The film of tomorrow appears to me as even more personal than an individual and autobiographical novel, like a confession, or a diary. The young filmmakers will express themselves in the first person and will relate what has happened to them; it may be the story of their first love, or their most recent; of their political awakening; the story of a trip, a sickness, their military service, their marriage, their last vacation...and it will be enjoyable because it will be true and new...The film of tomorrow will not be directed by civil servants of the camera, but by artists for whom shooting a film constitutes a wonderful and thrilling adventure. The film of tomorrow will resemble the person who made it, and the number of spectators will be proportional to the number of friends the director has. The film of tomorrow will be an act of love.
—Francois Truffaut, "The Film of Tomorrow WIll Be An Act Of Love," Arts, May 15, 1957, as excerpted in Truffaut: A Biography by Antoine De Baecque and Serge Toubiana, translated by Catherine Temerson, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999
F.T. Are you in favor of the teaching of cinema in universities?
A.H. Only on the condition that they teach cinema since the era of Mélies and that the students learn to make silent films, because there is no better form of training. Talking pictures often served merely to introduce the theater into the studios. The danger is that young people, and even adults, all too often believe that one can become a director without knowing how to sketch a decor, or how to edit.
—Alfred Hitchcock, interviewed by Truffaut, May, 1972; featured in Hitchcock/Truffaut,revised edition, Simon and Schuster, 1984
How do you feel watching the Ku Klux Klan?
Now, how do feel about cheering on the KKK as they rescue innocent whites from the depredations of rioting blacks?
You'd mostly feel the same way as before. But, in the context of Birth of a Nation, at the end of a series of humiliations and outrages committed upon the protagonists, when the Klan becomes the last hope. . . for a second, for maybe less than a second, you want to cheer them on. As that appalling revelation sinks in, you realize that bringing you to that emotion is the the achievement and the horror of Birth of a Nation.
It is a sprawling epic, covering the Civil War and the Reconstruction over 180 minutes. And those minutes fly by, filled as they are with events, passion, tragedy, and melodrama best sense. Lillian Gish, the star, is graceful as a Javanese dancer, winsome; early a hundred years later she's the incarnation of everything a movie star represents. Many of the sequences are still viscerally exciting. Other parts of the film are beautiful, both on their own terms and now, as an artifact of a style of filmmaking and a time that’s long gone. The lovers strolling in the cotton field. The way the light, from high and behind the actors, gives them silver nitrate halos.
The formal innovations are substantial. It's hard to imagine, for instance, the ingenuity involved in inventing parallel editing. It's such a basic part of film grammar now that creating it seems almost like inventing the paragraph.
Yet, Birth of a Nation is the most breathtakingly racist movie I’ve ever seen. Although it’s billed as a Civil War epic, that part of the movie only sets up the reason for the creation of the Klan and its ultimate triumph over the carpetbaggers and power-grabbing Negroes who defile the South during Reconstruction.
This is a film whose content completely overwhelms its formal qualities. You can't discuss the grand scale, the editing techniques, the genius level innovations of D.W. Griffith without dealing with racism, which is at the core of the movie.
It's also very much a movie about social class. It often feels as if the aristocracy of the South is the thin, blue-blooded line between savagery and civilization. Lowly proles get the same treatment as the uppity negroes. And often, a sexual hysteria lurks under the surface when it's not in full lurid display. Really, all the blacks and the poorer whites seem to want to do is violate the flower of the well bred womenfolk.
These narratives still play out. They must be deeply embedded in our national psyche. For example, there's a series of scenes where the negroes have taken over the state legislature during Reconstruction. Griffith treats us to the site of uncouth blacks picking their toes -- on the very floor of the capitol! Yet, this sense of violation, of propriety savaged, must be what the tea party whack jobs must feel with Obama in the White House.
The racism, being overt, also offers a map to itself. Being expressed so freely, we can see that the main cause is fear and disgust. Fear that the whites will be robbed of their rightful place and property. And fear that the blacks will rape our women.
It was also strange to watch a movie where whiteness is presented as the embodiment of virtue. I don't want to get into whiteness in American culture, the whole Moby Dick, Gordon Pym, Invisible Man theme that's vast and deep. But more this: that "white people" is really now a set up for punch lines -- white has become to mean merely pale, uninteresting. While in the Birth of Nation, being white means owning chivalry, discipline, and grace. It's the same racist coin, but flipped.
