Visualizing a Black Cinema
Saturday, April 26 from 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
As a cinematographer Arthur Jafa has lensed striking images for Julie Dash, John Akomfrah and Spike Lee to name but a few. He is known for his longterm quest for an "authentic" black cinema. In his words “the idea(s) is obvious, the implementation is not.”
In this Master Class he will discuss his current work with Thsenegus, a film company “conceived in light of the production philosophies of Motown, house music and Dogme with more than a little techno, Black Ark, the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) and Def Jam to boot.” He’ll also talk about the current transformation cinema is undergoing under the impact of new digital imaging technologies and how the realization of a black cinema capable of “matching the power, alienation and specificity of black music.” Pictured above right: scene from Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust
Watch deshotten (1.0) the first in a series of proof of concept projects that AJ and his partner Malik Sayeed are doing for their film company, thsenegus.
Arthur Jafa is cinematographer, filmmaker, and artist. With Julie Dash he produced Daughters of the Dust which he also shot. He has also worked with Spike Lee on Crooklyn and Malcom X, Manthia Diawara on Rouch In Reverse and Ada Gay Griffith and Michele Parkerson on A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde . Jafa's ongoing investigations of black cinema aesthetics includes what he calls "black visual intonation." He is currently developing a film company, Thsenegus, with partner Malik Sayeed.