Pioneers of African American Cinema
Amidst the hype of the Oscar awards and numerous upcoming film festivals, there's one film project that definitely shouldn't escape your radar. Pioneers of African-American Cinema is a new project, led by executive producer Paul Miller (you may know him as DJ Spooky), with hopes of restoring some of the earliest and rarest films ever made. The roster of films, which range from documentary footage to light-hearted romance pieces to motion picture sermons shot specifically for church revivals, were made in the early 20th century by black filmmakers, and existed outside the mainstream Hollywood industry.
But Pioneers of African-American Cinema is set to be much more than just a celebration of vintage movies that home in on black lives. The multi-disc set of completely remastered films will be a celebration of the sheer determination needed to ensure these early films were made. Written, cast, directed, edited, distributed and screened without the tools and exposure of conventional cinema, these films have been incredibly difficult to find--some of them have never been released on video until now. In a trailer clip for the project, Spooky duly notes that black history has been often "neglected and kind of eerily erased" from American cinema--a problem that the Pioneers release plans to rectify. "Against almost impossible odds, African-American film directors like Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams, and white filmmakers such as Richard Norman crafted their own film companies in whatever cities they were in." The project has recovered a number of those films and hopes to restore them in HD and make them finally available. Many of the film's original soundtracks have been entirely restored, but others are being given modern upbeat updates. Watch the full trailer below and consider donating to the project's noble cinematic mission here.
