Film Pioneer Gordon Parks Retrospective in Chicago This Fall

null Let me start by saying that there is something I hear a lot of black filmmakers today say which sort
of annoys me: when they’re asked what past filmmakers inspired them, they almost all inevitably say Spike Lee.

Now I realize
this is more of a generational "thing" as it were, but I feel that it does give
the idea that there were no black filmmakers before Spike came on the scene. I’d like to believe that people know that this isn’t true, but I suspect there are those
who really believe that.

Of course
there were many black directors long before Spike started, even
before he was even born; and without a doubt the most important, successful and
influential of those directors was Gordon Parks.

The definition
of a true 20^th century renaissance man, Parks was involved in many
artistic fields, from being one of the great photographers of the last century, chronicling world events, celebrities, fashion
models and black life in America, a novelist, a music composer, and as a film
director. Though his output was small compared to directors today, it was
quite wide-ranging, from documentaries, commercial Hollywood films, personal projects
and independent films. And despite the fact that, before he made his first
film, he had little to no experience in filmmaking, he was a
complete natural. It was in his bones (his son Gordon Parks Jr., who Parks is sometimes confused with, made
his own mark in films directing classics such as "Super Fly" and "Three the Hard Way" before his untimely early death in a plane crash).

And like so
many endeavors he was involved with, Parks was “the first,” including being the first black director
to make a feature film for a Hollywood film studio – his first feature narrative
film "The Learning Tree" based on his semi-autobiographical book about growing up
in rural Kansas in the 1930s for Warner Bros in 1969.

And yet, surprisingly,
considering his importance and ground breaking status, at least to my knowledge, there has never been
a retrospective of Parks’ film work. That is until now.

Starting next
month in Chicago, the Doc Film society will screen, every Thursday, starting on
October 1 through mid-November, a 10 film retrospective of all Parks’ films, from his
early documentaries to his last feature film.

Not only are
his more popular films, such as "Shaft" and "Shaft’s Big Score" being screened, but
also two rarities – his 1976 Paramount film "Leadbelly" about the life of the legendary
blues singer Huddie Ledbetter, which the studio practically buried, releasing it
in very few theaters. It’s possibly Park’s finest work for the screen.

Also his
last film, the 1984 PBS drama "Solomon Northup’s Odyssey," starring Avery brooks, which is the first film version of the book which was remade as the better
known "12 Years a Slave" by Steve McQueen 28 years later.

All the
films will be screened at the Max Palevsky Cinema, located at Ida Noyes hall, at
the University of Chicago campus. The screenings are open
to the public.

For more
info go HERE.

Below is the complete screening list of films and dates

"The World of
Piri Thomas"

Thurs, Oct
1, 7 pm