A Question of Color “It is only as we collectively change the way we look at ourselves and the world that we can change how we are seen. In this process, we seek to create a world where everyone can look at blackness, and black people, with new eyes.” Kathe Sandler’s 1993 documentary on colorism opens with this quote by critic and scholar bell hooks. Through her narration and interviews, Sandler boldly and gracefully investigates divisions and prejudice within the Black community. She addresses how institutional racism jeopardizes one’s sense of belonging and unity, creating distorting and alienating images of the self and others. Note by Hyesung ii. DIRECTED BY: Kathe Sandler. 1993. 57 min. USA. Color. English. 4K DCP. New 4K restoration by IndieCollect, created in cooperation with the Black Film Center & Archive at Indiana University and funded with support from the Golden Globe Foundation and donors to IndieCollect’s Jane Fonda Fund for Women Directors.
THE WILD PARTY
The Wild Party in 4K Sun, Dec 15 | 11am | TMT Restoration World Premiere
Clara Bow stars in this comedy as Stella Ames, a popular student at an all-girls college with a penchant for parties and a disdain for school. Her demeanor changes with the arrival of handsome new anthropology professor James Gilmore (Fredric March). Notable as the first talking picture for both Paramount Pictures and Bow, The Wild Party reflects the pre- Code era of its production: the female characters are nuanced and strong and suggestive themes abound. Director Dorothy Arzner created a prototype boom mic to follow Bow, who had trouble adapting her performance to the new sound recording techniques. Note by Sari Navarro. DIRECTED BY: Dorothy Arzner. WRITTEN BY: E. Lloyd Sheldon. STORY BY: Warner Fabian. WITH: Clara Bow, Fredric March, Marceline Day, Shirley O’Hara. 1929. 77 min. USA. B&W. English. 4K DCP. 4K Restoration by Universal Pictures from the 35mm Composite Fine Grain and 35mm Nitrate Print. Restoration services conducted by NBCUniversal StudioPost. Artie Shaw: Time is All You’ve Got in 4K Sun, Dec 15 | 2:30pm | TMT United States Restoration Premiere In person: Brigitte Berman Brigitte Berman’s Academy Award–winning documentary returns to the cinema in a beautiful new 4K restoration after being out of circulation in the United States for over three decades. The film revives the unique story of Artie Shaw, the legendary figure of the 1930s and ’40s swing era who broke the color barrier by working with Black musicians like Billie Holiday. The film—comprising interviews with Shaw, testimonies from his contemporaries, and archival footage—examines Shaw through an earnest and raw lens, confronting the contradictory nature of his perception of his career and life and his apparent desire for complete control of his image. Note by Hyesung ii. DIRECTED BY: Brigitte Berman. WITH: Artie Shaw, John Best, Lee Castle, Helen Forrest. 1985. 114 min. USA. Color. English. 4K DCP. 4K picture restoration by Patrick Duchesne, Frank Biasi, and Jim Fleming at Picture Shop (Toronto). Sound restoration by Daniel Pellerin. 4K and sound restoration generously donated by Donald Hicks (coordinated by Bradly Torreano) and Telefilm Canada, in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival.
NAKED SPACES: LIVING IS ROUND
Naked Spaces: Living is Round in 4K Sat, Dec 14 | 7:30pm | TMT North American Restoration Premiere In person: Trinh T. Minh-ha
Trinh T. Minh-ha’s widely acclaimed first feature, filmed in rural West Africa, radically challenges and redefines the perspectives, tropes, and politics of ethnographic cinema. Trinh upends the power imbalance and exoticizing colonial gaze so often embedded in this mode of documentary by decentralizing the filmmaker, whose voice and vision has historically been authoritative, observational, and detached. Through the absence of artificial narrative, explanatory voiceover, or presumptuous analysis, her film eschews simplistic, didactic objectification and instead attempts to achieve something else: an empathetic engagement driven by curiosity and a genuine, conscious humanism. Note by Mark Toscano, senior film preservationist, Academy Film Archive. DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Trinh T. Minh-ha. 1985. 135 min. USA. Color. English. 4K DCP. Restoration provided by the Academy Film Archive. Special thanks to Jon Shibata and Pacific Film Archive.
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