Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
- Director: Thomas Allen Harris
- Writer: Thomas Allen Harris; Paul Carter Harrison
- Producer: Ann Bennett; Thomas Allen Harris
CGiii Comment
A pictorial essay on African Americans and photography...through the ages.
It is not comprehensive...this is a subjective and personal account and, for those reasons, it has to be - both - admired and berated equally.
The pictures themselves speak a thousand words - sometimes, in the film, the words get in the way. There are images that simply deserve silence.
A few unnecessary aberrations: the un-photographed cross-dressing uncle - nothing more than a nod to the black LGBT 'community' - definitely an avenue worthy of further investigation.
It could have been more powerful - although, it does have power - but, this is a painstakingly compiled, personal reflection, not an academic one. And, for that, it has to be admired.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. This epic tale poetically moves between the present and the past, through contemporary photographers and artists whose images and stories seek to reconcile legacies of pride and shame while giving voice to images long suppressed, forgotten, and hidden from sight.