New Documentary Alert: “Invisible Universe: A History of Blackness in Speculative Fiction”

Utopian Fiction…What is, “Speculative Fiction?”…Who is part of the Science Fiction world?...What does it mean to be a “Second Class Citizen”?…A voyage into a fantastical world…

To answer some of those questions and expound on the above ideas, filmmaker and producer M. Asli Dukan’s has launched her documentary “Invisible Universe: A History of Blackness in Speculative Fiction” which investigates the relationships between the Black body, popular fantasy, horror, science fiction literature & film and the alternative perspectives produced by creators of color. According to Dukan:

From the origins of the genres, images of Black people in fantasy, horror and science fiction or speculative fiction (SF) have been inauthentic at best in the imaginations of white creators. From the “Fantastic Voyages” of the 1700s where Black pirates kidnapped white explorers to far off “alien” lands, to technologically advanced futures where Black people didn’t exist in any significant population, to post-nuclear holocaust America where modern Blacks took on aggressive pre-civilized behaviors, many of these ideas have created lasting impressions in the minds of their audiences and future creators. And though there were a few attempts by some white writers to use the genres for social commentary, for instance on race relations, these efforts were few and far in between.

There is however a significant output of work by Black creators, who used the techniques and themes of the genres to write alternative stories and to produce films that spoke closer to the realities of Black life. At the turn of the 20th century, Black writers wrote utopian and fantastical novels set during the days of slavery and Reconstruction. Independent Black filmmakers created low budget feature films exploring the effects of science and fantastical religious beliefs on the Black imagination. Harlem Renaissance writers jumped into the genre with “mad scientist” and “end of the world” scenarios commenting on the American race relations. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, two powerful and original voices emerged in the SF world writing tales with more inclusive pasts, presents and futures. Also in the 1970s, Black anti-heroes utilized science and the supernatural to secure Black justice. And later, there was the emergence of Black superheroes, who, though ready, willing and able to save the entire universe, first had to fight a homogenous industry.

This 10-year project brings these ideas to life through extensive footage, which features interviews with major writers, scholars, artists and filmmakers (i.e. Samuel R. Delaney, LA Banks, Tananarive Due, Nichelle Nichols, Wesley Snipes). The documentary also explores various mediums such as comics, literature, film, and television by deconstructing stereotypical and archetypal images of people of color (primarily Black) within these genres. Dukan has traveled across the country documenting key conferences, conventions, panels, performances and other events of Black SF at The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York, The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention and The Afrofuturist Affair in Philadelphia, the AstroBlackness colloquium in Los Angeles, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture in Atlanta, The Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas in Seattle, and New York Comic Con and Comic-Con International in San Diego. Essentially, “Invisible Universe” ultimately uncovers how Black and other individuals of color have been minimized and even erased within “popular” Sci-Fi culture, thus as a result of this consciously creating their own universe.

Dukan explains much of her dedication and efforts for this highly anticipated documentary project with a few words from the late, great Black science fiction writer Octavia Butler, “ I was trying to write myself in.” And Dukan does just that with “The Invisible Universe” documentary.

So if you would like to learn more and support the campaign check out the link HERE .

Check out the trailer here:

Invisible Universe trailer (Documentary feature work-in-progress) from Mizan Media on Vimeo.

As posted in The Berkeley Graduate

You can catch me in 2 places now!!

Alrighty Good People!! Just wanted to let you know there is another spot where you can keep up with me!! Just recently I was added to the staff of  Medium Rare as one of their TV and Film Commentators. This is another awesome opportunity that has been presented to me and I am truly grateful!

Medium Rare is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of women and people of color in the television, film, and gaming industries. It is our mission to bring to the public dynamic interviews and review works by directors, writers, designers/developers and producers who may have been overshadowed and/or overlooked. Furthermore, Medium Rare believes that the visual arts suffer from mediocrity on occasion. As a result we act as a platform for other faces, voices, and viewpoints to be seen and heard as commentary on the state of the media industry both in content and delivery.

So far I have done reviews on the television shows "Whitney" and "2 Broke Girls" !! And there is more to come!! Make sure to check me out on  www.mediumraretv.org .

"Luke Cage" Project will hit TV before the Movie Theaters...See Why?

Check out this exclusive update on the Luke Cage project from Shadow and Act ...

In an interview with Hitflix  posted today, Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight screenwriter), who, as we've been following, is reportedly writing and executive producing the Jessica Jones TV series, has confirmed that not only will Luke Cage be "worked into the series" (which Marvel Head of Television Jeph Loeb revealed at Comic-Con earlier this year), but he'll in fact be a primary series character, and will be 1 of 3 central characters in the narrative - the other 2 being Jessica Jones (of course), and Carol Danvers (better known as Ms. Marvel, one of the most powerful members of The Avengers).

For those just learning about this, here's a quickie recap...

The new series will be titled, AKA Jessica Jones, the former superhero who retires after suffering post-traumatic disorder and decides to become a private detective; Marvel is prepping a live-action TV series based on the Marvel character.

So whats the connection to Luke Cage, you ask? Jessica Jones is a white female superhero, so, why should we care here on S&A? Well, comic book geeks will know that Jessica Jones was later known as Jessica Campbell Jones Cage. The last name should give you a hint as to where this is going...

Jessica Jones eventually marries Luke Cage, the African American superhero, whose name has been mentioned quite a bit on this site in recent months, with the likes of Idris Elba, Tyrese Gibson and Isaiah Mustafa campaigning to play the character in a big screen adaptation (who knows if that'll ever happen). In the comic book series, the couple had a daughter as well.

