#jos duncan

[directedbywomen]

Celebrating women film directors born on July 13th...

Happy Birthday, Catherine Breillat, Charlotte Sieling, Jos Duncan, Karen Bernstein, Linda Yellen, Linsey Stewart, Neena Nejad, Sabine Mondestin, Sandra Gugliotta, Shari Springer Berman and Yulin Liu!

[josduncan]

3 Things Non-Catholics Can Think About While Preparing for the Pope’s Visit to Philadelphia

As a non-Catholic and current resident of Philadelphia, the Pope’s visit has seemed nothing short of an utter inconvenience. Thoughts of street crowding, transportation halts, business closings, and high Uber rates led me to planning a mini-vacation during the Pope’s stay. Even with a plan to escape the city, I couldn’t get away from conversations about the politics surrounding the World Meeting of Families’ first gathering in the United States. My contemplation of a few key things has lead seeking more information and may even have me stick around to see how this whole thing plays out.

Here are 3 things I’m thinking about...

1 - Family. The World Meeting of Families focuses on the family as an institution. While I don’t necessarily share the values of the Catholic Church, I like the idea of thinking through and articulating a set of values that define family. It’s so easy to take “family” for granted and to like or dislike the groups of people we’re born into. What if the family had a playbook, roles, positions, and responsibilities to support each other? What if there was a written process for communicating and mediating family disputes and solving problems? Should we non-Catholics be taking our families more seriously?

2- Organizing. With representatives from over 100 countries in Philadelphia during the Papal visit, there had to have been some very skilled organizers involved. If I wanted to organize something that involved over 100 countries, where would I start and what issues, ideas or themes would be worthy of such an effort? Okay. That’s huge. But if we wanted to organize anything, even locally, could we use the methods employed for this visit to bring people together? What groups and institutions are we aligned with? Which email lists can be combined? What specific work are we doing that might deem itself worthy of a commitment to organize people around it?

3- Global Mindset. Local residents will have cultures, languages and issues from around the world in arms reach. How will this add to or deflect away from the current issues related to police brutality in the African American community? How will having access to a global base of stories and ideologies shift things? While the USA is often looked at as a leader, we all know there are some problems here. How are these problems perceived internationally? Will having opportunities to interact with those perspectives contribute to progress at all?

So, we’ll see how this whole thing goes down. I’m anticipating another blog post, post-Pope.

Jos Duncan

[josduncan]

Last night, I had an amazing conversation with some lawyer-artist friends who were interested in the various roles of filmmaking. With films being such a huge part of mainstream media, it's always fun demystifying what goes on behind the scenes. Ava Duvernay, the director of the upcoming film Selma and founder of the African American Film Festival Releasing Movement [AFFRM], has put out a series of recorded phone conversations with directors called the CALL-IN. The calls reveal intimate details about the filmmaking process of making each film to include challenges, obstacles, inspirations and why they cast (or didn't) cast actors in the roles... and sometimes, it gets a bit juicy.

For the past 10 years or so, I've followed Gina Prince-Bythewood's work. As the writer and director of Love and Basketball and the Secret Life of Bees, I've admired her work from afar. The CALL-IN provided a very up close and personal listening session that was pretty inspiring. For example, I was floored when I learned, like me, she doesn't really like the editing part of making films (!!!)

Today, another film she's written and directed, Beyond the Lights, opens in theaters! I'd definitely recommend listening to AFFRM's CALL-IN before or after checking it out.

Here's the link:

https://soundcloud.com/affrm/the-call-in-with-gina-prince-bythewood

See you at the movie!

Jos Duncan

[josduncan]

Futuristic Folklore in James Town, Ghana

The streets were dense. Thick with heat from bodies and the sun, as crowds of people gathered in James Town, Accra last week to take part in this year's Chale Wote street art festival. It is often ...

[josduncan]

The Power of 'Black' Storytelling: BlackStar Film Festival

People often ask me to explain the difference between a 'Black' storyteller and any other storyteller. My answer usually begins with talking about the history of storytelling in African culture, the role of griots or jelis in their communities and 'jeliya' or the work of that goes along with this storytelling. These griots are historians, educators, and highly skilled musicians who in many ways are the fabric of the community, interweaving stories of the past and present, while envisioning a future. My answer, is usually about spoken word and oral traditions. Today, I'd like to look at 'griot work', with cinema as its backbone, BlackStar Film Festival.

"We still here! We've been here. We gone be here" are words called out by Black storyteller, Oba William King, as audiences respond to each phrase in unison. That mantra of call and response is what the range of films at BlackStar Film Festival speak with 73 films over 4 days. The films look at a global existence of Black people through stories that range from historical and fantastical to futuristic. There will be stories about funeral traditions, professors, women, children, men, music - all Black. These stories reflect experiences that acknowledge a multifaceted Black existence now, then and looking ahead. "We still here! We've been here. We gone be here".

As a Black storyteller and director of GriotWorks, I'm a huge supporter of BlackStar Film Festival and its mission. My support this year includes curating the children's short film program, Tiny Sparks and helping to get the word out about the festival.

BlackStar Film Festival begins today, August 1st and runs through Sunday August 4th. You can see a full list of films, programs and events at: blackstarfest.org. Don't let this weekend go by without laying your eyes on and filling your soul with a Black story!

Jos Duncan is a filmmaker, storyteller, educator and cultural worker. GriotWorks is committed to using the power of story to create progressive social change. Its goal is to bridge gaps between communities, cultures, and generations by utilizing contemporary media arts and traditional artistic practices including but not limited to: film, spoken word, oral history, writing and storytelling.

[aliahatch]

What are we to do with the Earth? Why are we here? Tell us our future? A look at racial, gender, economic and cultural politics and possibilities through a futuristic lens.

Interviews With Oracles - Oracle 1 Preview (by GRIOTWORKS)

[josduncan]

A Look at Loo$e Change by Mykwain Gainey

I came across Loo$e Change as I was sifting through shorts on the internet. I liked the tag line, however I wasn’t sure how to interpret the story as it unfolded. The Mother for me, was very problematic— I didn’t like what seemed to be a stereotypical caricaturization of a “black woman” being presented. So I watched the remainder of the film with one eyebrow up, deciphering who this storyteller might be and whose gaze we were seeing the story from. However, as the story moved forward, a special touch started to evolve. The way the candy was exchanged, the bobble head, the barber shop and the street musicians had a quality that captured culture and reality in a way that made me feel the storyteller personally related to the characters he presented. While the image of the mother was problematic for me straight through the end, as a fellow filmmaker, I think it’s important to know when to lay off on critique. So I’m laying off. Cool little short film that any young boy growing up in an urban environment would appreciate. http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/loo_e_change

[josduncan]

Valerie June--Female Blues in the Now!

I've always been intrigued by the storytelling in Blues music.  I've spent hours on youtube listening to Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Gladys Bently filling my soul's cup with the love, pain, and truth their funky melodies they pour out.  Lately, I've gotten hip to a few newer Blues artists, such as Philly based John The Conqueror.  But I just happened to be on facebook at 3am when I saw an unliked post from a friend with this woman, Valerie June as the youtube link's still.  I was hooked!  The above is a collaboration with John Forte but she has lots of great videos on youtube. Check them out.

Working Woman Blues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HFw0dQ2aC8

Radiance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5BTcYImuB4&feature=related