Author Archives: basiltsiokos

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tonight, Tuesday, February 14:
A NEW COLOR: THE ART OF BEING EDYTHE BOONE

Director:
Marlene “Mo” Morris

Premiere:
Mill Valley 2015

Select Festivals:
Pan African, Sebastopol Doc, Through Women’s Eyes, Oakland, IFF Boston, SF Jewish, Harlem, Sarasota, San Diego and Nashville Black film festivals

About:
A portrait of an African-American mural artist and activist.

Morris follows Edythe Boone, better known as Edy, over the course of three years, telling the septuagenarian’s story and showcasing her efforts to foster art – and social activism – among diverse communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, her home since relocating her family from Harlem to escape the crack epidemic. As Edy is shown working with children on art projects, she reveals her background, which includes an early upbringing by an Orthodox Jewish family, and contributions to local murals focused on African-American, women, and HIV/AIDS issues, and, to a broader extent, to public art which helps uplift disadvantaged communities. Edy is an appealing, positive subject, but Morris’ storytelling is unfortunately erratic, pingponging between two many themes and too-awkwardly shoehorning a consideration of Black Lives Matters. While Edy’s nephew, Eric Garner, was a victim of excessive police force, the film’s attempt to address this feels too separate from the rest of the project and not sufficiently developed, making it an ill fit for what is otherwise a likeable, if smaller, profile of the inspirational power of art.

Coming to PBS’s AfroPoP tonight, Monday, February 13:
OMO CHILD: THE RIVER AND THE BUSH

Director:
John Rowe

Premiere:
Washington DC Independent Film Festival 2015

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Cleveland, Sun Valley, Tallgrass, Denver, Palm Beach, BendFilm, United Nations Association

About:
A man takes a stand against an ancient tribal practice.

The Karo (or Kara) people of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley have long held onto a superstitious belief called mingi, which views physical disability, or unusual conditions of birth, as a curse that must be snuffed out lest it somehow infect the rest of the tribe. As a consequence, children born out of wedlock, physically deformed, twins, or whose upper teeth emerge before their lower teeth are put to death or separated from the tribe and left to die by exposure. This heartbreaking practice continued until the interventions of Lale Labuko, a young Karo tribesman who received a formal education outside of the tribe and later returned, offering to adopt mingi children himself and calling on tribal elders to end the tradition. Over several years, Rowe documents Labuko’s mission to change the culture of his people and to rescue the unwanted children. While the film lacks dynamism, adopting a slow-paced, direct-to-camera oral history approach that robs it of urgency, it is well-shot and hopeful, allowing it to connect with audiences.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, February 13:
ACCIDENTAL COURTESY: DARYL DAVIS, RACE & AMERICA

Director:
Matt Ornstein

Premiere:
SXSW 2016

Select Festivals:
Cleveland, Atlanta, Nashville, Montclair, Bergen

About:
A portrait of an African-American man who befriends KKK members.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to the WORLD Channel’s Reel South series this Sunday, February 12:
120 DAYS

Director:
Ted Roach

Premiere:
Austin 2013

Select Festivals:
Atlanta, Cucalorus, RiverRun, Napa Valley, Kansas, St Louis, Charleston, Dances With Films, Boston Latino

About:
An undocumented man has just four months before making a life-altering decision.

When Miguel Cortes’ car is pulled over with no apparent cause by a police officer, the Mexican national had been living a peaceful life in North Carolina for a dozen years with his wife and daughters. Despite his undocumented status, he was employed and paid taxes, but the encounter with the authorities upended his life. He’s given the option of leaving the country voluntarily within 120 days, and thus keeping open the possibility that changes to immigration law might allow him to one day return legally, but to do so would mean becoming separated from his family. If his family joins him, they would face economic uncertainty, with his children additionally foregoing a US education. If Cortes and his family remain in the country, they would have to relocate, assume new identities, and live in constant fear of being discovered as fugitives. Despite some clunkiness in Roach’s approach – including superfluous narration and a level of naivete from Cortes around immigration law that’s a bit hard to believe – the film succeeds in putting a human face on draconian immigration policy as the family faces this dilemma.