Not only am I a budding film critic but I have a few projects under my belt as a budding director one of which I would like to share and yes “plug” right here on my blogspot!

This past May I was involved in a project titled “End to End” –where myself a crew of teammates and several other film teams set off to create a guerrilla style documentary about graffiti.

The project was sponsored by Adidas and showcased 7 graffiti artists from around the world presenting a shoe/mural/apparel collection that incorporated the culture of Graffiti.

I worked with a team of “Fly Movement” (make a link) members including Terence Nance, Kaba Fattah and Stephanie Colley to create a dynamic snippet of graffiti culture and the tagging scene in New York City.

The artists included:

Siloette—originally from Phoenix, Arizona—is one of the front runner female graf writers of her generation. Her style is extremely ornate and pops out at you with funky colors and bold shapes and outlines. Females have always had a minority position within the boisterous male dominated culture of hip hop but over the years there have been many women who have demonstrated utmost talent immediately truncating any misogynistic belief or practices in the industry of urban culture.

SCIEN—hailing from Lille , France did his first graf pieces in the late 80’s. at that time there was a paucity of references to graffiti on the streets of Europe thus making him a pioneer of his craft. He and his wife formed a crew entitled the 123Klan Graffiti crew back in 92’ where they branched into graphic design and illustration in the entertainment industry and for many fashion brands.

SMART—Florence, Italy– attended the Florence Art Institute in the late 90’s and later worked as a designer and consultant in the fashion and advertising industries. After founding his own street wear company and making strong connections with other artists in the US he began to focus more on his craft as a graf artist influenced by a keen eye for style.

SKORE–has contributed immensely to the UK’s graffiti tradition from the mid 80’s to the present. He entered the game through his love for break dancing and what was the b-boy culture in the US. Through traveling with other break dancers and being mentored by older writers Skore was encouraged to develop his own style. Throughout the 80’s he became one of the pioneering train writers and has influenced many up and coming artists to this day. Currently he works in the design industry and is still a regular painter because Graffiti lies in his spirit and heart as one of the most prolific writers of his time.

CAN2—Mainz, Germany discovered his love for drawing and visual art at the tender age of seven. His first piece was recognized in 83’ a few years later he got his first job doing a school mural project. In 92’ Can 2 traveled to Hamburg to study illustration at the Hamburg School of Technical Art where he birthed his own unique style and graffiti character. He is currently working for his personal agency started in 02’ where he works on illustration, graphic and web design.

ATOM:hails from Witten Germany where he first became interested in Graffiti in 86’. He formed his own crew called “The Real Deal” in 92’ and he traveled all across Europe freelancing and perfecting his art form as a writer. At the time he also got into freelancing for a merchandising company designing album covers. He has earned his on custom color from his hard work entitled “ Atom Napalm Orange”.

RIME:East Coast US. Rime began whetting his palette when he met another writer in school from Brooklyn. After learning several tag styles he began to hone in on the craft and forge a style and name for himself. He took to the art of tagging and “bombing” around town to establish his name. Rime has painted over 17 US cities, five European and two Asian countries. Rime is known for his ecstatic style with rounded bubble letters and the contradiction of angular edges. His confidence and artistic exuberance place him second to none in the world of graffiti writers.

Many contribute the success of the event and the apparel line to the commercialization of an art form once valued and guarded. What do you think?

From my interviews and experience making the film I was able to understand that a lot of the true graffiti culture and writers have been buried and hidden behind walls because of the negative and illegal implications of Graffiti writing especially here in NYC.

Speaking with some of the local artists and pioneer writers allowed me to understand the true passion behind graffiti and its presence throughout the world. I was given a context from which such a culture has emerged not marred by negativity and illegal sentiments. Graffiti is an art form that once bonded communities and enabled positive self expression through colorful art.

Many mentor programs have been founded upon the fundamental essence and importance of graffiti as an urban art form. Graffiti is not something that is bad or that promotes violence—it is the context and the space in which it is created that promotes the type of audience and crowd for the art.

Rather than policing the art authorities should focus more on building initiatives that promote self expression but have regulated spaces in which to do so. Its similar to the parking crisis in NYC if you park in a red zone you get a ticket but nonetheless the State has acknowledged that everyone with a car needs to park. It should be the same situation with cultural art that has been adopted and is still perpetuated and celebrated by many generations of people.

This is an extremely important debate to have at this time with the onslaught exploitation and codification of “urban culture” and the implications it has as well as the capital it brings to uber companies such as Adidas. I want to hear your voice… graf my comment page!

MAKE IT NICE: Directed by TALIBAH NEWMAN

Rarely do we ever truly appreciate the imprints and gifts of those humanitarian angels who live amongst us until they pass away. Today I am celebrating and uplifting Senegalese Filmmaker most commonly referred to as the father of African Cinema– Ousmane Sembene. Ousmane Semebene has contributed some of the finest African Films to the world of Cinema and was a Pioneer of his craft which influenced great political and cultural movements in West Africa. Sembene passed away from this Earth in his home in Senegal on Sunday June 10, 2007. Suffering from an illness since December of 06’, he made it to the tender age of 84.

