Marlon Riggs
Made by Marlon Riggs in 1989, Tongues Untied has lost none of its power since its original release 20 years ago. Immediately reviled and repudiated by white fundamentalists and black activists alike and more or less rejected by the broadcasters for whom it was made, the film has nonetheless become a milestone in independent cinema. As uncompromising in form as it is in content, Tongues Untied combines dance, poetry, performance, interviews and historical reenactment in its exploration of how it is to be both black and gay. While the film’s enduring beauty is the result of Riggs’ intelligence in the handling of his medium, its continuing political relevance is a sad testament to the intransigence of both racism and homophobia, even in these supposedly more progressive times. Sadly, Riggs succumbed to AIDS in 1994 but not before delivering a body of work that, in his own words “delivers a frank, uncensored, uncompromising articulation of an autonomously defined self and social identity.”
Programme:
Tongues Untied, Marlon Riggs, 1989, 16mm, colour/B&W, sound, 55 minutes
Short Fuse, Warren Sonbert, 1992, 16mm, colour, sound, 32 minutes
Behind Every Good Man, Nikolai Ursin, 1965, 16mm, B&W, sound, 8 minutes
@ the Art Bar, Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West
Tuesday 29 September 2009, 8:00pm screening
Short Fuse
Tongues Untied