Produced between 1966 and 1969, Skip Norman's early student films range from deconstructed narratives and deceptive agit-prop to experimental essays, revealing not only the protean, multifaceted style of the young Norman, but an incendiary conceptual throughline that would inform later self-authored projects and collaborations, including a commitment to social justice and critiques of hypocritical liberalism.
Both
Cultural Nationalism and
Strange Fruit take explicit inspiration from the Black Panther Party, the former borrowing a Bobby Seale text that mounts an adroit challenge to counter-revolutionary “Black Capitalism”, the latter expanding upon documentation of a Seale speech in Copenhagen to illustrate and amplify the activist’s message. Wedding non-fiction with noir-tinged narrative, featuring Norman in a small role, the mostly wordless debut
Riffi is an ambitious, cryptic reflection on the act of pursuit whether in the context of romance or violence. Directly inspired by Amiri Baraka’s 1963 analysis of “Negro Music in White America”, the experimental
Blues People boldly confronts and challenges the dynamics of fetishization, holding up a mirror not only to anti-Black racism in the United States but also Germany in a pointed deconstruction of desire and dominance.
This screening of Norman’s DFFB films marks the World Premiere of new 2K restorations undertaken by the Deutsche Kinemathek. As a prelude the programme features a fleeting glimpse of Norman captured on the streets of Berlin by his friend Ingrid Opperman in the film
Skip Norman, West-Berlin, ca. 1969-70..
Skip Norman, West-Berlin, ca. 1969-70
Ingrid Opperman, Circa 1969-70, West Germany, Silent, 1 min
Cultural Nationalism
Skip Norman, 1969, West Germany, English, 11 min
Strange Fruit
Skip Norman, 1969, West Germany, English, 29 min
Riffi
Skip Norman, 1966, West Germany, English and German, 16 min
Blues People
Skip Norman, 1969, West Germany, English, 18 min
TOTAL RUNTIME: 108 min
World Premiere of 2K Restorations
CONTENT WARNING: Nudity, anti-Black language, documentation of anti-Black violence
Skip Norman, West-Berlin, ca. 1969-70 courtesy of Ingrid Opperman. All other films courtesy of the Deutsche Kinemathek.
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