This is a very entertaining documentary short by good friend Alex about a very colorful Queens, NY resident called Miss Colombia. What I love about Miss Colombia is that ‘she’ could care less what you and I think, as long as ‘she’ is fulfilled  and not hurting anyone, Miss Colombia will be doing the Miss Colombia thing!!

With corporate Jamaica again in a frenzy to cover the shit stains of their Down Low ‘bros’ & ‘uncles’ from being seen by regular folks (who know its there but just dont have the evidence to prove that they are running some raahtid drug and sex rackets), yuh would be heartless to look at Miss Colombia and not admire his resolve to be who Miss Colombia is, as opposed to the money grubbing liars and perverts at the head our country and industry who are using sex and sexuality to whore their ways into money and power.

Read what my girl Alex had to say about her production and check out more from this budding filmmaker at Pretty Girls Carry Guns on youtube (http://youtube.com/prettygirlscarryguns) or on her Vimeo page here.

Go to her blog  BLUNT ENVY (http://bluntenvy.blogspot.com/)

Thanks Ms Lopez :-)

Alex says:

When I was a sophomore in film school I interviewed a local Jackson Heights celebrity known as “Miss Colombia.” I had often come across Miss Colombia on my way home from school or the movies as a kid. Her inappropriate humor and bold costumes left a permanent impression on me growing up. Kind of like Lady Gaga, in a creepy uncle sort of way. Upon my re-cut of this footage, I am evermore inspired by her vitality and courage.

La Vida Loca aka “The Miss Colombia Project” from alexandra lopez on Vimeo.

Love these Warrias  #thatisall

Big up to FireDre of Lava Ground Intl for it

“Deep Obeah” is possibly Roi Kwabena’s expression of his own sense of frustration with the almost radioactive accumulation of global injustice, shock waves that make themselves felt far and wide, rendering life on this planet increasingly toxic, increasingly impossible for many if not most. The work symbolically turns to obeah, “sorcery” to bring events beyond one’s control more into alignment with a desire for a better future…..

There’s more of the paper after the video

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People & Power looks at the controversial handling of gang violence in Jamaica.

From a documentary production focusing on Caribbean and Latino culture in New York City.
SENTIMIENTO presents two drummers who are also members of the transplanted (from West Africa) Orisha religion, also known as Ocha. They introduce a bit of its history and then look into how New York as a melting pot has affected the religion.

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If you didnt see me host the Bajan leg of the Caribbean Tales Film Festival, watch it here

Celebrated Caribbean poet/historian/cultural critic  Kamau Brathwaite will host a selection of films from the Best of CaribbeanTales Film Festival 2010 (CTFF), at New York University from April 26th to May 1, 2010. The four day mini-festival is part of Marassa 10 2010 : A Festival of Caribbean Film, Story and Imagination,  that will take place at the Institute of African American Affairs, 41 East 11th St., 7th Floor.

Barbados-born Dr. Brathwaite is currently Professor of Comparative Literature at NYU.  Since the 1950′s he has authored many outstanding ground-breaking works, including poetry and non-fiction, and awards recognising his achievements include the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Fulbright Fellowship, and recently, the Griffin Prize for “Born to Slow Horses”. He is best known for originating the concept of Nation Language to describe the indigenous Caribbean languages of peoples descended from slaves. His contributions to a discourse on contemporary Caribbean and Africentric culture are without parallel.

The complete list of film being to be screened is online here.

Short Documentary made from a conversation with 4 Jamaican Rasta Youths, all who migrated to the Bronx. The convo centered around issues of identity and labels encountered in New York and Jamaica- ‘black’, ‘african-american’, ‘rasta’, ‘kushite’, ‘west indian vs carribean’ etc. Speaks to transnationalism and the spreading of the cultures of the African Diaspora.

Look out for the real life footage of a hawk ripping a rabbit to pieces at the end of part 1/beginning of part 2 Read the rest of this entry »

This is a live performance of one of the films featured at the Caribbean Tales Film Festival held in Barbados this February. It is directed by Rommel Hall and the Jesus Army Production Crew out of Barbados.

It takes the storytelling aspects of R Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” to tell the story of how 6 lives collide in a stalled elevator. Things are not always as they seem and the world, sometimes, is real small.

Trust me you will be on the edge of your seat in suspense and out of the chair with laughter. Press play Read the rest of this entry »

Spike Lee begins production on an update to his Emmy-winning HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke,” about the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Premiering in the summer, the untitled follow-up will look at the current status in education, housing and population relocation in the five years since the storm devastated the region.

