08 D A L L A S W E E K L Y December 17-23, 2009LifestyLe

By Antoinette NevilsContributing Writer

“Don’t expect the slavemaster to set you free. It’stheir money, they did it theirway.”

The words of filmmakerand producer WarringtonHudlin were expressedunapologetically when hewas recently in Dallas, as theguest speaker at The BlackAcademy of Arts andLetters’ 24-Hour Filmfeast.Hudlin shared both fun andserious anecdotes of his expe-riences working with some ofthe greatest black stars andfilmmakers. He told of hisexperiences as a producerworking on the set of themovie Boomerang withEddie Murphy, Halle Berry,Grace Jones and others. Healso told the obstacles film-makers faced back then andnow, discussing the work ofSpike Lee and Danny Gloverand the struggles to get thebacking and financial supportneeded to make successfulfilms.

Hudlin added, that, todayhowever, new media bringsnew opportunity.

“The gates have beenunlocked and can’t be lockedanymore,” Hudlin said. “Thegates now are all digital, withthe Internet. We have nolonger any excuse not tomake our movies, ….com-municate.”

Hudlin said the gatescannot be locked because theInternet solves the manyproblems of the black filmindustry. With distributionnow online and costs of pro-ductions lowered, people cannow use cell phones or basiccamera equipment to makemovies with the help of theInternet and media such asYou Tube. He said we cancreate internet channels usingYou Tube or our owndedicated channel and com-municate.

The 24-Hour Filmfeastshowed six African-American films from the1930s-1950s, givingaudiences a taste of the skillsand talents of black actorsand filmmakers back then.Curtis King, TBAAL’sfounder and president,selected different films full ofdifferent issues and subjectssuch as liberation, fame, and

family. He said the goal of theevent was to spreadknowledge about the historyof black films and filmmak-ers, and to show people whatfilmmakers created despitetheir lack of money andsupport during the times ofracism and inequality.

King said he believesthese films and their issuesare relatable now because thesubject matters are still topicscovered today. He also saidthis event is relatable todaybecause black filmmakers

and artists still struggle andtackle the same issues likedistribution and fundingtoday.

The films’ characters werereflective of the times thefilms were made, but theimportant factor is that thesefilms featured black actors asthe stars and told the truelives of blacks in the 1930s to1950s, King said.Gwendolyn Hargrove,Director of Operations ofTBAAL, said these filmsbroke many barriers by

casting a predominantlyblack cast, having urban andethnic music, and having

these lead characters play avariety of dominant rolesthat do not include stereo-typical roles such as beingmaids, cooks, slaves, orcriminals, which is whatmany blacks played, if that,in the early 1900s.

“Do-It-YourselfCinema” is what Hudlin

promotes for minorities. Hebelieves with the technologynow, filmmaking is easierand more accessible tominorities through online andsocial media. Hudlin said it’simportant for not justAfrican-Americans, but forall people of color to jointogether and work together tocreate our own films and pro-ductions if the film industrydoesn’t help us.

“We need to tell our storiesuncut, because they put a cuton everything we do,” Hudlinsaid. “We can really worktogether in solidarity and nowthat the gates are unlocked,make our movies.”

Hudlin further statedpeople must realize that“Hollywood can’t understand

us” and so they make filmsbased off what they know orsee and insert that into films.Many white directors gottheir start working on blackfilms, he said.

Hudlin believes thereshould be a variety of films toshow the variety of African-

American culture. He admitsthat the big Hollywoodindustry can still restrictminority films and that unfor-tunately there is not muchpeople can do for now aboutthe long-winded obstacle, butthat should not stop filmsfrom being made.

“Do It Yourself Cinema” Black filmmaker preaches

Warrington Hudlin

Warrington Hudlin says there no more excuses forBlacks to make their own films, at TBAAL Film