the back who tried to crash the red carpet earlier by taking pictures of his own, not realizing that this was for accredited members of the press only. He got into a shouting match with some shutterbug whom he leaned on a little too much. That was as bad as it got, though.

Anyway, the Akils arrived and the cameras flashed and clicked, and suddenly Akil sees me with my cellphone and laughed, saying something like, "Man, get a real camera! You're supposed to be a professional!" I suppose I could've explained to him that no, I'm not really a professional, I just play one on TV, but it's not like our paths were gonna cross again after that night, so I grinned and tried to play it off like it was no big deal. 

BET CEO Debra Lee

Fortunately, he wasn't mean about it - he came up to me, asked me my name, and shook my hand, joking that he'd buy me a camera. He even whipped out his own cellphone and took a picture of me as I took one of him.

I suppose it really isn't a big deal. I mean, if you had told me five years ago that I'd be snapping pictures of Hollywood film and TV stars on a for-real red carpet at a film festival, I wouldn't have believed it. But I made this happen, so I reckon it counts as one more milestone in my life. I won't always use a cellphone to take pictures, but it's what I've got right now, so it's what I use.

Once again, the tendency to see more movies than I have time for was a strong one. On Friday night I had to forego seeing another movie after Won't Back Down so that I could post some of my reviews. I had written them down in my notebook before, and now, sometime after 8:30, I was running around trying to find someplace that was (a) still open, (b) had wi-fi, and (c) had an outlet I could plug my laptop into. 

'Being Mary Jane' co-star
Tika Sumpter

Eventually I settled on the same cafe I used last year before going to Vija's party. They didn't close until ten, and I was the only customer in there, typing away as they started putting chairs upside-down on the tables.

I talked about the craziness of waiting for Middle of Nowhere, but I don't think I fully emphasized the excitement there was over this movie, and what that excitement means. It means that there is an audience that craves better movies by, for and about people of color. We don't have to settle for the same old Hollywood pap, and to see audiences turning out in large numbers (Nowhere was a sellout) is really encouraging. 

It would be even more encouraging if an Oscar campaign could get going for it (Original Screenplay? Actress?? Cinematography???), but even if it doesn't happen, everyone who has seen it knows its worth, which does not need to be measured in little gold men. And that goes for all the films that played at Urbanworld.

I'll have more pictures from the festival on my WSW Facebook page later in the week.

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Previously:

Being Mary Jane

Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till

Won't Back Down

Soul Food Junkies

The Last Fall

Middle of Nowhere

Urbanworld FF: Middle of Nowhere

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

Emayatzy Corinealdi

The truth is, I did not see Middle of Nowhere under the best of circumstances. The Saturday night show was a sell-out. While I was taking pictures from the red carpet, the lobby was quickly filling up with ticket holders and VIPs with all-access passes. I was actually warned of this by a woman whom I met in between shows on Saturday afternoon, and I believed it, given the excitement generated by this film. 

By my reckoning there were at least two lines: one for ticket holders and the other for all-access pass holders. I was told I could get on the latter with my press pass, so I did, but the lines were malformed and spread out over a great deal of limited space. Then we had to wait. And wait. And wait. Show time was eight PM, but we went well past that, and some people on my line were getting ticked off. The woman in front of me (who claimed to be from HBO) went up front to investigate, and she was told that the film arrived late and director Ava DuVernay was running a sound check. Arrived late? Really? 

Everyone REALLY wanted
to see 'Nowhere.'

On top of all that, when they finally let us in, there was more than a little confusion; they seemed to be alternating between the VIPs and the ticket holders, which was annoying the ones with large advance passes. As far as I could tell, everyone got in, but between the long wait and the confusing order of the lines, it was more than a little stressful. 

I ended up sitting in the second row, which was great for taking pictures afterwards at the Q-and-A, but not so much for watching the film - especially this film, which has a whole lot of close-ups, so not only could I see every pore, hair and blemish on the actors' faces, but I felt like I was looking up their noses as well! 

