The documentary film on anthropologist Melville Herskovits, whose score VCU Music instructor Darryl Harper co-composed with Xavier Davis, is moving around the country at several film festivals and won best documentary at the Hollywood Black Film Festival in June 2009.
Herskovits: At the Heart of Blackness Screenings:
Boston International Film Festival
April 25, 2009
www.bifilmfestival.com
Hollywood Black Film Festival
June 7, 2009
Winner “Best Documentary”!
www.hbff.org
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
July 23-Aug 10 (screening date tba)
www.sfjff.org
Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival
August 4-8 (screening date tba)
www.mvaaff.com
The film Herskovits: At the Heart of Blackness examines how anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits re-defined black history, making it possible for a people formerly despised as “Negroes” to pride themselves as African-Americans. Herskovits himself was not black; he was a white man of Jewish ancestry. But he acquired the power to re-make the historical understanding of black people, and in the process engaged in conflicts with black scholars and white institutions of the day and helped to propel African Americans’ struggle against white supremacy. The film includes rarely seen archival footage, provocative animation, photo montage re-enactments, interviews with leading scholars of race and culture, and a score co-composed by Darryl Harper and Xavier Davis. The film is produced by Vital Pictures.
Clarinetist Darryl Harper has opened concerts for Max Roach, The Billy Taylor Trio, and The Wynton Marsalis Quartet. He has performed with Tim Warfield, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roscoe Mitchell, Dave Holland, Uri Caine, and Regina Carter. His projects as a leader include The Onus Quintet, The Onus Trio, Into Something, and The C3 Project. Harper serves on the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University. Visit www.darrylharperjazz.com for more information.
The score for Herskovits at the Heart of Darknesss is indeed a winner. For a clip from the film or for more information, people can go to http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0224&s=herskovits