No word if “Levees” standout Phyllis Montana-Leblanc will make an appearance in the sequel, but at Lee’s suggestion, she makes her acting debut in HBO’s upcoming original series “Treme” [pronounced Tre-MAY], which takes place in New Orleans three months after Katrina.

“Spike read the pilot early on. I had very favorable conversations with him,” said “Treme” co-creator and executive producer David Simon (“The Wire”). “The only thing of substance where he kicked in an opinion was actually Phyllis Montana-Leblanc where he said, ‘You know, I think she could do one of these things for you. She’s great.’”

“And so we read her, and he was right. It was a good casting choice and all credit to him for that,” Simon told TV critics Thursday during a presentation of “Treme.”

Montana-Leblanc, a real Katrina survivor, plays Charlette, a love interest of the lead character played by Wendell Pierce. “Treme is scheduled to premiere on April 11.

(source)

Neptune’s Pharrell steps into new territory. He will completely score the 3D movie “Despicable Me” I wonder if he will keep his hip hop/pop flavor or switch it up for the family film

Singer, songwriter, producer Pharrell Williams will write original music for Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s upcoming 3D CGI feature “Despicable Me.”

In addition to the film’s title track, which debuted with the feature’s teaser trailer [watch below], Williams has already begun to write the film’s orchestral score as well. It  marks the first time the artist will compose music for a film.

“I love cartoons and animation, and I’ve never seen such incredible 3D CGI,” Williams said in a statement. “To score ‘Despicable Me’ along with Hans and Heitor and write original songs for the film is a dream come true.”

The film’s producer Chris Meledandri comments, “Pharrell is one of the most important contemporary songwriters, Hans is one of the truly great film composers and Heitor is the next generation of Hans’ protégés. This is an extraordinary teaming of talent. With every note they write, our film is being enriched.”

“Despicable Me,” starring the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Miranda Cosgrove, Jack McBrayer, Mindy Kaling, Jemaine Clement and Julie Andrews, arrives in theaters on July 9, 2010.

(source)

Thanks to my bebe, Im now in love with Blaxploitation movies, especially ones set up in Harlem! Blaxploitation (from the words ‘black’ and ‘exploitation’) is a film genre that was very popular in the early 1970′s and targeted urban African Americans as their main audience. They usually have common characters (or at least the ones I’ve seen set in New York) like the smooth talking ‘jive turkey’, the corrupt ‘honky’ cop, the pimp or drug dealer and his hoe, the foxy afro wearing soul woman and the mob boss trying to keep a brother down.

As coonish and stereotypical as they seem, I get really excited to see the changes in location, lingo, fashion and so on (that’s the anthropologist in me.)  Some you may already know are Shaft, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones, Blacula and Dolemite Now, the rumor mill is buzzing with the idea that Denzel Washington and Will Smith may star in a 2.o remake of the 1974 hit Blaxploitation Comedy “Uptown Saturday Night”.

Denzel Washington and Will Smith are reportedly in discussions to remake the 1974 film “Uptown Saturday Night,” which starred Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby as two friends who sneak out

According to Humor Mill, Washington has now expressed interest in the “Uptown” remake and in starring alongside with Smith.

of their homes to visit a legendary – yet illegal – nightclub.

When the place is inevitably held up and their wallets are stolen, the duo must recover a winning lottery ticket that was sitting in Cosby’s wallet.

Humor Mill Magazine is reporting that Will Smith bought the rights to the film in 2002 and has been trying to remake it ever since. Eddie Murphy was approached early on, but a deal with the superstar was never worked out.

(source)

I recommend Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) [Mario Van Pebbles before he had a big name], Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) [directed by Ossie Davis], Trouble Man (1972) [Marvin Gaye produced soundtrack], Super Fly (1972) [Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack for this movie is one of my fave albums of all time!], Across 110th Street (1972), Black Caesar (1973), Hell Up in Harlem (1973) , and especially for the ladies check out Mahogany (1975) which stars a young Diana Ross.

Here’s Brittany Murphy in one of my favorite films, Sin City

Legendary singer and actor Jimmy Cliff recently traveled to Nigeria to receive an award for Peace Ambassador from the Economic Commission of West Africa. While there he sat in an interview with Jamaican broadcaster Lindsey Barrett. Read the rest of this entry »

The Coconut Revolution is a documentary about a little known environmental war, where the island of Bougainville has entire ‘rural’ communities running hydro-electricity and using coconuts as the main resource for products such as oil, soap, VEHICLE GAS among others!!

Image from film

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