Corinealdi, right, with director
Ava DuVernay at the Q-and-A

Plus, it was the end of a long day for me personally, and though I didn't nod off, I was physically tired - and this is a quiet, introspective film that requires a good deal of attention. So what I'm saying is that I'm gonna have to watch this film again when it comes out next month in order to write about it properly. In the meantime, however, I can provide a few impressions.

Nowhere is about a woman who struggles to help her imprisoned husband get released early. At the same time, she's being pursued by a different man. Visually, this looks quite different from DuVernay's previous film, I Will Follow. Her DP was Bradford Young, who worked on the breathtaking Restless City and other films that played Urbanworld in the past, and also Pariah. He gives Nowhere an artier feel than Follow. Remember his name; I firmly believe this is only the beginning for him.

L-R: DuVernay, Corinealdi, producer
Paul Garnes, and DP Bradford Young

Newcomer Emayatzy Corinealdi (em-ee-YAHT-zee kor-en-AHL-dee) carries the film and carries it very well, backed by a strong cast that includes Omari Hardwick and David Oyelowo, who's been everywhere lately and has lots more work coming up. In DuVernay's script, you feel one way about certain characters, then you feel another way, and you're never completely sure which way to stand with them. I'm fairly certain there are a few things I missed, story-wise, hence my desire to see this again. Do I recommend it? Yes, because this is black filmmaking on a higher level and it needs to be supported.

---------------------
Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till
Won't Back Down
Soul Food Junkies
The Last Fall

Urbanworld FF: The Last Fall

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

Professional sports are great and all, but in this country, we sometimes place unfair burdens on our young when they try to pursue a career in them. We have a tendency to make too many concessions to them, pampering and coddling them and making sure they succeed at all costs, even if it means sacrificing their education, all in the name of entertainment. The fact is, however, that only a select few can compete on the professional level, and out of those few, even fewer have what it takes to sustain a career. The rest end up fending for themselves.

Matthew Cherry had a brief NFL career, spending one season with the Baltimore Ravens, before turning to filmmaking - first music videos, and now, with The Last Fall, feature films. It's a semi-autobiographical tale of a pro football player who has reached the abrupt end of his young career at 25 and now must learn how to begin his life all over again.

Last year at Urbanworld, the film All Things Fall Apart examined similar territory, but a good premise was undone by the mediocre acting of rapper 50 Cent. Here, star Lance Gross is much more polished and believable, as is co-star Nicole Beharie (whom you may remember from the Michael Fassbender movie Shame), who plays an old flame he tries to get back.

Cherry's screenplay has the ring of authenticity to it, informed as it is by his own experiences, though I would've liked to have gotten a little more insight into the circumstances that led to Kyle's premature retirement. When someone asks him why he's out of the game, Kyle says something about internal politics, a vague and to me, unsatisfying answer. I would've liked a little more elaboration, or failing that, a simpler explanation - perhaps he didn't perform as well as anticipated.

All Things felt heavier because of the cancer angle (and 50 Cent's opportunity to go all Method by losing a ton of weight), but Fall, by contrast, addressed not only the embarrassment and shame of falling short of a long-sought career goal, but the misconceptions that other people have about such a high-profile occupation. All Things felt like a star vehicle, but Fall felt more like the story was the main attraction, and that's a big reason why I prefer it.

--------------------
Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till
Won't Back Down
Soul Food Junkies

Urbanworld FF: Soul Food Junkies

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website. 

We never called my mother's cooking "soul food" when growing up. It was just what we ate, though perhaps our menu wasn't quite the same as in other black families. We had the fried chicken, we had the collard greens, we had the corn bread, but we had other kinds of food too. For instance, I remember some Sundays when my father would simply buy a pizza pie from our favorite pizza joint on Junction Boulevard, along with a dozen Dunkin Donuts, but that was an occasional treat. Both my parents grew up in the south, so I have no doubt that they were familiar with the phrase, but while we did eat together (though not all the time, I admit), we didn't necessarily need dinner or any particular meal to get together and talk. That was just us, though.

