They are known as the Black Hebrew Israelites. A community of 300 African Americans who at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, uprooted their Chicago community in search of sanctity abroad. Finding their home in the Negev Desert of Israel, the community forged a new culture, blossoming into a flourishing village of over 5,000 citizens today. Their community, known as the Village of Peace is founded upon the virtues of health, family and enlightenment.
Drawing their practices from the Torah (Old Testament), The Black Israelties do not consider themselves “Jewish” in the conventional sense, although their practices are influenced by the ancient text. Self-sustaining, self-governed and self-educated, the community has managed to exclude many of society’s ills from their livelihood. With no guns, no gambling, and no homelessness or alcoholism, the seemingly utopian lifestyle of the Black Israelites allows us to reconsider the values of our own culture at home.
Traveling to Israel in the Summer of 2010 to visit their friend Shaleem whose family lived in the town of Dimona, it was there that brothers Sam and Ben Schuder first learned of The Village of Peace. Receiving valuable perspective on life within the village, Ben and Sam left Israel determined to return. In 2011, after months of preparation, the brothers returned to Israel with their Berkeley-based crew, Niko Philipides, Aaron McCreary, Jack Madigan, Vincent Hobbs, and Brandon Katcher to learn more about the culture of The African Hebrews. Their documentary in production, entitled The Village of Peace documents the history of the Black Israelites, while highlighting the significance of their legacy. Currently in post production, the initiative can be supported through Kickstarter, as the team is welcoming donations to help present the film to world.
Standing alongside Yung Rizzle last night, faced with the question of what to watch, Russ’ recommendation of Man On Wire came to mind. Not to be confused with Denzel Washington’s 2004 action drama Man on Fire, Man on Wire tells the tale of Philippe Petit, a French high-rope artist whom in 1974 gained global notoriety for walking across the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on a wire.
Having seen the towers in a magazine six years before, walking the across quickly became Petit’s dream and obsession. Studying nearly every facet of the towers, Petit built a team of supporters to help him infiltrate, scale and walk the towers. Considered by many as the “artistic crime of the century,” Man on Wire is the story of Petit’s extraordinary pursuit to the top of the World Trade Center. Considering the beautiful archival footage of Petit and insightful interviews throughout, it’d be a crime to not recommend the film to you.
You have to give it to the artists that go above and beyond. Earlier in the year, for Justin Vernon, that meant giving us one of the year’s coolest albums, a follow up to his debut that wasn’t just self-assured; it was gorgeous on all fronts. Now, as the year’s starting to wrap up, Bon Iver’s Bon Iver will see a deluxe re-release on Jagjaguwar, which naturally, is accompanied by a full-length visual for every song, billed as the “comprehensive vision for the record captured in moving picture”. Like the music its accompanied by, each video focuses on feel and atmosphere, using natural scenery and texture to make its distinct impression. Kaleidoscopic images, flowers blooming, waves crashing, smoky fog — it’s all in the interest of creating an experience. Read on for the rest.
Consider this one evidence in support of our mission statement. I can’t say I know what I was up to July 24th, 2010, but apparently that day, as are all days, was full of peculiar and extraordinary happenings around the world. Shot by filmmakers around the world, both amateur and professional, Ridley and Tony Scott’s Life in a Day is a pretty substantial time capsule, capturing for future generations what it was like to be alive on that particular date. Real stories, real people. For us, some of the footage here will be more ordinary than others, but the project as a whole is pretty phenomenal, if only for its scope. Either way, it’s worth the watch.
History is strange. What can seem like an instant classic may turn out to be a footnote. It’s hard to say what is going to resonate culturally. It’s like predicting the future. All we have are our tastes. But, damn, if I wasn’t blown away by Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. Pulling elements of countless movies both classic and kitsch, Drive is hypnotic in its tone, as we ride through moments that range from melodrama to poignancy. And — unquestionably — Drive is directly from the guts.
In 1966, before London was burning down, London was blowing up. The city got its first taste of technology and music when Bob Dylan played his electric show at the Royal Albert Hall. Fashion became a form of self-expression with the emergence of the clean fits of the “mods”. Art and architecture were like something out of the future. Sex was becoming an act people enjoyed rather than attached their guilt and insecurities. Drugs expanded minds rather than solely killing pain. And the craziest thing happened: popular culture actually mirrored what people were feeling. People weren’t rioting. The “free world” wasn’t controlled by four or five Rupert Murdochs. In essence, London in 1966 was an awakening and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up was that feeling distilled into a film.
I am sorry to say that I have secretly found out that Mr. Blume is having an affair with Miss Cross. My first suspicions came when I saw them Frenching in front of our house. And then I knew for sure when they went skinny dipping in Mr. Blume’s swimming pool, giving each other handjobs while you were taking a nap on the front porch.
