Here's something short and sweet that I stumbled upon while researching Halloween movies with black characters, with Halloween just around the corner. Maybe you can add the mentioned films to your watch lists, if you haven't already seen them - not that I can recommend every single one of them. But it's Halloween! Get in the spirit! Filmmaker M. Asli Dukan ("Invisible Universe") created the video for a panel with author Nalo Hopkinson for Fire & Ink III in 2009, so it's several years old. But really, since then, I can't say that could be added to the list she has here. It's not exactly often that black vampire women are characters in movies. Dukan's compilation includes...
- 10/29/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
In the video below, filmmaker M. Asli Dukan encapsulates (and then some) arguments/theories/critiques/conclusions made numerous times on this blog over the years, by different writers, with regards to, in general, the participation of black storytellers (specifically filmmakers) within what have been labeled speculative fiction genres. Titled "What is the White Fantastic Imagination?", it appears to be the first in a new series of video blogs that Asli will be publishing to her YouTube channel (which you can subscribe to here), while continuing to raise funds to complete her long-in-production feature-length documentary, "Invisible Universe: A History Of Blackness In...
- 6/17/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Here's something short and fun that I stumbled upon while researching Halloween movies with black characters, with Halloween just around the corner. Maybe you can add these to your watch lists, if you haven't already seen them - not that I can recommend every single one of them. But it's Halloween! Get in the spirit. Filmmaker M. Asli Dukan ("Invisible Universe") created the video for a panel with author Nalo Hopkinson for Fire & Ink III in 2009. It includes clips from films previously covered on this blog, like "Ganja & Hess", "Def by Temptation", "Vamp", "Vampire in Brooklyn" and "Queen of the Damned." How...
- 10/27/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
This speaks to two things recently discussed on this blog: first, my attempts to repurpose the Bechdel Test (a measurement used to highlight gender bias in cinema), to highlight and help erode racial inequalities also in cinema, using M. Asli Dukan's 5 basic criteria for blacks in sci-fi films (read that here if you missed it); and second, and maybe more significant, veteran black British actor Lenny Henry's very public ongoing diversity push, focusing his attention on the opportunities for black and minority ethnic groups in the UK TV and film industry today (catch up on that here). In short, the BFI (British Film Institute) Film Fund announced over the weekend that...
- 7/7/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Revisiting the Bechdel Test, taking into consideration filmmaker M. Asli Dukan's 5 basic criteria as she came up with the "30 Significant Black Characters In Science Fiction Films" video series, which I posted on this blog recently. As was previously reported, theaters in Sweden have adopted the Bechdel Test as a way to highlight gender bias in cinema. In short, if your movie passes the Bechdel test, it gets a passing grade. While it's not law in Sweden, theaters there are using it to draw attention to how few movies fully incorporate rich, complex female characters in their narratives, which could affect box office for some films. And it's an initiative...
- 6/10/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
An oldie but goodie for those who missed it the first time last year. I'm glad, and appreciate the fact that someone did the work it took to put all this together. It was created by Mizan Media Productions - aka M. Asli Dukan, whose name you should recognize, as we've profiled both her and her documentary-in-progress, Invisible Universe, which takes a look at the contributions of black people to the science fiction (and other fantastical) genres. Courtesy of our friends at the Afrofuturist Affair tumblr page the detes follow: In this case, significance is defined as “something that is conveyed as a meaning, often obscurely or indirectly”, I have set 5 basic criteria for...
- 6/5/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Here's an update on a feature project we first alerted you to in late 2012, when it successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign, raising over $10,000 for production. It's one of two feature documentaries in the works on the contributions black people have made to science (whether fact or fiction). This one is on science fact; the other, Invisible Universe: A History Of Blackness In Speculative Fiction from director M. Asli Dukan, focuses on science fiction. Since we featured their 2012 Kickstarter campaign, the filmmakers - Jarita C Holbrook, Kelvin Z. Phillips, Carla L. Jackson - have been hard at work,...
- 3/10/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
African American science fiction, fantasy, and horror—all of which fall under speculative fiction—has been developing for over a century now. Its tradition has its roots throughout the African Diaspora, but for Americans the voyage into a fantastical world has held a special appeal. Rising out of a need to escape from the lasting essence of slavery, the emergence of Jim Crow, and second class citizenry, utopian fiction provided hope for a better future. Over the years the genre has expanded, maintaining social consciousness but also expanding beyond the conventions of our reality. The products of this ever-expanding universe, a hidden universe, have been documented in M. Asli Dukan’s...
- 2/20/2014
- by Stephanie
- ShadowAndAct
This is cool! I'm glad, and appreciate the fact that someone did the work it took to put all this together. It was created by Mizan Media Productions - aka M. Asli Dukan, whose name you should recognize, as we've profiled both her and her documentary-in-progress, Invisible Universe, which takes a look at the contributions of black people to the science fiction (and other fantastical) genres. Courtesy of our friends at the Afrofuturist Affair tumblr page the detes follow: In this case, significance is defined as “something that is conveyed as a meaning, often obscurely or indirectly”, I have set 5 basic criteria for picking characters (not the films!). They are as...
- 11/1/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
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