Style and Fashion: Two Documentaries by African Filmmakers

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Location(s)

Tuesday, November 8 @ 7:00PM (at International House)
$10, $8 students/seniors, $5 Scribe and Reelblack members; Free for Temple students, faculty and staff

Presented in partnership with Film @ International House, the Film & Media Arts Department at Temple University and Reelblack

Curator June Givanni in person

This small selection is the tip of the iceberg of a wide range of documentary films from accomplished directors from the African continent. In addition to their skill and filmmaking styles, the value of the films lay in the filmmakers own expression of their cultures and stories that are both surprising and revealing – effectively engaging the viewer.

Two films, very different in style - Angele Diabang’s short Mon Beau Sourire (My Beautiful Smile) and Andrew Dosunmu’s documentary Hot Irons -remind us of the rich and diverse repository of work that redefine beauty. The films are particularly topical because they both relate to the recurrent commentaries and expressions of identity that take place across the continent and in the African diaspora.

Mon Beau Sourire (My Beautiful Smile) by Angèle Diabang Brener
The tattooing of gums is a widespread custom in West Africa, and this example is in Senegal. Women would have to suppress any expression of pain during this coming of age moment, this rite of passage to womanhood, so as not to dishonor their families. Also seen as a ritual of seduction, the practice continues today, but with less ceremony - song and dance - that were historically part of the event. (Senegal, 2005, 5 mins. Wolof/English subtitles)

Hot Irons a film by Andrew Dosunmu
Hot Irons paints a contemporary picture of a conceptual art form that is rarely appreciated as such – African American hairstyling. For some professional exponents, Detroit is the ‘Hair capital of the world’: it has been associated with the most outrageous of styles and with the ‘Hair Wars’ show, a major event of in the hair and beauty calendar featuring exhibitions, demonstrations and competitors from all over the US.

The film focuses on this show and reveals the extent to which, for many people, hair and style is an important aspect of culture and self-perception. It also reveals the complex nature of this competitive industry, where being a good and skillful stylist is not enough – you have to be an artist. Concepts, themes and even performances are part of the currency in this high-profile industry. Hair celebrities, ‘stylin’ and ‘profilin’ provide the humour and entertainment in this engaging expose. (USA, 1999, 50 min)

– June Givanni 9/27/2011

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June Givanni is a film curator, archivist and international consultant in the area of Pan-African cinema. June has brought the first festival of ‘Third World Cinema’ to the UK in the early1980’s while working as a film programmer at the GLC. She continued this work over the following two decades with organisations such as the British Film Institute where she ran the African and Caribbean Film Unit for six years, leading on major national projects such as Africa 95 and promoting Black British film through the Black Film Bulletin; the Toronto International film Festival, where she programmed the ‘Planet Africa’ film strand for a number of years; as an expert in the field. She has published books and articles in her specialist area. She is currently developing an archive based on collections from her 3 decades working in this field.

Andrew Dosunmu grew up in Lagos Nigeria, lives in New York, and works internationally. His creative career has covered fashion design at Yves St Laurent in Paris; Editorial design for design magazines; and music video directing. Hot Irons, his first documentary film, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1999. His first fiction feature, Restless City, had its premiere in January this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

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Producers' Forums are supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.