From the myriad of cinematic movements of the 20th century, the L.A. Rebellion - also known as Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers - is certainly one of the most revolutionary currents. Between the 60s and 80s, a generation of filmmakers, associated with UCLA - University of California, created a new Black Cinema, independent from the stereotypical Hollywood conventions and attentive to the real african-american lived experiences. At the time of the Civil Rights movement in the USA, these filmmakers’ contributions challenged the white hegemony in the cinema industry, while expanding the aesthetic and social reach of cinema to circumstances overlooked until that time.
In the most comprehensive European retrospective of the movement to date, LEFFEST celebrates the irreverent qualities of the L.A. Rebellion’s filmography. Directors such as Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry, Ben Caldwell and Julie Dash - special guests of this year’s festival - compose a landscape of dozens of filmmakers, with scenes as remarkable as the painfully stilted dance of a married couple in Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1978), the visionary intergenerational tour-de-force in Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991) and the mythical singular-cut confluence of past and present in Gerima's Sankofa (1993).
Featuring screenings by fourteen distinct L.A. Rebellion directors, unprecedented in Portugal, LEFFEST 2022 will hold further debates with the invited filmmakers and a retrospective-exhibition about this movement’s generation. With the artistic perspective and work by the emblematic Ben Caldwell, the exhibition’s vernissage will be held on the 13th of November, at MU.SA in Sintra.
Session 1
November 10, 7pm, Medeia Nimas Cinema
Rain (Nyesha) (1978), by Melvonna Ballenger
Compensation (1999), by Zeinabu irene Davis
Session 2
November 11, 4:15pm, Medeia Nimas Cinema
As Above, So Bellow (1973), by Larry Clark
Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space (1981), by Barbara McCullough
Session 3
November 12, 4pm, Medeia Nimas Cinema
Ujamii Uhuru Schule Community Freedom School (1974), by Don Amis
Killer of Sheep (1978), by Charles Burnett
With the presence of director Charles Burnett
Session 4
November 14, 6:30pm, Medeia Nimas Cinema
Daydream Therapy (1977), by Bernard Nicolas
Bless Their Little Hearts (1983), by Billy Woodberry
With the presence of directors Ben Caldwell, Charles Burnett, Julie Dash and Billy Woodberry
Session 5
November 15, 3:30pm, Medeia Nimas Cinema
Brick by Brick (1982), by Shirikiana Nina
Ashes and Ambers (1982), by Haile Gerima
Session 6
November 17, 7pm, Olga Cadaval Cultural Center
The Horse (1973), by Charles Burnett
To Sleep with Anger (1990), by Charles Burnett
With the presence of director Charles Burnett
Session 7
November 17, 10pm, Olga Cadaval Cultural Center
Penitentiary (1979), by Jamaa Fanaka
Grey Area (1981), by Monona Wali
Session 8
November 18, 3pm, Medeia Nimas Cinema
Four Women (1957), by Julie Dash
Daughters of the Dust (1991), by Julie Dash
With the presence of director Julie Dash
Session 9
November 19, 5:30pm, Olga Cadaval Cultural Center
I & I: Na African Allegory (1979), by Ben Caldwell
Sankofa (1993), by Halle Gerima