The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center hosted the 12th annual Maupintown Film Festival Sep. 5-7. The event primarily showcases the works of up and coming African American filmmakers while also giving a space to talk about the themes prevalent in their films.
This year the theme of the festival was “Bold and Beautiful.” A showcase of African American history and culture, the movies shown were mostly documentaries with a time slot allocated on Saturday for cartoons.
Lorenzo Dickerson, founder of the Maupintown Film Festival, described this year’s iteration as a celebration.
“We were celebrating all African Americans have come through,” Dickerson said. “[They’ve] really made beautiful things out of the experiences that they've had in this country over the years.”
Some of the documentaries were quite exacting in this regard. “Dark Water White Rice” was a short documentary directed by Ron Harris about the history of the Gullah people, an African population who were enslaved in North Carolina. While only having a runtime of 23 minutes and 20 seconds, the documentary went into remarkable detail on the wealth that was siphoned from the community to fund the construction of palaces in Europe, the gentrification of the area and the ongoing injustice the community faces today.
Directors Xavier W. Frink and Michael Nelson’s piece entitled “Justice and Reconciliation: From Henry Highland Garnet to Harvey Johnson” focuses primarily on these two men and delves into incredible detail on their histories. It covered their journeys as civil rights leaders in Maryland, including Garnet being the first African American to give a speech in the Capitol Building.
The variety of historical accounts presented makes for a simultaneously broad and in-depth experience, where viewers can get a complete, focused story from each film while also learning about history they may have never heard of before. Audience member Edward Brooks talked about how the nature of events like this encourages people to branch out and engage with history that might not be mainstream.
“We know about Frederick Douglas, we know about Harriet Tubman,” Brooks said. “But in between them, people like Henry Garnet and Harvey Johnson did incredible things, and those histories get lost … So that’s what these types of events do, is broaden our knowledge.”
“Rectify My Cry: The Samuel F. Yette Story” directed by Ingrid Kelly also leaned into the theme of history, being entirely dedicated to analyzing the impact of a single book entitled “The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America” by Samuel F. Yette.
The book criticized the federal government’s repression of African Americans, stirring controversy that would lead to Yette’s termination from his job at Newsweek. The documentary explored his life before and after the book was released and his eventual job teaching journalism at Howard University.
Other films took a more artistic approach. “Selma, Song of the Crossing,” directed by Jean-Jacques Cunnac, delved into Martin Luther King’s marches and their lasting impact. Cunnac, being a collage artist, crafted pieces out of historical photographs that captured the spirit of the time. That, along with striking footage from the time and interviews with participants of the marches, provided a more artistic lens through which to view the history.
Nelson said that part of the challenge for the filmmakers is taking what might be an obscure piece of history and, after conducting their research, distilling it into a film that can be appreciated, enjoyed and absorbed by the audience. Though a challenge, Nelson talked about how this was a core part of his experience working with Frink.
“I think we did a great job of cutting off just certain pieces, because it's still very digestible,” Nelson said. “I think everybody gets a great outlook of who these two men are and all the people that are attached to them, without feeling like, ‘Oh, like we're missing something.’”
After 12 years, Maupintown has evolved in scope. Now, not only are documentaries featured, but animated films as well. Dickerson said that as they received more submissions from animators, they decided to add a segment on Saturday morning each year for cartoons, giving a chance for more family-friendly content to flourish alongside the heavier subject matter of the documentaries.
Equally as important as the media itself is the people behind it, and something integral to Maupintown is the interactions between the filmmakers and the audience. For example, a question and answer segment followed Frink and Nelson’s short documentary where they discussed everything from their inspiration to their research process.
“I was wanting to be immersed in the area that I was living in,” Frink said. “I would go to the Library of Congress, the afro archives, the Schoenberg center. I would go to all these different facilities just to hopefully start seeing the conversation.”
In addition to segments like this, guest speakers were also featured, including actress Lisa Arrindell and University of Richmond Prof. Edward L. Ayers . Closing out the Friday and Saturday showings respectively, with Arrindell showing her own short narrative film. The audience got a deeper look into the world of film and history alike from their presentations, and Dickerson mentioned a special interaction between Arrindell and one of her fans.
“This 17 year old woman, she wants to be a filmmaker,” Dickerson said. “She's very interested in film, and just being able to witness that moment of introducing her to Lisa Arrindell, and them making that connection, and Miss Arrindell being able to to speak with her and encourage her in her journey as a filmmaker, was a very special moment.”
The Maupintown Film Festival brings professionals, new filmmakers and film fans alike together, allowing them to meet one another and share their experiences. Dickerson mentioned how this makes the festival a great networking and learning tool for Black filmmakers.
“It gives them an opportunity to connect amongst filmmakers,” Dickerson said. “Being able to share ideas about filmmaking and the process and editing and distribution and that sort of thing.”
Furthermore, this is many of these filmmakers’ first time showing their work to an audience. Having an audience that is supportive, interested and dedicated to the medium is something Dickerson highlighted.
“I never imagined when I started it 12 years ago that it would mean this much to the community as it does to me personally,” Dickerson said. “To see that people look forward to the festival and are coming and learning and hearing these stories.”
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