Afro Saxons: Movie

It screened at the ongoing Afro-Punk Festival in Brooklyn, NY yesterday, in what I believe was its first non-UK premiere, but I was busy elsewhere, so I missed it.

In short… 7 years ago, Black British filmmakers Rachel Wang and Mark Currie, formed Chocolate Films, to develop and create their own projects. Much of their documentary work is about the diverse array of peoples and communities who live and work in London. Afro-Saxons, produced in 2008, is their debut feature length documentary. It screened in limited release in London last fall. No DVD on the market yet.

Afro-Saxons follows four Afro hair salons from across the UK, as they prepare for the prestigious Black Beauty and Hair Awards. Described as as “a warm inspirational and touching film that delves into the professional and home lives of the stylists while they express themselves with mind-blowing gravity-defying hair designs.”

Watch the trailer below…



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Precious Movie Poster 2

Precious, the Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey associated photoplay has issued another engrossing poster. I think it's intriguing on its own but if you see the trailer for the movie you would understand more the uncertain strokes and the deliberate ambiguity of the central form. I love the touch of the ID necklace allusion over the anthropomorphic chiaroscuro play behind it.

What! Yeah I said it, Tyler Perry & chiaroscuro in the same paragraph! Don't judge me! You don't know me like that!

See the first poster over yonder.

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'Precious' Movie Teaser Poster

Once again a movie teaser poster associated with a Tyler Perry associated film makes me smile. There is a lot of great thinking going on the design of these posters. But actually when I think about it and really break down the imagery it's powerfully moving. The over all visage of the young woman is cracked, damaged and torn. As if it were made of something hard but brittle and almost perfectly & purposely shattered to satisfy some other hurt. Note the figure ground reversal that the crack emanates from, it forms a hand as if to say someone's touch was the epicenter of all this damage. It's so simple and so profound all at once. The poster makes such a massive statement about so many lives in Black America and as well as the entire world. Deep... now I done gone and made tears fall in my keyboard.


The Director Lee Daniels, cast and crew rip it. See the keyboard damaging movie trailer here.




The poster looks to be very much inspired by this Saul Bass classic design for the 'Anatomy of a Murder,' the Otto Preminger film. Which also in turn inspired the Spike Lee movie 'Clockers' poster? For which the famed designer threatened to sue.

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