Histories and Influences: Independent African American Cinema and More email: Geechee Girl We all become who we are through the intersections of histories and personal influences. It is important to acknowledge the influence of individuals and those "old souls" who came before us. What I accomplish as an independent filmaker is in line with the legacies of pioneer filmmakers like William Foster, George and Noble Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, Oscar Micheaux, Spencer Williams, William Alexander, and many names now forgotten in the struggle to create an African American Cinema for this past century. It is surprising that a century of cinema can pass and their names are often omitted as part of that history. It is our responsibility to recite the litany and legacy of those names. The tenacity of Oscar Michaeux and the spritual depth of Spencer Williamshas consistantly been a major influence for me, on the path that I have chosen. Zora Neale Hurston 1891-1960 In the 1960's, novelist Alice Walker opened the door for the re-discovery of Zora Neale Hurston, the flamboyant southern writer, folklorist and anthroplogist who was a major voice in the phenomenon known as the Harlem Renaissance. Recent findings of "lost" 16mm film footage suggests that Zora Neale Hurston might have been the first African American woman to have worked as a documentary filmmaker. In the 1920's, in exchange for collecting black folklore (music, poetry, conjure tales, songs and stories) Zora received a cash stipend and a camera from her "Godmother," Charlotte Mason. Zora set out for the South on a mission to search for the "Negro farthest down..." Unfortunately, Zora's findings remained Mason's property even after her "Godmother's" death. Check out the quicktime footage in our download section. It was supplied by Kristy Anderson who is producing a documentary on Zora called, "BlackSouth: The Life Works of Zora Neale Hurston." Click here for a Timeline of Independent African American Cinema My uncle, St. Julian Dash was the first person to put a camera in my hand. He was my father's older brother, he traveled a lot and had a selection of 8mm and 16mm motion picture cameras. St. Julian Dash was a major tenor saxophonist with Erskine Hawkins' band in the 1930's, 1940's and the1950's. You can hear him as the featured tenor saxophonist on recordings such as NO SOAP, DOLOMITE and SWINGIN' ON LENOX AVENUE and as a composer, with joint credits for TUXEDO JUNCTION, ZIG-ZAG, SO LET IT BE, and DEACON DASH, among others. All praises are due to the provocative Toni Cade Bambara, the masterful Toni Morrison, the womanist Alice Walker, the insightful Paule Marshall and the original urban bush woman Zora Neale Hurston--for inspiring me to produce narrative films. The late Kathleen Collins-Prettyman was one of the first female filmmaker's I met in the early seventies, the sophistication of the dialogue in her films has been a model for my journey as a writer. When I'm working, I like to pay visual homage to certain film directors, for instance the baptisim scene in "Daughters," was a direct result of having seen Spencer Williams' "The Blood Of Jesus." Also, Bill Gunn's tree scene in "Ganja and Hess" you remember the one with Dr. Hess up in the tree with his legs hanging down into the frame. That's how I composed the tree scene in "Daughters," with Trula's legs hanging down into a frame, a scene that focused on a conversation between Yellow Mary and Eula Peazant. Issac Julien's "Looking For Langston" is one of my favorite films, so when I did a short film with the performance artist/dancer Ishmael Huston Jones called "Relatives," I used a similar composition and cadence. I think that all of us, the independent filmmakers, as well as the Hollywood based film directors have influenced and informed each others work. We are all, as well, influenced by the work of world class directors such as Satyajit Ray, Ozu, Ousmane Sembene, Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, etc. When I look at John Singleton's work, or the Hughes brothers I see the influences of Charles Burnette's "Killer Of Sheep", "My Brother's Wedding," and Billy Woodberry's, "Bless Their Little Hearts." These are films that were made in South Central L.A. in the late seventies and early eighties. Of course the African and Latin American films have had a profound effect on anyone who went to film school in the 1980's. Films like "Ceddo", "Xala," "Lucia", Sarah Gomez's "One Way Or Another," as well as the films by Sergei Eisenstein, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, and Vittorio De Sica I'm encouraged by the younger filmmakers, especially young women who are taking bold steps to make sure that their unique voices are being projected through a larger lens.