Why I Have 83% Support for Black Movie Month #BMM #iSupport #indiefilm #blackfilm #atthemovies

What will it take to get me to 100%? Less begging and more control of how our films get noticed. Producer and distributor Film Life and Black Enterprise magazine are teamed up to designate October as Black Movie Month with six actions that African-American movie goers can do right now and throughout coming weeks in support of black films. I like what these two entities are doing and appreciate the dialogue that Black Movie Month can open up for African-American audiences, so October is a month that I will do the following:

#1 Pledge to pay admission for another person to attend the screening of a black film during the month of October.

#2 Buy a black film on DVD to give as a prize to one reader of this blog, The Madlab Post.

#3 Read black film publications Shadow and Act more often to stay informed on black films, because I admit...I tend to read more either mainstream or general publications that discuss film as a whole rather than a specific area of it.

#4 Discuss the effects of stereotypical images portrayed in film and how to either lower their presence or at the very least, get more positive images on screen to offer a balance between the two, with friends, relatives, associates and strangers that I am around throughout this month.

#5 Raise funds to make the short film that I delayed back in January and go into pre-production on the feature that I've had on the shelf for years or at the very least, attempt a 48-hour weekend short AND support (see #1) the work of another black filmmaker.

but I will NOT, I repeat, will NOT sign a petition that asks Hollywood Studios to make, release and promote movies that feature more diverse storylines for African-Americans and movies that feature African-Americans in leading roles.

I am not in favor of petitioning Hollywood for inclusion of positive and/or non-stereotypical roles for African-Americans because it is counterproductive to what those who are seeking this want to achieve.

Whoever or whomever is footing the bill for the movies that are currently being offered in movie theaters can produce whatever stories and lead with any group of actors they want.
It all comes down to dollars and cents, but c'mon people.....I know most of us already know that.

So why waste time and energy trying to convince someone or a group of companies to change the way they do business when we can use that same amount of effort to get the kind of stories that we want to be told and the kind of actors that we want to bring those stories to life the necessary backing and tools to do so?

It is pure nonsense to whine to Hollywood studios about the marginalized treatment that us given to black film and the scarcity of quality stories with African-Americans in leading roles, as if these things don't exist....because they do.

The actions numbers 1 through 5 that people are urged to take in celebration of or in support of Black Movie Month proves such existence of black films.

I am not urging anyone to refrain from signing the petition. Men and women of all races, colors, creeds, ethnicities and cultures can do what you desire for Black Movie Month. However, I know for sure that there is another way to watch more diverse stories with African-Americans on film.

In the 1960s, Melvin Van Peebles showed us another way when he found success making films out of the country and today, Ava DuVernay is spearheading another path for black films that are nothing like the offensive Hollywood fare, with the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM)....so no one rallying against Hollywood's current way of doing things can convince me that we are not being represented enough nor represented properly.

Hollywood has the money, right? Well then my dearest, fellow African-Americans, please understand that this means they make the rules....at least in their neck of the woods. The studios do not have to hire Idris Elba or Regina King if they don't want to. They can hire Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie if they so desire and there is nothing wrong with these decisions because....wait for it.....wait for it.....it is THEIR money.

The $513 million that African-Americans spend annually on movies despite having prominent representation in less than 1% of films released this year does not show that Hollywood needs to make more black films. These numbers actually show the opposite....that the African-American movie going audience is satisfied with what is available at their local cineplex, or it shows Hollywood studios that at the very least, African-Americans are willing to spend money on entertainment even if they are underrepresented and/or misrepresented in the films being released.

Speaking of misrepresentation, Tyler Perry is the highest earning man in the entertainment industry right now. At $130 million, Perry surpasses critically acclaimed director Steven Spielberg and powerhouse producer Jerry Bruckheimer (two of the most successful people in entertainment) in earnings.

It is then no surprise that his movie, "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" is one of the only four films released this year that Black Enterprise says feature African-Americans in leading roles or producing positions. If Perry is the highest paid producer and director in Hollywood, then somebody is....correction, a lot of audiences are contributing to his high box office success and I'd be willing to bet that it's not exclusively white, Asian nor Hispanic audiences who are filling those theater seats on opening weekend.

Tyler Perry, an African-American man who makes films by, about and starring us (which fixes the underrepresentation claim in the petition to studios, by the way...I'm just saying) is, or appears to be a dominant figure in Hollywood right now due to the support of an African-American movie going audience, despite the fact that his movies feature the very characters, stereotypes and messages that people are asking entertainment industry studios to ease up on....Hello pot, meet kettle!

