Freda Scott Giles
The second annual Africana Women in Film Festival was held on both University at Albany campuses on March 5, 6, and 7, 1993. Each year, the Festival; selects a focus area: last year, the focus was on women directors; this year, the Festival called attention to the distinguished career of actor Mary Alice who recently starred in the HBO miniseries "Laurel Avenue." The purpose of the Festival, which was founded by Freda Scott Giles, a member of the Theatre Department and an IROW associate, and Lisa M. Stevenson, a Theatre Department graduate student, is to highlight achievements and artistic products of women of color in the cinema.
The Institute for Research on Women has been a major supporter of the Festival since its inception. This year IROW sponsored the viewing of "Kiss Grandmama Goodbye" and "I Be Done Been Was Is," two films produced and directed by Debra Robinson. The screenplay for "Kiss Grandmama Goodbye" was written by Terry McMillan, author of the best selling novel Waiting to Exhale. The film tells the tender story of the adjustments a young African-American girl and her family must make following the unanticipated death of the young girl's beloved grandmother. The spirited and very unstereotypical grandmother leaves the family a legacy of strength. McMillan also participated in writing the documentary "I Be Done Been Was Is," which provided insights into the artistry of four African-American female comedians. Both films are distributed by Women Make Movies, a firm which specializes in films by and about women.
In addition to IROW, ASUBA, the Theatre Department, the Office of Affirmative Action, and the Women's Studies Department, the New York State Writers Institute has been an essential sponsor of the Festival. The Writers Institute underwrote the viewing of a critically acclaimed commercial feature film by Charles Burnett, "To Sleep with Anger," which starred Danny Glover. Mary Alice played a major featured role in a cast which included Paul Williams, Cheryl Lee Ralph, and Carl Lumbly as members of a family which comes near destruction when a sinister, and perhaps mystical, visitor from the past pays a call. Mary Alice also played a pivotal role in "Sparkle," a musical feature film fore the 1970s shown at the Festival. The songs for this pre-"Dreamgirls" tale of a female singing group's tribulations on the road to stardom were written by Curtis Mayfield; one of the song was recently rerecorded by En Vogue.
The program of screenings was rounded out by a documentary on the rich historical and cultural heritage of the African-Canadians of Nova Scotia, "Black Mother, Black Daughter," produced by the National film Board of Canada, and a short feature by Carmen Coustaut, "Extra Change," in which a pre-adolescent girl learns a valuable lesson about self-esteem. A lecture and screening of a film-in-progress on film pioneer Oscar Micheux by film historian Pearl Bowser was the Festival's closing program. Bowser is the curator of a large private collection, African Diaspora Images, who recently programmed the Caribbean Film Festival sponsored by the Caribbean Center and the Queens Public Library. University Auxiliary Services provided the refreshments for the reception which followed Boswer's presentation.
Preliminary planning for next year's Festival, which will take place in March of 1994, is underway. Lisa M. Stevenson will serve as coordinator and may be reached through the Theatre Department. Program suggestions are welcome.