Director Byron Hurt (taken at the
'Middle of Nowhere' screening)

Many black families have grown up with soul food dinners as a cultural heritage, and the documentary Soul Food Junkies examines this relationship, particularly in light of how recent years have shown traditional soul food to be not all that healthy. This film attracted a large and boisterous crowd at Urbanworld, and it was clear that this was a subject close to many people's hearts. Director Byron Hurt weaves a general examination of black communities and their long relationship with soul food with the story of his own father, who ate pork sausages and candied yams and hamhocks all his life and saw no reason to change, not even when his own health was at risk. Seeing his father die from pancreatic cancer made Hurt think his diet was to blame, and making this film was his way of searching for answers.

Hurt goes all over not just the American south, but across the country, talking to all kinds of people, black and white, who love soul food, and asking why. In interviews with health experts and other scholars, he traces the roots of the cuisine back to the slavery era, and shows how cooking soul food grew to become a point of pride in many black communities, eventually spreading out towards the rest of the country as well. In the after-show Q-and-A, Hurt made the point of how throughout it all, he wanted to maintain respect for the people who make and eat soul food, without judgment. It's full of laughter and poignancy, and the story of Hurt's father makes it all the more intriguing to watch.

-----------------
Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till
Won't Back Down

Related:
Soul Food

Urbanworld FF: Won't Back Down

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

Co-stars Rosie Perez & Lance Reddick

Appropos of nothing: I remember how surprised I was earlier this year at the Oscars, seeing Viola Davis appear baring her natural afro. Surprised a lot of people too. Whether or not actors in general and black actresses in particular wear wigs is not something most people tend to think about - I never did - but from now on, whenever I see her in a movie, I probably will... and to be honest, I kinda wish she were able to go au natural more often. But that's a discussion for another time.

If it weren't for Urbanworld, I probably would've passed on seeing Won't Back Down (of course they use the Tom Petty song in the closing credits). I saw the trailer prior to this week, and to me it looked like one more inspirational "true" story that Hollywood loves to make every so often. The depressingly generic and unimaginative title certainly didn't help. 

Lance Reddick, with his wife

I didn't doubt the film's quality, but the trailer made it perfectly clear what kind of movie this was gonna be, as well as how it would end. Maybe Gene Siskel was right about not watching trailers.

Anyway, it turned out to be exactly as I expected, but I gotta admit, I was entertained by it, and that was due to the outstanding work of the film's stars, Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The latter plays a single Pittsburgh mom with a dyslexic daughter, trying to find a better school for her than the one's she's in, until she learns about a way to organize parents and teachers together into forging a better school system, even though it means defying the powerful teachers' union. Davis plays the first teacher Gyllenhaal recruits for the cause, one with a learning disabled child of her own, as well as a terrible secret.

Co-star Dante Brown

It's absolutely an important story. Won't Back Down goes into how the Pittsburgh school program proved inadequate to the cause of helping children like those of Gyllenhaal and Davis, through negligence or bureaucracy or both, and how the union is a vital force for providing security for its members. There are no villains in this story, just opposing points of view, and I appreciate that director Daniel Barnz went to such lengths to make this clear. 

Still, the film does follow all the familiar Hollywood beats - romantic subplot, darkest hour, rally from an unexpected source, final confrontation - and the outcome is never in any real doubt. It's a formula that doesn't provide much in the way of surprises.

That said, however, Gyllenhaal and Davis make it watchable. I never really gave Gyllenhaal much thought beyond being Jake's sister, but she was powerful in a great role that let her shine. As for Davis, she had me from the start, but she also has a crucial late scene with her son that sold me on the entire film. She didn't oversell it - god knows she could have - but it was one more reminder of why her work is so admired by her peers. (If only it was admired enough to have given her that Oscar...)

------------------
Previously:
Being Mary Jane
Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till

Urbanworld FF: Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

I've heard of actors who put on one-man stage shows, and I've always wondered how they do it. Taking on multiple personalities all at once is one thing, but then it's also making the characters relate to each other and to the audience, how to stage the whole thing so that there's a sense of action... it has to be one of the greatest challenges any actor could ever face.