Black Movie Month is a powerful and moving way to support black filmmakers and their films as well as a great start in getting African-American audiences to seek out and learn more about DVDs and screenings that are available to us.

However, members of this audience who are making arguments about unfair representation in Hollywood and blaming studios for the small selection of black film releases while still supporting films that do not help their cause are creating their own problem with what gets top cinema billing.

Check yourself, your wallet and your own African-American leaders in the film industry first, before you go calling foul to the green-lighting boys at the Hollywood gates.

Or better yet, support the black films that ARE available, wherever they are....on DVD, local arthouse theaters, galleries, hosted screenings, film festivals, television, iTunes, Video-on-Demand, Netflix, Blockbuster, Redbox or the local library...wherever you find them (NO Bootlegs, please!), whenever you can.

If you don't know where to start, here are three films that I recommend:

"Night Catches Us" directed by Tonya Hamilton

Now available on DVD and Video On Demand. Visit the website for more information.

"Make a Movie Like Spike" directed by Jamil Walker-Smith

Screening in select cities. Visit the website for this film to learn more information.

"Mooz-Lum" directed by Quasim Basir

Screening at colleges and in select cities. Also available for Pre-Order on DVD. Visit the website for more information. This is the only movie on this list that I did not watch yet.

Of all who are encouraging people to sign the Hollywood studios petition for better representation of African-Americans on film and of all who have already signed the petition, I wonder how many are working on other avenues to reach their goal such as opening movie theaters, moving into distribution, making deals with black owned cable networks or starting their own, developing a collaborative network of film screening venues and retail outlets that sell black film DVDs to consumers and how many, I mean really, are supporting black films available in the digital space through iTunes, the filmmaker's websites, e-commerce stores and the like. I'd be willing to bet that it's less than half.

Me, sign a petition asking Hollywood to change their ways and support more diverse work featuring African-Americans when my own fellow man and fellow woman seem to stop their efforts for improvements in this area at a name on a letter to the so-called powers that be?

No Thanks.

What are YOUR thoughts on petitioning Hollywood studios on elements of film that matter to you?

Are petitions worth the effort?

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Out of Wedlock Births on Film that Play out in Real Life #NWNW #atthemovies

The following post is an essay that I wrote for the No Wedding, No Womb blogathon that kicks off today. - Nicole

In “All Things Fall Apart,” Lynn Whitfield plays Dee, a single mother of two teenage sons. While very protective and nurturing, Dee has to make huge sacrifices to ensure the happiness and safety of her children but struggles even more when one of them faces a life threatening illness.

In “Jumping the Broom,” Valarie Pettiford plays Aunt Geneva, a woman whose married sister took her child to provide a more stable life for a baby that would be raised by a single parent otherwise.

What do all of these movie characters have in common? Their similarities go further than becoming pregnant and having a child out of wedlock. Each mother listed here lacked the resources necessary to take care of the baby that she brought into the world. The keyword here is RESOURCES.....an important factor that does not appear to be considered much when women decide to engage in activities that result in unplanned (or even planned, for those who are so infatuated with a man’s personality, looks, status or whatever attracts them that they want to have his baby) pregnancies.

Being a loving mother in “All Things Fall Apart” did not make up for the fact that the biological father of Dee’s sons were not in the picture and she gave the only man (played by Mario Van Peebles) who was a father figure in their lives her butt to kiss when he tried to convince this strong and independent woman to allow her ill son some room to learn how to take care of himself.

Dee had a job and an active side business but still struggled to afford the best possible life for her children and had difficulty paying her ill son’s medical expenses. Not only did this have an impact on her son’s opportunities to be all he can be, the resources that she does have are pretty much spread thin since Dee has not one, but two kids.

Aunt Geneva seemed more concerned about traveling the world than being a parent and good role model for her daughter. Unlike Dee, however, Aunt Geneva was gracious enough to realize that her sister could provide a better life for the child that she chose to have without ensuring that the daughter was born into the best possible circumstances....with two parents in a stable environment that did not include her mother flying off to Paris or some other getaway whenever she felt like doing so.

In reality, the percentage of mothers in the African-American community who are having children out of wedlock under circumstances similar to the main characters in “All Things Fall Apart” and “Jumping the Broom” are likely very small.

A lot of single mothers who have a chip on their shoulder but express pride in being “strong and independent” do not have a man in their lives who are willing to take over as step-father and pay for, motivate, encourage and care for children that they had from a previous relationship with another man, like Dee had in Mario Van Peebles’ character, Eric. There are even smaller numbers of single mothers who come from a wealthy family where their married older sister has the ability and resources to come in and save the day like Aunt Geneva had in her sister Claudine, played by Angela Bassett.

