Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by IDIOM Film/RaMell Ross
RaMell Ross rewrites familiar representational tropes of race, region, and class in this impressionistic portrait of two young African American men in the American South.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
Sundance Program Description:
How does one express the reality of individuals whose public image, lives, and humanity originate in exploitation? Photographer and filmmaker RaMell Ross employs the integrity of nonfiction filmmaking and the currency of stereotypical imagery to fill in the gaps between individual black male icons. HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING is a lyrical innovation to the form of portraiture that boldly ruptures racist aesthetic frameworks that have historically constricted the expression of African American men on film.
In the lives of protagonists Daniel and Quincy, quotidian moments and the surrounding southern landscape are given importance, drawing poetic comparisons between historical symbols and the African American banal. Images are woven together to replace narrative arc with visual movements. As Ross crafts an inspired tapestry made up of time, the human soul, history, environmental wonder, sociology, and cosmic phenomena, a new aesthetic framework emerges that offers a new way of seeing and experiencing the heat, and the hearts of people in the Black Belt region of the US as well as black people far beyond.
Some Background:
Director/Writer/Producer/Editor:
Ross is an acclaimed photographer making his feature documentary debut with this project, for which he received support from the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. He was also a Sundance New Frontier Artist in Residence at MIT Media Lab (2015) and Art of Nonfiction Fellow (2016).
Producers:
Past Sundance docs:
STRONG ISLAND (2017, US Documentary Special Jury Prize)
CAMERAPERSON (2016, consulting producer)
CONCERNING VIOLENCE (2014)
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (2012, executive producer, US Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner)
THE BLACK POWER MIX TAPE 1967-1975 (2011)
TROUBLE THE WATER (2008, executive producer, Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner)
Barnes is co-founder and COO of Danny Glover’s Louverture Films.
Past Sundance docs:
KIMJONGILIA aka THE FLOWER OF KIM JONG IL (2009, co-producer)
Kim was a past Sundance Institute Women’s Initiative Fellow (2015).
Associate Producer:
Past Sundance docs:
DOUBLE TAKE (2009, assistant editor)
Executive Producers:
Past Sundance docs:
STRONG ISLAND
CONCERNING VIOLENCE
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
THE BLACK POWER MIX TAPE 1967-1975
TROUBLE THE WATER
The acclaimed actor produces under his Louverture Films banner, for which he is co-founder and CEO.
Past Sundance docs:
STRONG ISLAND
CONCERNING VIOLENCE
Rockefeller is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and philanthropist, and a partner in Louverture Films.
Past Sundance docs:
STRONG ISLAND
The Bertha Foundation supports activists, filmmakers, and attorneys working for inclusive social justice and human rights issues.
Past Sundance docs:
STRONG ISLAND
PROJECT X (short) (2017, director)
PEACE IN THE VALLEY (short) (2016)
SPEAKING IS DIFFICULT (short) (2016)
THE LAW IN THESE PARTS (2012)
THE OATH (2010, director/producer)
The Field of Vision co-founder and Oscar winner for CITIZENFOUR is also an executive producer for fellow US Doc Competition title CRIME + PUNISHMENT.
Past Sundance docs:
PEACE IN THE VALLEY
SPEAKING IS DIFFICULT
Cook, a co-founder of Field of Vision and former director of programming at Hot Docs, also produced World Cinema Doc Competition title OUR NEW PRESIDENT and executive produced CRIME + PUNISHMENT.
Co-Writer:
Krinsky is an artist whose work focuses on language, translation, and photography, and an instructor at RISD. This is her first Sundance project.
Why You Should Watch:
Ross employs and then subverts preconceptions and expectations about African American masculinity, behavior, and community, creating an impressionistic, lyrical portrait.
More Info:
Website
Sundance’s Meet the Artist
For Sundance screening dates and times, click the film title in the first paragraph.
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