I Am Not Your Negro
I Am Not Your Negro is documentary film that released in 2016 directed by Raoul Peck. Based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript with a tittle Remember This House that narrated by famous actor Samuel L. Jackson. A film that tell a journey of black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. Also a film that questioning black representation in Hollywood and beyond. This film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards and won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary. [1] premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the [Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award: Documentaries]. Not long after it, Magnolia Pictures and Amazon Studios acquired distribution rights to the film. Then it was released for an Oscar-qualifying run on December 9,2016, before re-opening on February 3, 2017. [2]
Synopsis
The film investigates the historical backdrop of prejudice in the United States through Baldwin's memories of social equality pioneers Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr., just as his own perceptions of American History.
Message
A Message that his film brings is that of Race, rage and the American Dream. Raoul Peck's narrative uses the immortal displeasure of James Baldwin to vitalize his set of experiences of the dark involvement with America, from Hollywood generalizations to police severity. Baldwin's words compared over news films of occasions like the Ferguson turmoil following the passing of Michael Brown. Also, Raoul utilize this to tie the social equality development of the 1960s to the Black Lives Matter development of today.[3]
Front Row CEO Gianluca Chakra in an interview stated in deadline.com said that "We require deep introspection on the issue of racism and how some of our black and brown communities are affected by it in our region. This is not strictly an American problem, it is everywhere.” He continued: “James Baldwin is a central figure in American letters and is one of the most important black voices on racial injustice so we are very proud to be the distributors of this masterpiece and we feel the need to take a stand. Cinema is culture and we can not turn a blind eye and act ‘business as usual’ when we see injustice. We are immensely grateful to all our partners in making this possible and we look forward to expanding these initiatives to promote tolerance and openness across our diverse cultures here.”[4]
Reference
- ↑ https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/humanitiesinstitute/events/controversy-conversation-film-screening-i-am-not-your-negro
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Not_Your_Negro
- ↑ https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a32923235/i-am-not-your-negro-james-baldwin-documentary-reactions/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/06/middle-east-film-companies-to-host-free-screenings-of-i-am-not-your-negro-in-solidarity-with-blm-movement-1202954356/