He was born in 1923 in Casamance, Senegal in a family of poor fisherman. Sembene did not have much French schooling as a child because his family was in the lower class. As a colonial French citizen in 1944, he was drafted into the French colonial army, the Tirailleurs Sénégalais, to fight for liberation of the French from German occupation. Following his term of service he became a union organizer and joined the French Communist Party in Marseilles.

Sembene participated in the protest movements organized by the FCP against the colonial war in Indochina (1953) and the Korean War (1950-1953). He also supported the Algerian National Liberation Front during its struggle for independence from France (1954-1962). He often yearned for the society of universal brotherhood and justice mirrored by the communist ideologies, which he meticulously studied.

During his stay in Marseilles from 1950-1960 he learned and mastered the French language. He also began to write and publish novels. Several titles are: O, Country, My Beautiful People, (1957), God’s Bits of Wood, (1960), The Money Order, (1965), Harmattan, (1965), and The Curse, (1973). Upon returning to Senegal in the early 1960s he felt alienated by the paucity of revolutionary artists and writers from Africa. He noticed most people in the West African sub-region were illiterate in French and could not understand the messages embedded in his writings.

Thus Sembene decided to attend film school in the Soviet Union. He spent a year at the Gorki Studios in Moscow studying cinematography under the auspices of director, Marc Donskoï. Since his return to Senegal in the early 1960s he has made L’Empire Sonhrai (1963), Borom Sarret (1963), Niaye (1964), La Noire de…(1967), Mandabi (1968), Taaw (1970), Emitai (1971), Xala (1974), Ceddo (1977), Camp de Thiaroye (1988), Guelwaar (1992), L’heroisme au quotidien (1999), Faat Kine (2000), and Moolaade (2004).

Through his films he seeks to resurrect the voices of the masses of workers, women, and “les bouches qui n’ont pas bouches”, those exploited and silenced by the combined external forces of colonialism and the complexities of the rigid African “traditionalist” thought.

Sembene’s leftist views, Marxist influenced philosophies, along with his tension with the successive Senegalese governments beginning with the first president, Leopold Senghor, are well versed in his artistic works . “He believed that Senghor (like the French-speaking African elite) was a puppet [used by France] to perpetuate its economic, political, linguistic, and cultural domination over Africa.”

Sembene was greatly influenced by the women in his life. His two grandmothers were his “wives” according to tradition. He sought to understand them as he observed their daily activities and their strength as powerful forces of resistance to post-colonial forces.

His experiences as youth help to explain his leftist ideologies, his enmity for injustice, and the negative aspects of tradition. Sembene felt passionately about corrupt politicians and governments, North-South relations, false idealism of France, neo-colonialism, forced marriages, the participation of African soldiers in French and European colonial and imperialist wars, and the mistreatment of women, and other marginalized people of the Senegalese society.

Today lets honor this great spirit and his progressive artistic contributions to the world of cinema.

“Waitress” has been out for a month now and is doing moderately well in the box office with a net of 10 million—not too shabby for an independent feature picked up by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, and Jeremy Sisto, “Waitress” is a curt romance comedy about the discovery of self-love and walking away from stagnation even if it happens to be in the form of your husband.

It is a tale of the opposite view of motherhood—the pessimistic, “I don’t want Earl’s baby” view which pervades the film in an extremely witty and comedic way. Jenna, played by Keri Russel is a southern gal who discovers she is pregnant by her husband whom she is unhappily married to. Jenna has a devoted job in a pie diner where she bakes the most clever pies one could think of while “shooting the shit” with her two town friends played by Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly.

The film directed by the late Adrienne Shelly is a heart warming, witty, and dazzling slice of life. There is never a dull moment—from the time Jenna realizes she is with child through the journey of self-discovery, defining of true love, and unswerving loathing of jack-ass men. The women in the film are all sincere, hard working, southern women with ambitions of being more than pie bakers in a small town diner.

The character development of Jenna as she realizes what absolute freedom and unconditional love means is tantalizing and somewhat tear jerking in a quirky way as the viewer looks into the mirror of universality. The film is both discerning and undeniably comedic as the women go through power struggles, and emancipation within themselves and from male dominance. I would not go as far to say that the film is a feminist film even though Adrienne Shelly was highly devoted and dedicated to helping women find their dominant voices though film. The film is in fact a light soul searching and prideful story in its ending but does not overstep the boundaries of being politically slanted.

Unfortunately this is the last film of such a creatively uplifting director but it speaks (highly) of her ministry as an artist. Adrienne Shelly was tragically murdered in her New York City apartment by a construction worker not too long after the wrap of “Waitress”. Adrienne played a humbling “ugly betty” type role in the film and her own daughter appeared in the film as Jenna’s daughter in the end.

This film is uniquely refreshing and satisfying to the taste because it slightly teeters in the realms of drama, comedy, and coming of age film. “Waitress” is a film of many audiences and can be appreciated by all. I give “Waitress” 3 thumbs up and an B+ rating for its charm, humanity, defiance, and its nurturing take on happiness. Please continue to support this film and the Adrienne Shelly foundation for women film makers ( http://www.adrienneshellyfoundation.org) to promote the artistry of such multi- talented women as the late Adrienne Shelly.