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Since this month has been a time for celebration in both the African American (Juneteenth) and LGBTQ+ communities (Pride Month), “Signifyin’” couldn’t have come along at a better time. “Signifyin’” includes Riggs’ four features (including “Black Is … Black Ain’t,” released posthumously in 1995) as well as the shorts “Affirmations,” “Anthem” and “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regret).” Also included are a number of special features, including “Long Train Running: The Story of the Oakland Blues” Riggs’ 1981 graduate thesis film from his days at UC Berkeley and the 1996 documentary “I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs,” which features interviews from Riggs’ family, friends and collaborators. In his 1992 follow-up, “Color Adjustment,” he went after TV, chronicling the highs and lows of Black images on television, from the shucking and jiving antics of “Amos ’n’ Andy” to the sophisticated, respected figures played by a pre-incarcerated Bill Cosby.
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It may be par for the course how uptight white men were more incensed about “Untied” than Riggs’ other films, which were usually bold examinations of African Americans struggling to achieve respectability in a society that constantly characterizes them as inferior. … For the most part, (Black people) are kind of conditioned through media and through our own family to be blunt and honest about what it means to be a Black man - and any sign of weakness is bad.” “In all of his movies,” says Henderson, “I think there’s an undercurrent - but that one, specifically- about how there’s the imagery of Black men in the arts being so hyper-macho, that anytime you have any deviation from that, it’s automatically derailed and turned into something that means you are soft, you are weak. QFest and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston even had a 30th anniversary screening of the film in 2019.įor Black film critics like Odie Henderson, who identifies as bisexual, “Untied” revealed not only the gay panic that still resonates in both Black and white culture, but how Black men are generally portrayed in both cultures. After all the hate died down, “Untied” went on to become a beloved film in LGBTQ+ cinema. It soon became a talking point for conservatives, showing their base what the government is spending their tax dollars on. Wildmon attacked PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts (which partially funded “Untied”) for letting what he thought was pornographic filth air on television. A free-form compilation of words and images - from poetry to monologues to street reports - that sums up what it’s like to live as a gay, Black man in America, the 1989 documentary was a lightning rod for controversy. “Notions” would be the first of several Riggs films that would air on public-television stations across the country.īut it’s his second film, “Tongues Untied,” where Riggs got the most attention - and most of it not good. It wasn’t long before he completed a documentary of his own, the 58-minute, 1986 film “Ethnic Notions,” which tackled anti-Black stereotypes found in popular culture throughout the generations. Titled “The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs” ($39.96 Blu-ray $31.96 DVD), the set is a tribute to the titular gay, Black filmmaker, who passed away at age 37 from AIDS complications in 1994 (He called his nonprofit production company Signifyin’ Works, BTW.)īorn in Fort Worth and based in Oakland, Riggs began his film career in the ’80s working on independent documentary productions in the San Francisco area. In the next few months alone, Criterion will drop Bill Duke’s “Deep Cover,” Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Love and Basketball” and a box set of films by “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” director Melvin Van Peebles.Įarlier this week, Criterion released a box set of films from an African American filmmaker whose name and films may not be instantly recognizable. Photo: Courtesy BAMPFAĮver since prestigious DVD/Blu-ray distributor the Criterion Collection was called out in a New York Times article last year for not releasing enough films by African American filmmakers, the company has been making up for it by acquiring more films from Black directors, past and present. The film explores gay, black male identity through music, satire, poetry and Riggs’ personal experience. Marlon Riggs (front) and poet Essex Hemphill appear in Riggs' innovative multiple-award-winning documentary "Tongues Untied” (1989).