- Dirk
Wes Anderson knows what the fuck he’s doing. In 15 years, he’s released more classics than many directors do in their whole lives, he’s made no critical flops, he’s launched and reignited the careers of actors, and he’s done something that puts him in the same category as Godard and Cassavetes — he’s become an “auteur” filmmaker. The worlds he creates are so rich and deep that you can instantly tell he was the type of kid in high school wearing Raging Bull t-shirts and killing it at “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”. On top of his prowess as a director, his journey is an inspiration for the current “do-it-yourself” world.
It was the largest mass suicide in modern history. It was known as the Jonestown Massacre and it happened on November 18th, 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana. Led by the righteous yet enigmatic leader Jim Jones, a religious sect of over 900 followers killed themselves when Jones convinced them to drink cyanide-laced, grape-flavored Flavor Aid. A massacre on a grandiose scale, the events served as a dark reminder of the power of utter devotion.
Recently, the New York-based pop group simply known as Cults have released the visuals for last year’s indie sensation, “Go Outside”. Although sonically vivacious, the mood of the song deviates from the severity of the Jonestown massacre. Splicing archival footage alongside performance scenes, the Cults have managed to combine a history lesson into a slap. Kinda brilliant.
I’m a sucker for films about blind ambition. A friend of mine once said, “People know what they want from life, but they don’t know how not to get it.” It’s a little cynical, but there is some truth behind these words. We have a tendency to want a dream with all of our soul, but we forget that to receive anything in this world we must give something up. Life’s a balance; you take one thing off and put on another. You can’t move to New York and still want the sun and the ocean of Los Angeles. You can’t be with a new partner without giving up the good times you had with your last. You can’t achieve success without losing some of that purity you had when you and your friends sat around dreaming about the future. If you don’t believe me, look no further than your favorite artists. From newcomers like the folks in Odd Future to Goethe to Robert Johnson to Basquiat to the Beatles they all have discussed or displayed the pitfalls of an ambition satisfied.
More films, less movies. We said it a couple weeks ago to relate the fact that although movies like Scream 4, and Tranformers 8 might be in theaters now for $15, great films like The Godfather, Casablanca and Half Baked are just a few clicks away for no more than $5. Films are a bit of a time investment, an hour and a half of your precious precious time, which is why it’s important to invest it wisely. So with the arrival of this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, we’d like to highlight a few films that may pique your interest or provoke a thought or two. With films showing at both the Downtown Independent & The Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live we’ve included a few synopses of some particularly extraordinary looking films. But be sure to check out the festival website for a full list of films and times.
The ’72 Dolphins. The ’92 Dream Team or the ’95 Bulls. Pacquiao recently or Ali in his prime. When we talk about the winningest teams and athletes in sports history, these ones tend to come to mind quickly. In the game of cricket however, the ’70s and ’80s were marked by an unexpectedly dominant force: the West Indies cricket team. One of the stronger teams in international cricket for years, the team won world championships in 1975 and 1979. Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival last month, Fire in Babylon tells the story of West Indian cricket, and of a pivotal era for Caribbean culture. Aside from that, it features music from Bob Marley, Toots & the Maytals, Gregory Isaacs, and the Upsetters, to name just a few. Looks like a winner to me. Look for Fire in Babylon in select theaters now.
Capturing the convoluted nature of wealth, luxury and excess, iconic designer and visionary Karl Lagerfield of Chanel fame has made an ambitious foray into the world of cinema. Telling the tale of two wealthy sisters living on a magnificent estate in the French Riviera, the film, written and directed by Lagerfield, offers a window into the tumultuous lifestyle that can accompany wealth. “It’s kind of a narrative around the people that buy these clothes,” claimed Lagerfield in a recent interview, referring to the wealthier women who sometimes blindly purchase his clothing. At just under 30 minutes, Lagerfield’s short film coincides with the recent release of the label’s Cruise Collection. Highly stylized with Lagerfield’s subtle accents of taste, The Tale of a Fairy should serve as a source of inspiration for fashion aficionados and film makers alike.
I gotta admit, Steve Nash is pretty cool, and apparently quite introspective. As the leader of the Suns for the past seven years, (and those three years back in the 90′s) Steve Nash has risen to the pinnacle of professional sports on more than one occasion. Honestly, I was a little salty when Nash’s name was brought up in conversation during those MVP years, mainly because Kobe was doing his thing too. But with time comes perspective, and Steve Nash is pretty dope. Co-directing Into The Wind last year alongside filmmaker Ezra Holland, Nash helped tell the tale of Terry Fox, a cancer patient turned marathon runner who inspired people through sheer will. More recently, Nash has turned the cameras on himself to capture his life at the moment. Soon to be released in a theater near you, I bet we’ll all appreciate him a little bit more after the credits roll.
What can ancient cave paintings tell us about our history? Better yet, what does our art tell us about who we are? Fortunately for all of us, director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man and a handful of other incredible films or documentaries) continues to probe the world for its most peculiar stories, and this time he’s chosen the Chauvet Cave in France as his subject. Premiering for the first time at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, Cave of Forgotten Dreams explores one of our most storied prehistoric sites, and tries to make sense of art dating as far back as 25,000 years. How much we can understand by studying these, it’s hard to say. But I’m glad we’re asking the question. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is in theaters now.
