#1082d: RIGGS, Marlon: Anthem (1991)

RIGGS, Marlon (United States)
Anthem (1991)
Spine #1082d
Blu-ray


Director/Writer

Marlon Riggs was 34 when he directed Anthem.

"Pervert the language." Made at a time when Marlon Riggs was three years into living with HIV and the motto "Silence=Death" was the queer community's defiant response to the antigay policies of the Reagan era, this experimental music video employs a mix of poetry, African beats, and provocative imagery -- sexual, political, and religious -- in order to challenge and redefine prevailing images of Black masculinity. Led by the liberated dancing of the filmmaker himself, Anthem is a bold vision of queer revolution, proclaiming "Every time we kiss we confirm the new world coming."

9 minutes
Color
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2021
The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Forty-eight page booklet featuring an essay by film critic K. Austin Collins.

Commentary

None.

Four programs

Featuring filmmaker and editor Christiane Badgley: performers Brian FreemanReginald T. Jackson, and Bill T. Jones: filmmakers Cheryl Dunye and Rodney Evans: poet Jericho Brown: film and media scholar Racquel Gates: and sociologist Herman Gray.

Excerpts

From a 1992 interview with director Riggs.

Brief introductions

By Riggs to Tongues United and Color Adjustment.

Long Train Running: The Story of the Oakland Blues (1981)

Riggs’s graduate thesis film.

Introduction

To Riggs from 2020 featuring filmmakers Vivian Kleiman and Shikeith, and Ashley Clark, curatorial director of the Criterion Collection.

I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs (1996)

A documentary by Karen Everett.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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