The mission of The Department of Afro-American Research Arts and Culture to identify the global significance of the creative contributions pioneered by an international diaspora of Blackness
Search DAARAC's Archive
Showing posts with label Religious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religious. Show all posts

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Hellbound Train (1930)



















Starring:


Storyline
This film is the work of self-taught filmmakers James and Eloyce Gist, African-American evangelists who employed cinema as a tool for their traveling ministry. Their surreal visual allegories were screened in churches and meeting halls, accompanied by sermon and the passing of a collection plate. Rather than having a linear story, the film is instead a catalog of iniquity, a car-by-car dramatization of the sins of the Jazz Age (including gambling, dancing, alcohol, and the mistreatment of animals), presided over by a honored devil, culminating in a colossal derailment (a model train tossed into a bonfire).  

This film was restored by Kino Lorber which was archived in the Library of Congress and released in a 5 disc box set: Pioneers of African American Cinema. 

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Catch My Soul (1974)




























This film, starring Richie Havens as Othello and Lance LeGault as Iago, is based on Shakespeare's play, "Othello", which writer Jack Good delivers a unique perspective of the play. "Catch My Soul" implements a religious perspective with Othello as a Preacher and Iago as Satan. Iago spends the majority of his time seducing Cassio (Tony Joe White) and tricking Othello into believing Desedoma (Season Hubly) is being unfaithful.  All throughout the film, musical cuts exemplify scenes that translate to a very groovy spirit that keeps you glued to the film. 






Friday, September 13, 2013

The Green Pastures (1936)
































Starring:


Storyline
A preacher in a small African-American church in Louisiana tells his Sunday school class stories from the Bible as if the characters were part of a local fish fry. He starts with the creation of the world by God, known as "De Lawd" (Rex Ingram), and tells how God went on to create heaven, which is just like their farmland, and then created man and woman, followed by their fall and finally the coming of Jesus Christ. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.