Films with: Perry, Don

Through a lens darkly black photographers and the emergence of a people /

Inspired by Deborah Willis's book, Reflections in Black, Through a Lens Darkly, casts a broad net that begins with filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris's family album. It considers the difference between black photographers who use the camera to define themselves, their people, and their culture and some white photographers who, historically, have demeaned African-Americans through racist imagery. The film embraces both historical material (African-Americans who were slaves, who fought in the Civil War, were victims of lynchings, or were pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement) and contemporary images made by such luminaries as Roy DeCarava, Gordon Parks, and Carrie Mae Weems. The film is a cornucopia of Americana that reveals deeply disturbing truths about the history of race relations while expressing joyous, life-affirming sentiments about the ability of artists and amateurs alike to assert their identity through the photographic lens.

DVD 10904

Twelve disciples of Nelson Mandela

"Confronted with the death of his stepfather, director Thomas Allen Harris embarks on a journey to understand the man who raised him, Pule Benjamin Leinaeng ("Lee") - an ANC foot-soldier who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. As part of the first wave of South African freedom fighters, Lee and his comrades left their homeland in 1960 to broadcast to the world the brutality of apartheid and to raise support for the African National Congress ("ANC") and its leaders, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. This film is an intimate tale about an African-American family, the anti-apartheid movement and the quest for reconciliation between a father and son."--IMDb.com.

DVD 8989