New Indy Flick: Middle of Nowhere

First, I want to give a rousing applause to our lil sister, Quvezhane Wallis from last summer's "Beasts of the Southern Wild" who grabbed an Oscar nomination for best actress yesterday.  It should be noted that she was only a mere 6 yrs. old when she filmed the movie and I blogged about her performance last summer so scroll down to read it.

Just needed to put the word out about this upcoming new indie movie for some attention to refocus on since "Django Unchained" has seemed to suck up all the oxygen on conversations about films and Black movie goers right about now.  Also interesting to note, Jamie Foxx was not nominated for an Oscar for portraying the lead character, a former slave who sought revenge and reclaimed his wife.  Hmmmm.

How lucky are we to have 2 strong independent Black films available soon for our viewing, critique and enjoyment.  I can't wait to see this one, "Middle of Nowhere", a movie with very real issues we're all familiar with, beautiful new talent that make us hungry for more casting diversity in Black films and not the same ol' faces or types of beauty, and a welll crafted script about a black woman making critical life choices about her future and happiness all add to my eagerness to catch this one.

Check for the screenings in your area on fandango.com and share your thoughts about our images on the big screen.

New Independent Black Films: Movie Alternatives For The Holidays

 

Just found out about this new indy joint produced by and starring Chicago rapper, Common and a recent favorite at Sundance. This looks like a good bet for anytime of year, but especially with the usual holiday film fare and Oscar-hungry dramas.  It'll be good to see black men and the complex issues raised around manhood,the transgenerational values being passed onto our  boys, and serious questions about survival being played out on the big screen.

I'm looking forward to seeing it as soon as it opens in NYC just to see Dennis Haysbert (remember he was the velvet-voiced President Palmer on Fox's 24), Charles Dutton, Michael Kenneth Williams from The Wire and Ms. Meagan Goode showcase their talent.

Looking Forward To The Next 4 Years

  

The election is over and Barack Obama came through with a comfortable win over the overly confident multi-millionaire, Mitt Romney. Two months later, The Republicans are still licking their wounds, clinging to denial and trying to get it together for 2016. They seem to not accept the changing demographics across this country with regard to women, the middle class, the poor, immigrants and the all-talked about Latino vote. 
 
As for the Democrats and the Black vote, there's also a sort of denial or unwillingness for Black America to accept that although we are the most loyal demographic within the Democrtic Party, we are the most overlooked and taken for granted. To be honest, I had some problems with President Obama's ignoring the specific plight of African Americans in his first term, even though I understand where that came from. I get it, I realize he had to straddle the political/racial fence and not appear too willing to place racial preference in policy and scare everyone else that he was Black America's President and not the President for the whole nation. Basically, he had to quell any fears that he might be giving us some undue public policy advantages because we belong to the same group. 

But how about the fact that over 90% of the Black vote went to him and we deserve some policy attentions for helping to put him in office. The LGBT community, Latinos and women all gained some policies that addressed their needs in response to their votes that helped get him in office. He didn't just do some token gestures to placate them, he created sound, long-term policies that will support their respective agendas and concerns as they move forward into the next generation. So my question is: What did we get other than a lecture about fatherhood and how we should stop complaining and take off our house slippers and get to work? Not much.  He never addressed the prison industrial complex, stop and frisk police practices, black business formation and the loss of homes in the foreclosure debacle through predatory lending (see Wells Fargo). We got told, "A rising tide raises all boats". If so, how come we're always at the bottom of the ship. I don't pretend to feel the President can repair all the problems that affect Black America but we are owed some policies that address our specific needs and we need to be aggressive, in his second term, in demanding attention be paid to our agenda as his constituents and not his racial brothers and sisters.
We'll need to be politically mature now more than ever.  I'm not willing to go the route of Tavis Smiley or Cornell West, but attention and action needs to happen from us and for us.  There's way too much poverty that is so accepted in our community, and it doesn't really matter what city you travel to, it always looks just about the same.  I travel and look at our situation and have to wonder just how has having a Black President actually benefitted our condition on the whole. 

I would be happy if Obama actually starts talking about the poor.  Just getting the topic on the radar is a start since there hasn't been any real policy to attack poverty since the Johnson administration.   Poverty, that bad word nobody uses anymore because "the middle class" sounds more paletable to Middle America, but little do they realize they are slowing becoming today's poor.