Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  BLACKLINES

Chicago Talent Shines in Black Harvest Film Festival
by Cleve Adkins
2003-09-01

This article shared 7585 times since Mon Sep 1, 2003
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


The inspiring dance and rhythms of the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, under the direction of Artistic Director Amaniyea Payne, opened the Ninth Annual Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video, which ran Aug. 1-14.

The event, which continues to gain a larger viewing audience, was again held at the Gene Siskel Film Center and was sponsored by Target Stores, Marshall Field's Gives and Chicago Public Radio. It was a banner year for some of Chicago's talented directors and cast members, including Pamela Sherrod Anderson, LaTonya Croff, Coquie Hughes, Roderick Kirkman, Keith L. Ransfer and Yvonne Welbon.

During the opening ceremonies, The Siskel Film Center paid tribute to V103 radio personality and Director of Community Relations Bonnie DeShong, who was presented with Black Harvest's first annual Deloris Jordan Award for Excellence in Community Leadership. DeShong also served as the honorary chair of this year's festival. Also on hand to share words of encouragement were emcees Merri Dee, WGN-TV Community Relations Director and Richard Steele, a host and producer for Chicago Public Radio.

DeShong was clearly moved as she accepted her award, which she dedicated to her parents.

But the real winners were those who attended the films this year because there was something for everyone. The first film shown was a short romantic comedy, Short On Sugar, written by and starring actress Lynn A. Henderson (ER, Seinfeld, Will & Grace), who joined the audience to introduce and talk about her film. From this writer's vantage point, Henderson definitely has a future in the writing and directing side of the business. Her film was funny and fast-paced—but also one that caused us all to consider the challenges of looking for love.

The opening-night feature, Madame Brouette, by award-winning Senegalese director Moussa Sene Absa, featured a feisty woman who defies the male-dominated traditions of her culture and seeks financial independence while raising one child and preparing for the birth of a second from an ill-advised liaison with a town police officer.

Filmed in Senegal, the piece was haunting but difficult to believe. Perhaps times have changed for the women of Senegal to the point where they can envision their lives based on their own terms and shaped by their own hopes and dreams.

While it was impossible to see every film at the festival, there were five that left this writer wanting more and hoping that somehow, these outstanding pieces will find their way either on public TV, in video stores or even on the silver screen.

For jazz lovers, there was the elegant and emotional documentary featuring the amazing vocalist Jimmy Scott in Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew, directed by Matthew Buzzell. Scott, nearing 80, still has that magical, almost haunting voice that takes listeners back to those 'real jazz days' when Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton dominated the arena.

Of Men and Gods and A Red Ribbon Around My House, were two other documentaries that attracted a large audience at each showing. The former revealed the daily lives of openly gay men in Haiti—where homosexuality is still taboo—and their voodoo beliefs. The latter was an entertaining, joyful piece about Pinky—a flamboyant South African AIDS activist, wife and mother who is HIV-positive. Her message throughout the film was 'there is power in disclosure.'

The story of a talented basketball player whose career has developed behind bars instead of on the NBA hardwood was told in Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius 'Hook' Mitchell. What made this film worth seeing were the telling testimonies and on-court performances by 'Hook' and his former Oakland friends, including Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Brian Shaw, who each say that in terms of raw talent, the 5'9'' 'Hook' was better than any of them.

And it leads one to consider, 'how many other 'Hooks' are there out in the world—or locked up—whose future could have been so much brighter?'

Chicago director Coquie Hughes contributes a gritty drama in her If I Wuz Yo Gyrl, which unabashedly explores the issue of domestic violence as it affects two interrelated couples: an emotionally cold attorney and her much younger lover and an aggressive, violent butch lesbian and her partner, who has been abused by her father, her husband and now her lover.

Hughes said during the discussion that followed the screening that she hopes to sell the script. But it is this writer's hope that someone will see the real power and value in this film and make it available for a wider audience in its present form.

However, the movie to see was one directed by Matthew Miele, written by Christopher Fetchko, and co-produced and featuring Ernie Hudson, called Everything's Jake. The film tells the story of Jake, a homeless man whose 'house' is New York City. And for Jake, being homeless is a choice—a way of life—that he wouldn't have any other way.

The film does not lead us to feel sorry for Jake or any of his 'companions' but it does make one consider the sometimes unfortunate situations that lead one to become homeless and the often insurmountable odds that one must face to get back on their feet. Also featured were Debbie Allen, Robin Givens, Lou Rawls and Doug E. Doug in a piece filmed entirely in the streets and habitats of NYC, before the World Trade Center disaster.


This article shared 7585 times since Mon Sep 1, 2003
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97 2024-03-22
- series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

Leather Archives & Museum announces 2024 Fetish Film Forum 2024-01-27
--From a press release - CHICAGO, Illinois—After a wildly successful inaugural year, including a 10-film series at the Leather Archives & Museum and a 5-film series at FACETS, the Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to announce the continuation of Fetish ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.