Friday, September 21, 2012

African-American Digital Consumers and The African-American Blogger

 Since I'm always scanning the web I am always finding things of interest. Here's an article that most Black bloggers, indeed all African Americans should find very interesting. I hope it will generate some discussion.  I found it at "Think With Google" Forward thinking and rooted in data, Think Insights offers you a one-stop shop for consumer trends, marketing insights and industry research  (google's description of the site.)
Google give African Americans high marks as qualified online consumers. According to Think we are at the leading edge of online consumption. They present data to back up their claim. We should pay heed to this information and use it to our advantage in marketing, product development and creating employment among African Americans. Share this info and generate some dialog so we can get the economic ball rolling inside the African American community.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Montreal - Belafonte appeared at "Sing Your Song" screening


Sing Your Song
A film by Susanne Rostock



was screened on Thursday September 20, 7pm at Concordia University as a special feature of the Montreal International Black Film Festival 


This biopic was followed by a Q&A with HARRY BELAFONTE


March on Washington, DC for Civil Rights, 1963: James Baldwin




with Julie and Harry Belafonte on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.


From the Jack T. FranklinPhotography Collection of the African American Museum in




Philadelphia.







HE’D had no singing lessons and he couldn’t read a note. But Harry Belafonte was what they call a natural, plucked from obscurity to stardom thanks to a lucky break at a New York jazz club.

At the time he was a struggling actor and his phenomenal success as a singer soon fed into Hollywood and Broadway. Blessed with charm and good looks, by the 1960s he was a top American entertainer, living the highlife in Las Vegas and rubbing shoulders with the Rat Pack.

Like all good stories this one has a twist. Belafonte was also a man on a mission, using his fame and fortune to support the forward march of civil rights


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Independence Day St. Kitts and Nevis September 19 (1983)

Carib Indians occupied the islands for hundreds of years before the British began settlement in 1623. The islands became an associated state of the UK with full internal autonomy in 1967. The island of Anguilla rebelled and was allowed to secede in 1971. Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983.

Saint. Kitts and Nevis Flag
divided diagonally from the lower hoist side by a broad black band bearing two white, five-pointed stars; the black band is edged in yellow; the upper triangle is green, the lower triangle is red; green signifies the island's fertility, red symbolizes the struggles of the people from slavery, yellow denotes year-round sunshine, and black represents the African heritage of the people; the white stars stand for the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, but can also express hope and liberty, or independence and optimism

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix dies in London, England at the age of 27

Jimi Hendrix considered one most influential guitarists in rock music history dies in London, England at the age of 27  September 18, 1970.
1 year before his death he performed one of the most memorable renditions of The Star Spangled Banner

B.B. King and Buddy Guy on Meeting Jimi Hendrix
The Star Spangled Banner (Live at Woodstock 1969)

8th Montreal International Black Film Festival



Monday, 06 August 2012 10:23

WINNIE to open the 8th Montreal International Black Film Festival -MIBFF - on Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Montreal, August 6, 2012 – The highly anticipated film WINNIE by Darrell Roodt will open the 8th edition of the Montreal International Black Film Festival on September 19th, as a Quebec Premiere. Winnie, a Canadian co-production, produced by Quebec producer Michael Mosca from Equinoxe Films, will kick-start the official competition. « We are very proud to open the festival with such a big film produced by a Quebec producer; It’s a deeply moving story that leaves no one untouched » stated Fabienne Colas, President of the Festival.
Winnie stars Jennifer Hudson (Winnie Mandela), Academy Award winner and Grammy Award winner, and Terrence Howard(Nelson Mandela), Academy Award nominee.
Based on the biography by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob “Winnie Mandela : A Life”, Winnie is an intimate, in-depth and unbiased film that will take the audience on a remarkable journey of understanding Winnie Mandela, one of the world's most famous female activists, exploring both her personal and political life. Winnie Mandela is a complex historical figure, appreciated for her role in the struggle against apartheid led by her husband, but whose obscure acquaintances make an equally controversial personality. Through her fierce determination and dauntless courage, Winnie Mandela survived her husband's imprisonment, continuous harassment by the security police, banishment to a small Free State town, betrayal by friends and allies, and more than a year in solitary confinement - all the while keeping the name of Nelson Mandela alive. A sensitive and balanced portrayal, the film nevertheless thoroughly investigates and honestly examines the controversies that dogged Winnie Mandela in recent years.
South African filmmaker and screenwriter Darrell Roodt, whose film Yesterday was nominated for an Academy Award in “Best Foreign Language Film” category in 2005, made an international name for himself with his debut feature A Place of Weeping (1986), a passionate condemnation of apartheid. Educated at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, he gained further acclaim for The Stick (1988), another look at the anti-apartheid struggle. In 1990, he made his first film with American backing, Jobman (1990). Roodt's best-known film is his adaptation of the anti-apartheid stage musical Sarafina! (1992) starring Whoopi Goldberg. He has made around 30 films ans TV series among which Cry, the Beloved Country starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris (1995). He has since alternated between making films in Hollywood and South Africa. His latest film Winnie has been officially selected in both Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.
After its Quebec premiere at the Montreal International Black Film Festival, WINNIE, distributed by Equinoxe Films, will hit Quebec screens starting October 5, 2012.
The 8th MIBFF will be held from September 19 to 30, 2012.
About the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF)
Presented by Global Montreal, the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) was created in 2005 by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Cinema, Art and Culture. The mission of the MIBFF is to stimulate the development of the independent film industry and to showcase more films on the realities of Blacks from around the world. The Festival wants to promote a different kind of cinema, cinema that hails from here and from abroad and that does not necessarily have the opportunity to grace the big screen, groundbreaking cinema that moves us, that raises awareness and that takes us all by surprise! The MIBFF wants to deal with issues and present works that raise questions, that provoke, that make us smile, that leave us perplexed, that shock us... A fresh new look at black cinema from the four corners of the globe! www.montrealblackfilm.com .
-30-
Get all the Festival news at:
For further information, interview requests or material, please contact:
Carla Beauvais: carla@montrealblackfilm.com or (438) 868-5450