IBPOC Filmmakers
UNCEDED CHIEFS: History of Early BC Indigenous Activism
Dir: Doreen Manuel l 59 min l 2019 l Canada
Documentary, Indigenous l Streaming
Unceded Chiefs traces the historic early activism of BC First Nations Leaders who in the late 1960’s unified in a battle against the Canadian government to reject Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s proposed 1969 White Paper Policy. Director Doreen Manuel skillfully weaves a story of resilience and determination through interviews and archival audio with the people who lived the battle and the children of the Chiefs who had dedicated their lives to the leadership and survival of their Aboriginal title and rights.
CALL ME HUMAN
Dir: Kim O’Bomsawin l 78 min l 2020 l Canada
Documentary, Indigenous l DVD: PN1998.3.B33 C35 2020
Innu writer Joséphine Bacon exemplifies a generation that is bearing witness to a time that will soon have passed away. With charm and diplomacy, she leads a charge against the loss of a language, a culture, and its traditions. On the trail of Papakassik, the master of the caribou, Call Me Human proposes a foray into a people’s multimillennial history, in company with a woman of great spirit who has devoted her life to passing on her knowledge and that of her ancestors. In her language, Innu means ‘human’.”
DJ SPOOKY’S REBIRTH OF A NATION
Dir: DJ Spooky l 100 min l 2007
Remix. Experimental l DVD: PN1997.B57 D5 2008
First released in 1915, D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation ignited worldwide controversy with its graphic depictions of racism and white supremacy in the post-Civil War South. Nearly 100 years later, Paul D. Miller also known as conceptual artist/musician/writer DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, creates a daring ‘remix’ of Griffith’s epic to expose the film’s true meaning and relates it to the socio-political conflicts of America today.
LGBTQ2S
NO ORDINARY MAN
Dir: Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt l 85 min l 2020
Documentary l Streaming
American jazz musician Billy Tipton developed a reputable touring and recording career in the mid-twentieth century, along with his band The Billy Tipton Trio. After his death in the late 80s, it was revealed that Tipton was assigned female at birth, and his life was swiftly reframed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. The genre-defying documentary NO ORDINARY MAN seeks to correct that misrepresentation by collaborating with trans artists.
LONGTIME COMPANION
Dir: Rene Norman l 100 min l 1989
Drama l DVD: PN1997 .L653 2001
Following a small group of friends from the time they first read about AIDS in the New York Times through the 1980’s as they face the impact of the disease on themselves and their friends.
KENNETH ANGER: THE COMPLETE MAGIC LANTERN CYCLE
Dir: Kenneth Anger l 179 min l 1947-2002
Experimental l DVD: PN1997.A1 .F545 2010
Vol. 1. Music: Fireworks / Respighi — Puce moment / Jonathan Halper — Rabbit’s moon (La lune des lapins) / the Flamingos [and others] — Eaux d’artifice / Vivaldi — Inauguration of the pleasure dome / Léos Janàcek.
Vol. 2. Music: Scorpio rising / Ricky Nelson [and others] — Kustom Kar Kommandos / Paris Sisters — Invocation of my demon brother / Mick Jagger — Rabbit’s moon / A Raincoat — Lucifer rising / Bobby BeauSoleil and the Freedom Orchestra — Man we want to hang / Anatol Liadov
FLESH
Dir: Paul Morrissey l 89 min l 1968
Experimental, Drama l DVD: PN1997 .F547 2005
A bisexual prostitute supports his heroin addiction and his lesbian wife, meeting various subculture characters along the way.
TRASH
Dir: Paul Morrissey l 110 min l 1970
Experimental, Drama l DVD: PN1997 .T737 2005
The story of Joe and his lover-protector Holly who try to make a go of things in their Lower East Side basement, from which Holly goes forth from time to time to cruise Fillmore East and scavenge garbage cans, while Joe’s journeys are in search of real junk.
HEAT
Dir: Paul Morrissey l 100 min l 1972
Experimental, Drama l DVD: PN1997 .H4335 2005
A fading, practically unknown star, who likes game shows, TV movies, and studs, connects with Joey, a one-time child actor who lives in a sun-baked L.A. motel and is looking to get his career back on track. The star also fights with her daughter, who lives in the same motel with her baby and lesbian lover.
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS
Dir: Julian Schnabel l 133 min l 2000
Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas’ account of his life, first in Castro’s Cuba and then in exile, in the United States. Its power is two-fold: it’s an intoxicating, intensely erotic account of sexual discovery and liberation, and a devastating record of the artist’s persecution under the Castro regime.
SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
Dir: John Schlesinger l 110 min l 1971
Drama l DVD: PN1997.2 .B446 2001
Depicts the romantic lives of two Londoners, a middle-aged doctor and a prickly thirty something divorcee, who are sleeping with the same handsome young artist. A revelation in its day, this may be the 1970s most intelligent, multitextured film about the complexities of romantic relationships; it is keenly acted and sensitively directed, from a penetrating screenplay. Criterion Collection Special Features: Cast and crew interviews (an illustrated 1975 audio interview with John Schlesinger, video interviews with Murray Head, Billy Williams and Luciana Arrighi); On Sunday bloody Sunday (author William Mann discussing the making and release of the film, and its success); Michael Childers interview; Trailer.
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