Mike Wiley is a North Carolina actor who wrote and performed a one-man show inspired by the brutal 1955 murder of the black Chicago teenager Emmett Till at the hands of two white Mississippi men, and their subsequent trial, at which they were found not guilty. The case was one of the major flashpoints of the black civil rights movement that would extend into the 60s and beyond.

With director Rob Underhill, Wiley adapted it into the feature film Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till, which played at Urbanworld today. Wiley once again plays every character, and special effects made it possible for them to interact with each other and occupy the same physical space, so that every character on the screen, from Till to the black and white Mississippi residents, and even the women, is Wiley - 36 characters in all. He doesn't use wigs or makeup to play the women, nor does he perform in "whiteface" - changes in wardrobe differentiate everyone visually, but the rest is all Wiley. Once you get past the gimmick, he totally makes you believe in each character he embodies. It helps that many of the major characters have long monologues and the editing allows for that.

The illusion is not perfect. At least one jump cut is visible, and some scenes clearly look like they were done in front of a green screen, but then, this is a small, low-budget movie. Still, give Underhill and Wiley credit for what they were able to accomplish, which is considerable. Also, I didn't care for the score. I felt it was intrusive and tried to compete for attention, which a good score should never do. Still, it was marvelous to witness such an acting tour-de-force.

Regrettably, neither Underhill nor Wiley could make it to the screening. Much of the information I got about the film was from a couple of the people in the audience: a former student of Wiley's and an acting professor from North Carolina who knows Wiley (neither of whom could tell me what the title means). If you wanna know more about it, including watching the trailer, here's the website.

---------------------
Previously:
Being Mary Jane

Urbanworld FF: Being Mary Jane

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2012 schedule of films, visit the website.

Gabrielle Union

I don't watch much television in general, except for TCM here and there, so I'm not terribly familiar with the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network. Numerous Boondocks comic strips have given me a certain impression, of course, but that is, after all, only one side of the story. Thursday night at Urbanworld, I saw another side. 

Being Mary Jane is a just-over-an-hour-long pilot movie created by a pair of BET veterans, the husband and wife team of director Salim Akil and writer Mara Brock Akil, both of whom have worked on the shows The Game and Girlfriends. In addition, they were responsible for last month's remake of the film Sparkle. 

Being Mary Jane stars Gabrielle Union as the host of a news talk show on a CNN-like network, and her various trials and tribulations: dysfunctional family, work drama, and of course, finding a man.

Mara Brock Akil & Salim Akil

From The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Murphy Brown to Ally McBeal, the "career woman" trope is well-worn territory, the major difference here being that it's now from a black perspective. Based on what I saw from the crowd on Thursday, many black women saw themselves in Mary Jane, which is a credit to writer Brock Akil's stated goal of authenticity, not to mention Union's performance. 

The relationship stuff got the biggest rise out of the audience - Mary Jane has a very, shall we say, healthy sex drive, even when there's not a man around - but I was more interested in the work and family stuff.

There's nothing particularly new or different about Being Mary Jane aside from the black angle, but I can appreciate the fact that it attempts to fill a niche. In the post-screening Q-and-A, Brock Akil made clear how much it means to her. 

L-R: Union, Brock Akil & Tika Sumpter at the Q-and-A

After a brief prologue, the film begins with a title card stating that 47% of black women in America are unmarried. Brock Akil said that she wanted Mary Jane to be a human being and not a statistic, and honesty and authenticity was crucial to that goal. 

She also praised her director husband Akil's contribution, saying that she needed him to help her tell this story. "Part of our love affair is our art," she said in describing their working relationship. It was announced last night that the Akils signed a deal with Paramount Pictures, so it appears that that relationship will continue to flourish.

WSW returns to Urbanworld 9/20-22

It's official: I just received my press confirmation this week and once again I'll attend the Urbanworld Film Festival in Manhattan on September 20-22. This was the first film festival I had ever attended, and if you click on the "Urbanworld" label in the sidebar, you'll see my coverage of it last year. It was exciting, and I was more than a little starry-eyed and nervous, but now that I've got it behind me, I feel like I'm ready for another round. 

