Rembering Marlon Riggs, Part 1

Friday, April 2, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.

REMEMBERING MARLON RIGGS
FRIDAY APRIL 2
7:30 Tongues Untied
Marlon Riggs (U.S., 1989)
Presented with the Graduate School of Journalism
Hosted by Herman Gray and Patricia Turner
Special Guests: Tom Goldstein, Sam Green, Alan Miller, Cedric Brown, Sam Green, Pat Turner and Herman Gray

With his undaunted vision, Marlon Riggs could stir you like a force of nature brought down to human scale. His resonant yet controversial body of work, which includes Tongues Untied, Black Is… Black AinÌøåÀå_t, and Ethnic Notions, was groundbreaking in its unblinking ability to address black identity. These videos served both as banners of social defiance and as audaciously original media works. Riggs was many things: a professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, a prolific media artist with poetic inclinations, and an unwitting spokesperson for black culture and, most particularly, for gay black men. On this tenth anniversary of his death, we remember RiggsÌøåÀå_s bold legacy by asking artists and academics who knew him to share their recollections. We will also screen his most notorious work, Tongues Untied, an enthralling glimpse into the lives of gay black men. Pulsing like a fevered heartbeat, this forceful work lashes out at injustice while it finds beauty in the struggle for dignity. Challenging a long-held silence, Marlon Riggs dared to speak the words that would conjure a life into being: ÌøåÀå_Black men loving black men is the revolutionary act.ÌøåÀå_ By Steve Seid

Written by Riggs, Joseph Beam, Chris Harris, Reginald Jackson, Steve Langley, Alan Miller, Donald Woods. Photographed by Riggs. With Essex Hemphill, Blackberri, Brian Freeman, Alan Miller. (55 mins, Color, Beta SP, From Signifyin’ Works)

Preceded by shorts:
Anthem (Marlon Riggs, 1991, 9 mins, Beta SP). Tongues Deep Fried (Jeanne Finley, Lynn Kirby, 1993, 6 mins, Mini DV).

Special thanks to Joan Bieder, Karen Everett, Jeanne Finley, the Graduate School of Journalism, Vivian Kleiman, Jennifer Paige, and the Board of Signifyin’ Works.

Advance ticket purchase is advised.