The history of black artistry in film is the subject of a new exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which is run by the body behind the Oscars.
Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 — 1971 will present a sprawling collection of film excerpts, newsreels, scripts, costumes and memorabilia spanning seven galleries at the attraction in Los Angeles, California. Some items in the collection are being made available to the public for the very first time.
The exhibition will open on Sunday and run until April next year.
"We have montages, we have a series of films that have been preserved or restored, or were considered lost," co-curator Rhea Combs told ABC7. "So this becomes a rich engaging opportunity for visitors of all ages to explore and learn more about a history that may be lesser known to many."
The exhibition will feature portraits of actresses Ruby Dee and Nina Mae McKinney, as well as musical shorts by performers including Cab Calloway, Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers. It will also include rarities such as the sequined evening dress worn by dancer Lena Horne in the 1943 musical Stormy Weather, as well as a restored copy of the 1939 film Reform School.
“It’s really exciting for us to be able to help expand the conversation around American cinema, essentially, by bringing forward these important contributions by black filmmakers as well as performers and other artisans and technicians,” Combs told Variety.
Combs, who is the director of curatorial affairs at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, has been working with the Academy Museum’s Doris Berger for five years to amass the collection featured.
“I really hope that it creates the opportunity for public dialogue and intergenerational dialogue,” she said. “Yes, it’s entertainment, but it’s also an art form — which is why we wanted to include visual art as well in the exhibition — that has a social force that brings the past with the present.”
The collection also incorporates excerpts from films between 1910 to 1940 produced for black audiences. A segment is also dedicated to vaudevillian actors, including George Walker and Bert Williams.
“We don’t shy away from [blackface], and we recognise that minstrelsy is sort-of a formative part of American performance art, if you will,” Combs told Variety.
“We recognise it as a popular form of artistry, but we also understand that it reinforced many racist stereotypes. And so, we try to complicate that by showcasing someone like Bert Williams who used [blackface], but then leveraged it by allowing himself an opportunity to become one of the most popular performers — but also worked with other African American artists and performers and costume designers. They created their own ecosystem.”
An opening event for the exhibition was held at the Academy Museum on Wednesday. It featured a tap dance performance by the granddaughters of the Nicholas Brothers, Cathie and Nicole, who also go by the Nicholas Sisters.
The event was attended by Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences's former president David Rubin, film producer Janet Yang — and new president of the Academy — as well as Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay.
“For a long time, the early days of black film history were sidelined,” Jacqueline Stewart, the museum’s director and president, said.
“Scholarship in this area was largely unknown to most film fans. And so, I am deeply proud that the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures — a premiere destination for film lovers around the world — is now home to Regeneration.”
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 285bhp
Torque: 353Nm
Price: TBA
On sale: Q2, 2020
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Tips from the expert
Dobromir Radichkov, chief data officer at dubizzle and Bayut, offers a few tips for UAE residents looking to earn some cash from pre-loved items.
- Sellers should focus on providing high-quality used goods at attractive prices to buyers.
- It’s important to use clear and appealing photos, with catchy titles and detailed descriptions to capture the attention of prospective buyers.
- Try to advertise a realistic price to attract buyers looking for good deals, especially in the current environment where consumers are significantly more price-sensitive.
- Be creative and look around your home for valuable items that you no longer need but might be useful to others.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The UAE squad for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
The jiu-jitsu men’s team: Faisal Al Ketbi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Yahia Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Obaid Al Nuaimi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Mansoori, Saeed Al Mazroui, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Salem Al Suwaidi, Khalfan Belhol, Saood Al Hammadi.
Women’s team: Mouza Al Shamsi, Wadeema Al Yafei, Reem Al Hashmi, Mahra Al Hanaei, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Hessa Thani, Salwa Al Ali.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
THE BIG MATCH
Arsenal v Manchester City,
Sunday, Emirates Stadium, 6.30pm
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Wednesday and the pair embraced but he failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE squad
Rohan Mustafa (captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan
