Join us for the ‘James Baldwin Abroad’ series, including 3 rare films on Thursday, April 17, 1:30-4:30pm in the Johnson Center Room B.
The Johnson Center is building #30 on the campus map and the nearest paid visitor parking is in the Mason Pond Parking Deck.
Screening at 1:30pm:
James Baldwin: From Another Place
1973, 12 minutes
“Sedat Pakay was a Turkish photographer and filmmaker who specialized in portraits of artists, including Andy Warhol, Gordon Parks, Mark Rothko, and many others. Shot in Istanbul - where Baldwin lived off and on throughout the 1960s - James Baldwin: From Another Place finds the author in a reflective mood, discussing his work, sexuality, and complex feelings about the United States. Preserved by the Yale Film Archive with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation.”
Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris
1970, 26 minutes
“Returning to Paris, where he first moved (or escaped to) in 1948, James Baldwin visits the Place de la Bastille in the company of white British filmmaker Terence Dixon to discuss the contradictory manner in which revolutions (French, Colonial, and Black American) are portrayed and considered. Sparring verbally with Dixon - to whom he could issue a knockout intellectual blow at any moment - Baldwin once again proves himself to be the great thinker of modern times. Picture and audio restoration by Mark Rance, Watchmaker Films, London.”
Screening at 3pm:
Baldwin's N*****
1968, 46 minutes
“In this riveting short documentary by pioneering Trinidadian-British filmmaker Horace Ové, James Baldwin and comedian-activist Dick Gregory speak to a group of radical West Indian students in London about everything from the state of the civil rights movement to the perils of false consciousness. The provocative title, drawn from Baldwin’s words, refers to one of the painful realities of Black American identity: that even his name conjures a history of slavery. Restoration courtesy of the British Film Institute.”
Note of thanks and acknowledgement:
These film resources are prepared by: Cindy Badilla-Melendez, GMU’s Music, Films Studies, and Media Librarian.
Initiative support and coordination: Anne Osterman, GMU Dean of Libraries and University Librarian.
This event was organized by the Cheuse International Writers Center and the Baldwin100 Host Committee.