Urbanworld is the fest where I saw two outstanding films from last year, Kinyarwanda and Restless City, as well as a good documentary, Brooklyn Boheme, and I'm expecting more of the same this year. Highlights include: Middle of Nowhere, Ava Duvernay's Sundance winner, which will be the closing night film; Won't Back Down, Viola Davis' new one; and Being Mary Jane, the opening night film from the Sparkle team of Salim & Mara Brock Akil. The full schedule can be found at the Urbanworld website. Once I decide which films I plan to see, I'll post my schedule on the WSW Facebook page.

Top 5 movie-going moments of 2011

Other movie blogs may give you a list of their top films of the year - and actually, I'll probably do that too, but unlike a certain film critics group, I'm in no rush to reveal it to the world (in fact, I probably won't get to it for another month at least). This being WSW, however, I have something different to offer. 2011 will be the first calendar year I've completed, and naturally I have quite a number of movie-going memories, whether alone or with friends - the kind of stuff that I do my best to write about here, in this blog that's more of a personal journal than a movie blog. These are the five moments that stand out most. Unlike my usual lists, this is an actual ranking - and it wasn't easy to rank these, either.

5. Singing oldies songs with Andi at a diner before seeing The Illusionist. I think I may have gone to more movies with Andi this year than anyone else. I may not have liked all of them equally, but she's always great company. Sometimes she talks me into some nutty things (remind me to tell you of the time we sneaked into a gated community pretending we were gonna buy a house there), but that's only because she has a great curiosity about the world and isn't shy about it. Why else would she go on a cross-country hike across half of Spain covering hundreds of miles? Or sing Motown songs in a Queens diner with yours truly just because?

4. Going to Vija's party in-between movies during the Urbanworld Film Festival. This being my first film festival, I thought I could see and do it all. Boy was I wrong! Still, Saturday proved to be the busiest of the three-day festival for more than one reason, and I knew that whatever else happened, I couldn't miss one of Vija's parties which, thankfully, was within walking distance of the theater. In the close-to-twenty years I've known her, I've always enjoyed her soirees because I like her friends! Andi is just one of a number of friends I've met this way. Some of them, like Vija and I, are artists; some are co-workers or neighbors of hers; some are old friends of hers that go way back, but I've always gotten along well with them. In fact, at this particular party I met this one woman whom I would've loved to have gotten better acquainted with had I more time; we had a wonderful, but sadly, brief conversation. (I sent her a friend request on Facebook, but I don't think she uses FB much.) Regardless, this was one day I won't forget for a long time.

3. Lining up on the red carpet for the first time at the Urbanworld Film Festival. I could've had a better camera. I might've liked a slightly better spot. And I was a bit star-struck at seeing the likes of Spike Lee and Chris Rock at first. Once I settled into my unlikely role as a paparazzo, however, it was truly exciting. UWFF took place at the same time as the Toronto festival, and I admit I couldn't help making comparisons in my mind (not that I've ever been there), even though Toronto is, of course, one of the biggest film fests in the world. Still, for a film fest novice, one could hardly ask for more: a central location in the heart of New York City, a plethora of film and TV stars to meet and greet, and an all-access pass to see some terrific films. My prior experience as a comics blogger helped prepare me some - going to conventions, interviewing writers and artists - but this was something else. (The glamor of the red carpet itself was dulled for me somewhat when I saw UWFF staffers tape it down to the linoleum floor... but that was a minor detail.)

 2. Hearing the Alloy Orchestra perform their score for Metropolis. In a year in which a silent movie is favored to win Best Picture for the first time in many generations, perhaps it was the best time to have discovered this astounding band, doing what they do best - playing live music for silent movies. If you're ever in NYC in the summertime, make it your business to come to Brooklyn and see a show at the Prospect Park Bandshell. For three bucks you get one helluva bargain.