And so my main interest here is has been just how involved Luke Cage will be in this series; if Marvel planned to focus strictly on Jones' life prior to meeting Cage, meaning he'd likely be a peripheral character.
I can now say that he'll be a central character; though the series is still be called AKA Jessica Jones, so...

From Hitfix:

 

Based on Brian Michael Bendis comic series "Alias," the TV show would center on Jessica Jones a former superhero under the code name Jewel who has decided to give up tights and spotlight. Rosenberg confirmed the show would also have principal parts for Luke Cage (also known as Power Man and her eventual husband in the comics) as well as Carol Danvers (better known as Ms. Marvel, on of the most powerful members of The Avengers). The former "Dexter" scribe and producer confirmed the potential TV series would absolutely take place in the larger "cinematic" Marvel Universe that has been established by films such as "Iron Man" and "Thor,"" but admitted they can't reference everything. "It's very tricky navigation there. You can't mention one guy because Fox has the rights to that guy and Universal has the rights to the other one. There are a lot of boundaries on who you can and can't use," Rosenberg reveals. "I had Jessica Jones and Luke Cage and Carol Danvers [for the pilot script]. Basically, I wanted those three guys -- then I would have a series."

Rosenberg added that the series is very real, the pilot script is done, and now they're just waiting for a green light to shoot it.

I already know a few people who will be interested to see this! Kudos to Shadow and Act for this updated inside scoop!!

'Waiting for Superman' won't fly with some audiences

Every now and then I like to showcase film reviews from other intelligent individuals, because there review pretty much "hits the nail on the head"!! This review is submitted by a good friend of mine R. L'Heureux Lewis. And hopefully after reading this article/review you wilh have another perspective of today's education system.

In this film publicity image released by Paramount Pictures, Geoffrey Canada, standing, is shown in a scene from, "Waiting for 'Superman'." (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures)

'Waiting for Superman' won't fly with some audiences

By R. L'Heureux Lewis

Waiting for Superman is a powerful film about educational reform and the potential of our schools from the same team that brought us by director Davis Guggenheim and producer Lesley Chilcott, the Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Unfortunately the filmmakers leave the audience hoping for a change that is as likely as a caped crusader appearing in real life.

While the film taps into the concerns that many of us have towards a failing educational system, it fails to provide a full portrait of what is really happening in the nation's schools. If you're interested in heart wrenching stories, see this film. But if you are interested in changing education make sure you bring your x-ray vision so you can see beyond the veil of what the filmmakers are advocating.

The film opens with an interview of Anthony, a young black boy enrolled in a Washington, D.C. school. We learn that Anthony's father died years earlier from a possible drug overdose and his grandmother is now raising him in a poverty stricken neighborhood. With poise he answers math questions and in his eyes you see the glimmer of potential and high educational hopes. Unfortunately Anthony is slotted to attend a failing middle school that feeds into a high school nationally known as a "dropout factory" where 40 percent of students fail to graduate. This is an all too common reality many black, brown and poor students in the United States.
The happy ending to this story is to come by Anthony being rescued by an innovative new D.C. charter boarding school. The catch is that this salvation is only available to a few via a lottery. The lottery exists because when more people enroll in charter school than they can accommodate they must use a lottery system to determine admission. Guggenheim and filmmakers lament this point and stress "we know what works" but we leave success up to chance for our young people.

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The story of Anthony and the other families that are followed are touching but do not tell the full reality of schooling, particularly in charter schools. Behind the heart tugging narrative lies an inconvenient truth, that charter schools on average actually perform no better than traditional public schools and often perform worse! In the nearly two-hour film this reality is tucked in a sound bite where the film confesses only 1 in 5 charter schools is excelling. Yes, you read that right, 80 percent of charter schools do no better or fare worse than traditional public schools. It is clear this research finding does not deter the filmmakers, but viewers should not be so quick to skip it. The Stanford's CREDO National Charter School Study has done the most comprehensive work on charter schools and found that they are far from a cure all for educational woes.

Waiting for Superman spares no punches as educational administrators and authors take shot after shot at blaming teacher unions for blocking educational reform. Jonathan Alter of Newsweek sums up a message the film is trying to get across, "Teachers are great, a national treasure. Teachers' unions are, generally speaking, a menace and an impediment to reform." The villains of the families are made clear when the presidents of the American Federation for Teachers and National Education Association enter the screen and ominous music forecasts their discussion of securing teacher's jobs which is equated to sabotaging masses of children who will be saddled with poor quality teachers.

Repeatedly we are reminded that the United States ranked 15th in reading and 24th in math in comparison to other developed nations. The answer to this dilemma is to free up our schools from the albatross of teacher unions and bureaucratic red tape. Sounds good, right? The only problem is that nearly every country that ranks above the US enjoys a unionized teaching force.

Unions cannot and should not be the scapegoats for educational failure. Beyond challenging unions, the film advocates for are evaluating teachers and a curriculum that guarantees college readiness, both of which are becoming increasingly common in public schools. Faster than a speeding bullet, Waiting for Superman ignores those realities to tell viewers that problems schools face are complex but successful reform is simple.
H. L. Mencken once said, "For every complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong."

The solutions offered to educational problems offered by Waiting for Superman fall into this trap. There is no magic bullet to repairing our schools; it will take a wide variety of schools, reformers, and communities. While we can all agree that education needs to be reformed, we cannot place our faith in a smidge of successful schools that cannot accommodate all children and have not demonstrated repeated success. We also cannot ignore the more numerous charter schools that do worse than the traditional public schools we already have. Doing so would be no different than waiting for a man in a cape and tights to save us.



You can follow R. L'Heureux Lewis on Twitter @dumilewis, or you can check him out on his website: http://www.uptownnotes.com/