Often than not, the picture of out of wedlock births, especially among African-American women tend to be similar to “Claudine” starring Diahann Carroll or “Lean on Me” starring Morgan Freeman. There is a scene in “Claudine” where the main character spanks her suddenly pregnant daughter after learning that there will soon be another mouth to feed in her already financially shaky, welfare stricken household.

In “Lean on Me,” a high school student named Kaneesha Carter gets upset, scared and angry at her male partner after learning she is pregnant. A baby could not only affect her chances of doing well in school and going to college but also spreads her already limited resources very thin since her mother has been unemployed for some time and just landed a new job....so who is going to babysit this kid in 9 months?

The focus of this post is not about marriage, single mothers or African-American women. It is about out of wedlock births and the importance of lowering the rate at which these births occur and this can only happen when adults make more efforts to assess the resources that are available to them and consider the amount of resources that would be available to their children....before deciding to get pregnant and bring a child into the world that is at a disadvantage on so many levels, compared to other children who were born to parents who have the ability to care for them.

Children deserve all that they can receive when and after they are born but resources to cover their needs such as finances for basic expenses including food, shelter and clothing, a stable and safe home environment along with positive people around them are the least that they should experience, or else the children become at risk for social, mental, emotional and financial problems as they grow older while also likely having kids out of wedlock themselves, thus continuing this sad cycle of poverty and broken families.....and it doesn’t have to be this way. This can be prevented through behaving responsibility and taking family planning more seriously, because it means more than buying condoms at the grocery store or getting birth control at a free clinic.

For those who may be familiar with the Mario Van Peebles/50 Cent film, please note: I watched both of the movies highlighted in this post at a movie theater and am well aware that “All Things Fall Apart” is about a football player who wants to build a career in sports and provide a better life for his family. However, I chose to focus on a specific aspect of the plot as a way to help illustrate my point on the subject of out of wedlock births.

What do YOU think needs to be done to curb the growing rate of out of wedlock births in our country?

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Never Trust Your Friend's Movie Recommendations #GBE2

Let's make something perfectly clear. Movie recommendations and criticisms that close friends and associates share with us are very useful when choosing a title to watch. Their reviews from an average movie goer's perspective are what convinces other people to give a relatively unheard of movie such as "The Way Back" starring Saoirse Ronan and Colin Farrell a chance. It's also what causes movie lovers to add a crazy title like "The Experiment" starring Forrest Whitaker to his or her Netflix queue.

Still, it is never wise to always trust movie recommendations from your friends as the sole reason to ignore a title (or even watch a title that you may not be interested in, unless your friend's comments are positive and very pursuasive) or prepare yourself for possible disappointment. Friends may know what they are talking about when telling you that a movie sucks or is the greatest thing since "Avatar" or whatever, especially if they share your preferences in movies. However, many of us often miss out on what could become our favorite films to date by judging a movie's quality based on our friends ratings of them.

"Love & Basketball" was popular during its release and became a favorite film among what seems like a majority of the movie going public or at the very least, African-American movie goers. I have several friends who are among the very vocal and devoted "Love & Basketball" champions that think my utter dislike for this title is outrageous. It is kind of funny and ironic, as I feel the same way about the movie. "Love & Basketball" is outrageous......to me.

On the flip side, I happen to love "Blue Valentine" but know at least two people who do not like this film. One of them, Smurfdok, did not watch it because the subject matter turns him off and the other person is Fiercechick, who saw it in the movie theater and did not become a fan of the film. No matter how much she loves Ryan Gosling, I am in no more a position to convince her to place “Blue Valentine” on her list of top ten favorite films than anyone who can persuade me to enjoy watching a movie as annoying as “Love & Basketball.”

If I refused to check out “Blue Valentine” based on the fact that I know people who do not like the film, I would have missed out on a really good picture. If you are into sporty romance dramas that have a particularly strong focus on African-American relationships at home, in the community and higher education, then asking me if I think you should watch “Love & Basketball” is not the best idea.

The next time a friend (or co-worker, fuck buddy, neighbor or even a bartender who has no friends of his or her own) tells you that a movie sucks OR tells you that a movie is awesome, get a second opinion from, um.....yourself....before overlooking a possible gem at the box office or wasting your time on a title that isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be such as the oh, so boring “In the Bedroom.” Is this movie good (in my opinion)? Yes. However, it is too damn long! Or is it? Don’t take my word for it. Watch “In the Bedroom” for yourself and then let me know if you agree or disagree with my assessment of the boring scenes and lengthy running time.

How much influence does Your friends have on which movies you decide to watch?

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