Film & Documentary
June 29, 2020
Letter from the editor:
BIPOC filmmakers have been demanding equal access in the documentary field for many years. Against the backdrop of continued nationwide protests for Black lives, Miasarah Lai argues that we urgently need this diversity in film. Meanwhile, Rooney Elmi has put together a brilliant list of documentaries by Black directors. And Tanner Tafelski reminds us that protests against police brutality go back decades with his piece on a 1978 film about Philadelphia’s notoriously racist mayor Frank Rizzo.
Two very different docs about queerness in media have recently hit the web. Juan Barquin looks at how Ask Any Buddy turns historical gay pornography into an archive of everyday life, while Willow Maclay interrogates how Netflix’s Disclosure frames the conversation around transgender representation in film and TV. As long as cinema is quarantined online, Hyperallergic will be on top of everything streaming. Until we can see you at the movies again, stay safe.
An Essential Watchlist of Groundbreaking Black Documentaries
These films illustrate both the undeniable threat of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy and the incomparable strength of Blackness.
Rooney Elmi
We Need Documentarians of Color to Tell Their Own Stories
BIPOC filmmakers have been demanding visibility, equity, and access in documentary for years. Amid historic protests for Black lives, this need is even more pressing.
Miasarah Lai
SPONSORED
Surveying Transgender History in Film and Television
The documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, now streaming on Netflix, focuses too much on representation, to the detriment of other aspects of the trans experience in cinema.
Willow Catelyn Maclay
Spike Lee’s Latest Is a Thorny Portrait of Black Masculinity and Generational Trauma
While Da 5 Bloods has its weaknesses, it hits the nail on the head with its portrayal of the complicated nature of Blackness and brotherhood.
Melinda Fakuade
Snapshots of Gay Culture and History in Pornography
Evan Purchell’s collage film Ask Any Buddy stitches together 100 adult films from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, illuminating aspects of everyday life amid the sex.
Juan Barquin
Looking Back at Philadelphia’s Notoriously Racist Mayor Frank Rizzo
Recent protests have finally ousted longstanding local monuments to Rizzo. The 1978 documentary Amateur Night at City Hall draws out a history of resistance to his brand of white authoritarianism.
Tanner Tafelski
Remembering the Battle of Okinawa, One of World War II’s Bloodiest Episodes
Filmmaker Hanayo Oya shares a little-known, and devastating, chapter of the war.
Elisa Wouk Almino
From the store...
Claude Monet Action Figure
Spruce up your home office with this cute Monet figurine. He holds one of his famous water lilies in hand, keeps a tiny frog companion in his pocket, and, best of all, his outfit changes color after you dunk him in water!
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