New York, Sept. 23 (BUS): Melvin van Peebles, the pioneering filmmaker, playwright and musician whose work led to the wave of “misuse” in the 1970s and influenced filmmakers long after, has passed away. He was 89 years old.
His family said in a statement that Van Peebles, father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles, died Tuesday night at his Manhattan home, the Associated Press reported.
“My dad knew that black pictures matter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s a movie worth?” Mario Van Peebles said in a statement Wednesday. “We want to be the success we see, and therefore we need to see ourselves as free. True liberation does not mean imitating the mindset of the colonizer. It means appreciating the strength, beauty, and interdependence of all people.”
Sometimes called “the godfather of modern black cinema,” Van Peebles wrote many books and plays, recorded many albums – played multiple instruments and provided rap-style lyrics. He later became a successful options trader in the stock market.
However, he is best known for “Sweet Sweetback’s Song”, one of the most influential films of the time. Written, produced, directed, starred and recorded, the low-budget, artistic film was the frenzied, hyper-sexual, and violent tale of a black street hustler on the run from the police after killing the white officers they were beating. black revolutionary.
With her harsh and critical portrayal of life in the ghetto, emphasized by the message of empowerment as told from a black perspective, she set the tone for a genre that spawned dozens of films over the next few years and sparked debate about whether blacks were recognized or exploited.
“All films about black people to date have been told through the eyes of the Anglo-Saxon majority in their rhythms, discourse and pace,” Van Peebles told Newsweek in 1971, the year of the film’s release.
Made for about $500,000 (including $50,000 made by Bill Cosby), it grossed $14 million at the box office despite an X rating, limited distribution, and mixed critical reviews. For example, the New York Times accused Van Peebles of promoting injustice and called the film “outrage”.
RAE