As film reels rolled to a stop, screens went dark and the theater lights came on marking the closing day of the 2010 Urban World Film Festival, there was a strong sense that the festival showcased several films that should help break down barriers for Black Hollywood.
As highlighted in our previous days coverage some of those films include Night Catches Us, which presents the humanity of the Black Panther Party to the issues of religious bigotry and self-identity tackled in Mooz-Lum. In celebration, rolling out polled attendees and celebrities to get their take on significant black films that have helped redefine the representation of the black experience. –souleo
Evan Ross:
“I feel like Malcolm X, showed all the pieces of someone finding the right way. You see him hateful and then finding the truth that people should love.”
Free:
“Lean on Me because it showed the reality of him going to that school and you realize what teachers go through. Also, Crash because it showed how we perceive things and how we stereotype [people].”
Lenny Green:
“Glory because it showed … [the] great strength of where we have come from, where we are now and how far we still have to go.”
Kellita Smith:
“Boomerang ‘cause it beautified black people … [and] showed that we … make mistakes [but that we] love each and we can get it right.”
Crazy Legs:
“Empowerment doesn’t come from being in the film, it comes from owning the film. So I respect Spike Lee and I like Crooklyn. It took me back to how it was in the ‘hood with ghetto games that we enjoyed because we had nothing else in terms of alternative forms of recreation.
Jamie Hector:
“A Raisin in the Sun because it showed the obstacles of a family in making it to the next level of the American dream. It dealt with morality and conflict and showed that we are in the same line of obstacles and are trying to overcome it.”
Serius Jones:
“Life is Serius because it touches on the essence of a black man’s struggle from being a disenfranchised youth in the inner city to making a way for yourself when it seems like there is no way.”
Vladimir Versailles:
“Malcolm X because we saw somebody speaking about issues not in mainstream media. It made me want to act when I saw Denzel [Washington] do his lean back in the film.”
