Rare images, intimate footage, and experimental filmmaking explore the legacies of Frantz Fanon and Richard Wright, two crucially influential anti-colonialist thinkers of the 20th century.
The Society of the Spectacle (1974)
Dir. Guy Debord, 91min, DCP
Six years after the publication of his classic book The Society of the Spectacle, the French Marxist theorist Guy Debord released this semi-experimental, essay-film adaptation. Using the classic Situationist technique of “détournement”—the practice of remixing pre-existing images to underscore the original underlying ideology—Debord overlays a dizzying array of still and film images with text from the book. The result is organized chaos that nonetheless provides a sharp commentary on a world dominated by image and power.
Now! (1964)
Dir. Santiago Alvarez, 5min, DCP
Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez arguably made an early music video with his fiery, agitprop Now! Set to and inspired by Lena Horne’s song of the same name—which was banned in the US on the grounds that it would incite revolt—this short features newsreels, still photographs, and other found footage documenting the struggle for racial equality in the US. Repurposing pirated material and found footage in a virtuosic montage, the film is a powerful example of cinema used in the service of political solidarity and challenging dominant power structures.
Dir. Guy Debord, 91min, DCP
Six years after the publication of his classic book The Society of the Spectacle, the French Marxist theorist Guy Debord released this semi-experimental, essay-film adaptation. Using the classic Situationist technique of “détournement”—the practice of remixing pre-existing images to underscore the original underlying ideology—Debord overlays a dizzying array of still and film images with text from the book. The result is organized chaos that nonetheless provides a sharp commentary on a world dominated by image and power.
Now! (1964)
Dir. Santiago Alvarez, 5min, DCP
Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez arguably made an early music video with his fiery, agitprop Now! Set to and inspired by Lena Horne’s song of the same name—which was banned in the US on the grounds that it would incite revolt—this short features newsreels, still photographs, and other found footage documenting the struggle for racial equality in the US. Repurposing pirated material and found footage in a virtuosic montage, the film is a powerful example of cinema used in the service of political solidarity and challenging dominant power structures.
UPCOMING Screenings
RUNNING TIME
96min
VENUE
TICKET INFORMATION
General Admission: $16
Members: $8
Leadership support for
BAM Access Programs provided by
the Jerome L. Greene Foundation
Leadership support for
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The Thompson Family Foundation
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