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Greetings all,
I hope you do not get into the habit of doing something else on Thursday because I couldn’t make it last week. I had to attend UTA’s graduate student very successful screening at The Modern in Fort Worth last Thursday.
If you remember from last week’s Bart Chat, we will be discussing The Brainwashing of My Dad with the Filmmaker Jen Senko this week. This is an important film, and it should be a great discussion. I’m sure we will talk about how things have gotten worse since the film was made. You can see it on Amazon, YouTube, and other services. Sorry, this one is not free, but it’s good to support filmmakers.
This Saturday night is the Pegasus Film Festival, a great festival of high school filmmakers. Many are local, but they have been getting more selections of work from around the country. And some are younger than high school. I have seen all the entries and there is some really great work here. This festival is run by students and they have been inspiring in the way they have taken to this undertaking. So, please join them online to support young filmmakers, and you will have a great time as well. Don’t forget, the week after that is the Oak Cliff Film Festival.
Friday night, Amazon Prime Video dropped Underground Railroad, and I strongly recommend it. Amazon has not dropped as much original programming as some of the other services, but they are really to be applauded for giving some of the best African American directors a chance to work on a larger scale. Last year, with Small Axe by Steve McQueen and now Barry Jenkins. As I write this, I have watched only six episodes and it is the best thing I have seen in a long time. I cannot think of a work of cinema that combines inspired writing, cinematography, sound design, acting, and directing this well. I strongly encourage you to experience it. (Yes, it is 10 episodes.) In some other venue, when I finish the series, I will write more about it. Please watch it on a good monitor with good speakers so you can see how Jenkins is a master of lighting and the evidence of this now-famous quote from the 2018 New York Film Festival author Darryl Pinckney said to Jenkins that "you remind us over and over again how beautiful Black bodies are in color." Visit a friend who has a better system; it’s okay now! Your attention will be rewarded.
And one last thing: The Texas Theater is showing Lawrence of Arabia on Saturday night, and this is worth seeing on the big screen.
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