Carolina 85 - Series of acknowledgements - part 3
To The Angels
In June
2012, after finish the X-Segregated seminal piece, we applied to one of the North
Carolina Humanities Council’s grants, that would bring me back to Greensboro to
expand the documentary and show it at the 85th Anniversary of the Carolina
Theatre. And we got the grant.
Wonderful!
But who would film the Summer Film Festival at the Carolina Theatre while I was
in Brazil? I always believed in angels’ existence and one come to help me: Ben Boyles.
He not only filmed the Summer Festival, but a lot of other scenes and
interviews. Ben also introduced me to the UNCG Media School Professor, Mr.
Michael Frierson. Through them I could work at the UNCG editing lab and I
learned about H. Lee Waters Greensboro footage archives. It connected me with
Tom Whiteside, from the Durham Cinemateque, and Kirston Johnson, from the Rubenstein Library Duke University, who ultimately
authorized me to use the footage archives from the 30’.
After the arrival of the first angel, came a series of
wonderful ones precisely Dana Robinson, who designed the logo and the movie
poster, Christopher Martin, who, as cinematographer and editor of the
promotional videos, calmly balanced the whole process, and Graham Holt, who
created the writing.
More angels would come to the Carolina 85 process; in the next posts I will address them.
About Dana Robinson:http://cargocollective.com/danarobinson
You can enjoy the Durham Cinemateque at their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Durham-Cinematheque/389837674402221
Carolina 85 - Series of acknowledgements - part 2
Warning: The following acknowledgements are introduced by a brief comment on traditional movie theaters history and their connections with the cities' social, cultural and political history.
Since 2009 I have been researching about the old traditional, sometimes decadent and others restored, movie theaters. My search was, and it is, for the connections between those temples and the history of the cities where they are located.
The cities’ stories are always connected with cultural transformations, which, in its turn, are connected with political motivations and social demands. It all happens, but not necessarily in this order. Inside the traditional movie theaters, those stories were projected on the screen, and reflected in the audience attendance and behaviors.
I observed it in Rio de Janeiro City, Rj, Brazil; where the traditional movie theaters were taken by new churches, transformed in fancy bookstores, a few were restored and many has been simply abandoned. I observed it in Tijuana City, BC, Mexico; where the traditional movie theaters, once the community center for the city folks, are mostly abandoned, or in ruins, or were transformed into parking lots. In both cities I could drawn a historical process along with the movie theaters history. For instance, in Rio de Janeiro, the traditional movie theaters history comes along with the arising all around the city of new pentecostal churches. In Tijuana, city border with the United States, the traditional movie theaters decadence comes along with the transformation of the mexican culture into a more “americanized” culture that affected the (once huge) mexican film industry.
In Greensboro, soon I noted a third floor balcony into the Carolina Theatre . "What was it for?" “Oh, my God!”, I realized, “It was where the black people had to go before the Civil Rights Movement happened. Far away from the screen, coming through a side entrance!” Yes. The restored and wonderful furnished Carolina Theatre, with such a beautiful community history, had its dark connections with the Greensboro’s and southern United States’ history too.
Above is a photo where we can see the "white" front door entrance at the the right side, and the "colored" side entrance at the left side.
by Carol H. Martin/Generosity of The Greensboro Historical Museum
How to approach this theme? Who would like to talk about it? The 2012 Elsewhere Production Curator, Aisllin Pentecoste-Farren taught me about the existence of a civil rights museum in Greensboro. It was build in honor of the Greensboro’s Civil Rights Movement occurred during the 60’. Through The International Civil Rights Center and Museum staff, I could find people who have experienced the third floor balcony destined to African American citizens into de the Carolina Theatre.
Than, more questions was arising: Would the Carolina Theatre board and staff agree to talk about that? To recall the sadness into their past ? Would they be able to talk about that? The answer was: Yes!
My acknowledgements today are to the ones who had the courage to take the political decision of recall part of the Greensboro's Segregation History: Elsewhere (again and of course); Keith Holliday, Greensboro’s Former Mayor and the Carolina Theatre’s CEO; The International Civil Rights Center and Museum’s Executive Director, Bamidele Demerson and The International Civil Rights Center and Museum’s Curatorial Program Associate, Lolita Watkins.
Carolina 85 series of acknowledgments
Part 1 - Elsewhere
The roots of the project began in 2010 when I found in my e-mail an invitation to apply to an artistic residency at Elsewhere. I did apply and they did select me. Two years later, in 2012, I finally got a grant from the State of Bahia's Cultural Secretary and came to Greensboro.
Once at Elsewhere, I soon realized that I would have to think less, act more, plan a little bit and improvise a lot. I felt like I was part of an old theatre troupe where a fun and colorful organization makes one feel that nothing is under an individual control but everything will be collectively all right. That troupe was Elsewhere. Elsewhere, made by the colors and textures of Stephanie , George, Aislinn, Valerie, Erica, Brenan, Walker, Chris, Emily, Cat, Katrina, Capp, Graham, Ben, Mary, Jen, Andrea, Elliot, and more...Beautiful, different, diverse, creative, productive people. The very best of humanity in a three level building in Greensboro's downtown.
Through them I've made contact with the Carolina Theatre CEO and during three weeks I filmed, interviewed, edited, tried to understand and digest the local history and politics. The final product was a 4 minutes video piece, edited in one night and screened to the public in May of 2012. I called that piece X-Segregated and you can watch it here: X-Segregated or bellow.
All my gratitude and love to Elsewhere than and now,
Paula.
2012 | XSegregated Teaser from Elsewhere on Vimeo.
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