I saw this commercial not long after viewing Birth of Nation. It represents progress, on one level. the punchline, or climax, depends on a black guy ogling a slim blonde with impunity and after a friendly smile. It's played for laughs, rather than outrage. But. If I'm honest, I can feel the slightest, merest flicker of the motivating forces of Griffiths' movie as I watch the ad. Or, check out the angry white guy video -- the one where an old guy smacks down a black dude on the bus. If you see it, and read the comments, you realize that the racial fear is still there, but now it's laced with fear of being robbed, killed or raped by a black guy. That clip would not have the same juice if it was a white kid getting straightened out.
So perhaps the movie is not as much a relic of the past as I'd like it to be for me.. And the unending racially based scorn of Obama signals that Birth of a Nation is not so far removed for the country, either.
Cinema knows no ideology. We love to see a cavalry charging to the rescue, whether in Union blue or Klan white. Depending on the point of view, we stand with Custer or attack with Sitting Bull, equally. We’re shoulder to shoulder with the sailors of the Potemkin or the brown shirts in Nuremberg. Our brain may protest, but our eyes and our gut have already run ahead of us.
Even when you know the mechanism at work, this ad still kicks ass. My father sent it to me. He's currently a sidelined motorcyclist which made it more poignant.
“I Am A Nobody Filmmaker”
by Christopher J. Boghosian, (FollowMyFilm, Girlfriend 19)
I’m a nobody filmmaker: I don’t have a recognizable name nor a recognizable film. In essence, most of the world couldn’t care less about me nor my movies. This sounds pathetic, I know, but coming to grips with this reality has truly liberated me and provided an invaluable perspective on my work and career.
As a result of the internet, mass media, and proliferation of panel discussions and seminars, beginning filmmakers can now listen in on the conversation between film industry experts. Insider tips and wisdom are readily available, from casting celebrities to negotiating a VOD deal. It’s true: gurus sometimes discuss broad principles and concepts that apply to every level of filmmaking, but more often than not, there is a buried assumption in their discussion: that a filmmaker or their project has a considerable amount of credibility, hype or leverage. As a result, many of these conversations are inapplicable to nobody filmmakers who have no reputable name nor a film with high salability. Nevertheless, in our earnest search for success, us nobodies continue to invest a lot of time, energy and money on experts.
A beginning filmmaker can learn all about financing, film production, marketing and distribution, but if s/he has little or nothing to back it up with, what’s the point? Living in LA, I’ve met countless filmmakers trying to raise thousands of dollars, even millions, with very little to their credit. Who do they think they are? What other business or profession operates like that? Like every other profession, filmmakers must earn the right to ask for thousands of dollars. They must earn the right to mass market and distribute their film. In the end, most of these filmmakers discover that only their friends and family are willing to invest in them, since that is with whom they have earned trust.
The baker bakes, the architect designs, and the filmmaker must continually make films. What baker bakes one loaf of bread and asks for thousands of dollars to open a bakery? What architect designs one home and expects to have thousands of fans on Facebook? None. It’s ludicrous. As a nobody filmmaker, I have come to realize that I need to earn my right to ask people for their time and money. And the way to do that is by consistently making films, plain-and-simple.
In fact, even the desire to make a great film must be earned. An expert baker who has studied and worked for years would scoff at a novice attempting to develop a great loaf of bread. It takes years of trial-and-error, blood, sweat and tears to bake great bread. How is filmmaking any different? Why do so many beginning filmmakers strive to make a great film? It’s presumptuous and disrespectful toward the art and craft of filmmaking.
Coming to grips with my nobody-ness as a filmmaker has set me straight in many ways. Rather than attempt to make a great film and attain thousands of fans, my focus now is to continually make the very best films I can within my means. Additionally, I have come to realize that I am, in fact, a somebody to a few folks out there. Most are friends and family members who watch my films, read my blog, and anticipate my future work. Thus, as I continue to make films and develop my craft, I will, first and foremost, share with them. Rather than create my own Facebook Fan page, I will call and email them, letting them know what I’m up to. And, hopefully, if my films are any good, they’ll spread the word and, maybe, create a Fan page for me!
-Christopher J. Boghosian
Christopher J. Boghosian is an independent filmmaker in Los Angeles, California. His blog, FollowMyFilm.com, focuses on the emotional side of filmmaking as well as highlighting the progress of his first feature film, Girlfriend 19.