1. Seeing The Captains on the Intrepid with William Shatner and hundreds of fellow Trekkies. At the risk of sounding like a gushing fanboy, I can't express accurately enough how thrilling it was to be in the presence of The Man Himself for the first time, under these circumstances. The Intrepid, like many NYC landmarks, is not someplace I ever gave much thought to actually visiting one day - as impressive as it is, it's still a tourist trap, and an expensive one at that. So this was momentous on three different levels - the movie itself (which was interesting, but more for Trekkies than anyone else, I think), having the Shat there to introduce it, and being on board the Intrepid for the first time - and all of it for free! I was gonna go with a friend, but he couldn't make it at the last minute, so the only negative about this night was I didn't have anyone to share it with, but I had a great time nonetheless.

As for the blog itself, I have a few ideas for new stuff to add and experiment with in 2012. Once the Oscar season ends, I'm thinking I might cut back to two movies a week (not counting theme weeks). Cranking out three a week isn't always easy, and I'd like to diversify the content a little better. I have Skype now, so you may start hearing me on a podcast or two here and there. I would like to start one of my own also, as soon as I can decide on a film-related topic I'd want to discuss. And I'd like to bring my original art back in some form. Alex has kinda cornered the market on actor sketches, so maybe I'll do something different. I hope you'll stick with me throughout it all.

Urbanworld FF: My life as a paparazzo

As I may have mentioned, the Urbanworld Film Festival is my first-ever film festival of this size and scope, and it's been a memorable experience. I had thought it would be comparable to covering a comic book convention, as I've done plenty of in the past, but even for a fest as relatively small as this one, it's quite different - and I don't just mean the lack of fans dressed as Klingons. This is the fifteenth year of Urbanworld, and over that time they've attracted an impressive variety of stars as well as films made by people of color from all around the world, and there's a certain level of glamor that goes with that - a glamor that manifests itself most sharply at the red carpet.

The red carpet here is actually indoors. The films are screening on the fourth floor of the AMC, and the stars walk down it as they come off the elevator. A barrier cordons off the media, and that's where yours truly was when I took many of the pictures you've seen over the past few days. I've got a new cellphone, and this is the first time I've taken pictures with it. They would be better, except the red carpet area where we stood had poor lighting. Only two of the three overhead lights were operational, and while the professional photographers around me had flash in their cameras, I did not. I did the best I could.

Thursday night was my first night as a paparazzo. Call time was six PM and I got there on time, but there were maybe 12-15 photogs already set up behind the barrier. The stars wouldn't arrive for another half hour at least. I made small talk with one of the shutterbugs next to me - a dude working for an overseas MTV affiliate that plays reggae music. When the stars began to arrive, even though I had a good spot I found myself getting jostled to and fro by others from all around me as they snapped away at the parade of filmmakers, stars, models, rappers and others. They called out to them, directing them to look one way, then another. I didn't feel entirely comfortable doing that myself, since I was the rookie, so I tended to rely on everyone around me when it came to taking advantage of the angle and the light from the flashes. Naturally, I took a ton of pictures in succession - you have to, because some (most) shots will be crap. If you can get one good, usable shot of your subject, consider yourself lucky.

Being in that position made me realize: celebrities do this sort of thing all the time. (Duh!) It never occurred to me until I was a part of it; I mean, we see movie stars on the red carpet at the Oscars, at Cannes, at premieres, and we don't think about what running that gauntlet must be like for them. It's not something you learn in acting school, that's for sure, and there's no way to prepare yourself for it. I'd imagine most movie stars probably experience it a handful of times a year at the most, but for the Tom Cruises and Brad Pitts, they do it constantly. Can you imagine how stressful that must be? It's no wonder some celebrities occasionally flip out and jostle or even punch a paparazzo who gets too close.

There were a lot of stars whom I didn't recognize, mostly rappers and models and a few TV stars, but I felt like I had to justify my presence there on the red carpet by snapping pics of them anyway. I was very conscious of my newbie status - I kept referring to myself as a "lowly blogger" whenever I had an extended conversation with someone - as if I'd be found out and have my precious press badge revoked.

