Healing the wounds

Healing the wounds

For Haile Gerima, solving today’s ills must begin with dealing
with yesterday’s. The revolutionary filmmaker, whose feature
‘Sankofa’ literally means ‘reconciling the past to move foward,’
speaks this Friday in Melnitz Theater.

By Emily Forster

Daily Bruin Contributor

Affirmative action, according to revolutionary independent
filmmaker Haile Gerima, does not make up for the past.

"Affirmative action came about to aid a struggle and narrow a
gap," says Gerima, whose film is screening this Friday in Melnitz,
"but in the long term, its fundamental contradictions have been
exposed. It is ineffectual because this is what happens when you
falsely patch up a wound."

In order to properly heal the wounds of racial oppression, UCLA
alumni Gerima creates films that confront the past that has gone
virtually ignored.

"Sankofa," his latest film, centers around slavery in 19th
century America. The film deals with issues and images so
controversial that American theaters did not want to show the work,
but UCLA has not been discouraged by the graphic portrayal of slave
life.

"America didn’t want this film here, and now that it is, more
people will want to see it," says Lezlee Cox, president of the
Black Graduate Students Association. "UCLA students will get a
chance to see a film that is an amazing experience to watch,
regardless of your race."

In order to give people his cinematic experience, Gerima had to
distribute his film to individual theaters across the nation with a
method known as "four walling." Four walling was first used in the
1930s by directors that had no support from Hollywood, but still
wanted to show their films. Although the method is now virtually
extinct, Gerima was able to use four walling to get his film into
theaters.

Gerima spoke with the owners of theaters and convinced them that
his film would be instrumental and not destructive to the
community.

Although this unconventional method of distribution has made
Gerima’s film less accessible to audiences, it also has allowed his
films to remain untainted by Hollywood.

"It is a tragedy, but the essence of Hollywood films is
exploitation," says Gerima. "We had the audacity to refuse that
exploitation by circumventing Hollywood and finding our own
funding."

Gerima first learned of Hollywood’s ills while attending UCLA’s
film school in the early ’70s.

"UCLA gave us a great deal of occasions to view films that used
alternative cinematic language," recalls Gerima. "We were fed up
with the dead, dialogue-driven, formulated movie that dominated
film, so we rebelled."

As a result, the cinematic movement known as the L.A. Rebellion
began. UCLA minority film students began making movies about their
own cultural experiences in America instead of leaving their
experiences up to the interpretation of white filmmakers.

Gerima specifically wanted to make films that helped heal the
wounds of racial strife. The title of his most recent film sums up
his philosophy. The Akan word "sankofa" means "you must reconcile
with your past so you can move forward."

Since Gerima’s film school experiences, he has created movies
that deal with racial reconciliation and not Hollywood trends. But
not everyone has followed Gerima’s path.

"Mainstream films are brutal not just to racial minorities, but
to women and children," says Gerima, "yet people line up to watch
themselves be victimized. It’s like being addicted to drugs. It’s
not healthy but they partake in it anyway."

Gerima feels that audiences accept this brutality because they
have seen too many films that have been created and controlled by
Hollywood.

"Hollywood is threatened by low budget, innovative films," says
Gerima. "They have discouraged films about the history of blacks in
America because they say that (they) will cause African Americans
to riot, rebel, and hate whites even more."

But instead of hate, many feel that Gerima’s "Sankofa"
instigates understanding.

"The message of the film makes people more sympathetic to other
cultural struggles, not just the African American struggle,"
explains Cox. "The film is about understanding where you’re from
and carrying that with you."

After screenings of "Sankofa," audiences were asked to fill out
questionnaires to find out how people reacted to the film. Gerima
says that most people referred to the film experience as making
peace with their past. Even with these findings, however, Gerima
knows Hollywood will not support his films.

"When Hollywood meets for months to discuss if a film’s title
will cause riots, they are trying to control everything," Gerima
says. "The power they have over filmmakers is not unlike the power
plantations had over slaves."

But Gerima has found a way out of Hollywood’s powerful grip.

"I run everything from production to distribution," Gerima says.
"This perpetrates the cycle of dependency (on Hollywood)."

Running everything has been difficult for Gerima, but as a
result of breaking with Hollywood, he has ultimate freedom. He is
confident that other filmmakers can make find their own
liberation.

"If you consider Hollywood a plantation," says Gerima, "then you
have to own your work in order to free yourself from it. You have
to learn how to distribute, create your own institution for your
own funding, and soon Hollywood is powerless over everything you
do. I am preoccupied with owning my own work."

And with the films that have resulted from Gerima’s
independence, Cox hopes film students will gain similar desires to
control what they create.

"The movie will show film students that you can do what you want
to do and you don’t have to conform to mainstream film styles to do
it," says Cox.

Gerima agrees. He feels that the challenge posed by Hollywood is
difficult, but hardly insurmountable.

"I am a flea and Hollywood is an elephant," says Gerima.
"Hollywood is not interested in me and does not understand me, so
in that sense, I am powerless. But a community of fleas like me can
bring the elephant down."

FILM: Haile Gerima’s "Sankofa" will screen at Melnitz Theater
Friday, Feb. 23. There will be a discussion with Gerima following
the screening, and a reception with food, dance performances and
live music. For more info, call (310) 825-2345. For info about
"Sankofa," call (800) 524-3895.

When Hollywood refused to distribute director Haile Gerima’s
latest film "Sankofa," he convinced individual theater owners to
put it on their screens.

Haile Gerima (right) directs "Sankofa," a film centering around
slavery in America.

Scene from "Sankofa""UCLA gave us a great deal of occasions to
view films that used alternative cinematic language."

Haile Gerima

Director

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