#1082g: RIGGS, Marlon: Black Is . . . Black Ain't (1995)
RIGGS, Marlon (United States)
Director/Writer
Black Is . . . Black Ain't (1995)
Spine #1082g
Blu-ray
Blu-ray
Director/Writer
Marlon Riggs was 38 when he directed Black Is . . . Black Ain't.
Made with an urgency imparted by the knowledge that he was nearing the end of his life, Marlon Rigg's final film -- completed after his death of AIDS by a group of his devoted collaborators -- is a wide-ranging consideration of a question that had long been central to his work: What does it mean to be Black? Using his mother's gumbo recipe as a metaphor for the diversity of the African American experience, Riggs travels the country, seeking insights from leading thinkers like Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates Jr., bell hooks, and Barbara Smith as well as ordinary people -- young and old, rich and poor, rural and urban, gay and straight -- all grappling with the numerous, often contested definitions of Blackness that have shaped their lives. Punctuated by footage of a dying Riggs directing his crew and delivering parting wisdom from his hospital bed, Black Is . . . Black Ain't breaks down the divides of class, colorism, patriarchy, and homophobia as it issues a stirring appeal for unity.
88 minutes
Color
Color
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2021
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 Freeman, Reginald 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.
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 Freeman, Reginald 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.
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