I would've liked to have seen more movies, but it didn't work out that way for several reasons. One, I'd need time in-between shows to post about the movie I had just seen. Two, since evening shows tended to start late and I would want to stay for the after-show Q-and-As, I'd be tired and would just wanna go home instead of staying for a late show. It's too bad because I would've liked to have seen some of the shorts that were also playing.


Oh, and did I mention that in-between shows, I also swung by Vija's place on Saturday for a party she was throwing? I finished my Restless City review in a cafe across the street from her place before coming up. Vija always throws great parties, and I got to meet some friends of hers, and just when I was really enjoying myself, I had to leave again. I must've spent an hour there at most. Oh well.

So would I do this again? I like to think so. If I did, though, I'd know enough to not plan to see so many movies. I thought I could see nine movies in three days - you believe that? I imagine in someplace like Toronto it's worse, since it's so much bigger over there. If Urbanworld is any indication, I'm definitely not ready to take on a show of that size. (Remind me to tell you one day of the summer I went to the San Diego Comic-Con and how I almost lost my mind.)


Urbanworld does good work, providing a platform for good movies - movies by and for people of color, yes, but good movies first and foremost. I didn't like every film I saw, but who can expect that? Bottom line: I was in the presence of legitimate Hollywood stars and I saw movies I might not have seen as easily anyplace else. You better believe I'm grateful for that!

I'm taking tomorrow off. Back Tuesday. Look for more pics from the fest on the WSW Facebook page.


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Previously from the Urbanworld Film Festival:
Brooklyn Boheme
Love Arranged
All Things Fall Apart
Restless City
Kinyarwanda

Urbanworld FF: Kinyarwanda

The Urbanworld Film Festival is a showcase for filmmakers and actors of color, presented at the AMC 34th Street in New York City. For more information on the festival and to see the full 2011 schedule of films, visit the website.

Kinyarwanda, the closing night film from the Urbanworld Film Festival, directed by Alrick Brown, is an ensemble drama set during the Rwanda massacre of 1994, an ethnic clash in which the Hutu, the ruling class, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of the Tutsi minority. Real and fictional characters intermingle in this series of vignettes depicting not only key events, but everyday life among the Rwandan people, young and old.

This film packs an emotional punch because of the theme running throughout it of forgiveness. The cycle of violence between Hutu and Tutsi had been going on for a long time prior to the '94 massacre, but unlike similar civil wars in other countries, the Rwandans realized that if it were ever to end, somebody needed to swallow their pride and put the wrongs of the past behind them. This is a point Brown emphasized in the Q-and-A after the screening: the fact that as a storytelling trope, revenge is easy, and it's one that many movies throughout history return to again and again. In one scene early in the non-linear movie, set years after the massacre, we see former Rwandan soldiers in a kind of rehabilitation program in which they're trained to acknowledge their role in the conflict and accept responsibility for the things they've done. Looking at their faces and hearing their confessions, it's easy to believe that their emotional scars will not go away anytime soon.

As I mentioned, Brown shot the film Pulp Fiction-style, non-linearly, but this was not a stylistic choice. Brown, who has come to Urbanworld with a film three prior times, was weaned on shorts, and felt more comfortable with them, so when he sat down to write the script, he broke the story down into smaller vignettes that he interconnected. For example, one story involves a pair of young lovers who witness Hutu troops about to execute a bunch of civilians. Later on, we see what led to that moment from the other side.


Brown is young, but wise beyond his years. A former Peace Corps volunteer, he took on the job of making this film after sharing a correspondence with a Rwandan native who finally got a grant to make movies. Brown seemed aware of the potential his film had to open hearts and minds, but as he said, the people whose opinions matter most to him were the Rwandan people, who love the movie.


Kinyarwanda is the second film to be released by the black film distribution organization AFFRM. AFFRM head Ava DuVernay was in attendance at last night's screening, and she announced that the film would be released nationwide November 23.


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Previously in the Urbanworld Film Festival:
Brooklyn Boheme
Love Arranged
All Things Fall Apart
Restless City


Related:
'Kinyarwanda' is AFFRM's second release!
Kinyarwanda: a primer