Includes bibliographical references, filmography, and index.
Contents:
Preface. Revealing Greaves : unhiding his archive / Shola Lynch. William Greaves, documentary filmmaking, and the African-American experience / Adam Knee and Charles Musser -- Meta-interview with William Greaves (an audiobiography) / Scott MacDonald -- Interview with Louise Archambault Greaves / Scott MacDonald -- Interview with David Greaves / Scott MacDonald -- The efficacy of acting / Katherine Kinney -- POEM/1965 / William Greaves -- The First World Festival of Negro Arts : An Afro-American view / William Greaves -- Views across the Atlantic : an American vision of the First World Festival of Negro Arts / Joseph L. Underwood -- Sisters inside Still a brother: Inside the negro middle class : black women through the lens of William Greaves / Jacqueline Najuma Stewart -- The documentary as sociodrama : William Greaves' In the company of men (1969) and The deep north (1988) / J.J. Murphy -- Pugilism and performance : William Greaves, Muhammad Ali, and the making of The fight / Alexander Johnston -- Black journal : a few notes from the executive producer / William Greaves -- 100 Madison Avenues will be of no help / William Greaves -- Black journal : a personal look backward / St. Clair Bourne -- 'By, for and about' : Black journal and the rise of multicultural documentary in New York City, 1968-1975 / Charles Musser -- William Greaves, Black journal, and the long roots of Black internationalism / Celeste Day Moore -- Government-sponsored film and Latinidad: voice of La Raza (1971) / Laura Isabel Serna -- Afterthoughts on the Black American Film Festival / William Greaves -- Ida B. Wells: a passion for justice : personal production notes / Michelle Duster -- Dossier on the Symbiopsychotaxiplasm films -- Proposal : Theatrical short subject / William Greaves -- Symbiopsychotaxiplasm : take one rediscovered : a conversation with Dara Meyers-Kingsley / Scott MacDonald -- The country in the city : Central Park as metaphor in Jonas Mekas's Walden and William Greaves's Symbiopsychotaxiplasm : take one / Scott MacDonald -- 'Just another word for jazz' : the signifying auteur in William Greaves's Symbiopsychotaxiplasm : take one (excerpt) / Akiva Gottlieb -- Symbiopsychotaxiplasm : take 2 / William Greaves -- Some concepts and logistics in shooting the two excerpts of Take 2 1/2 / William Greaves -- The Symbiopsychotaxiplasm effect on filmmaking dynamics : an editor's examination of the power of corruption on expectations in filmmaking / William Greaves -- The symbio cinematic environment : an aesthetic yet scientific theory for the film / William Greaves -- The daring, original, and overlooked : Symbiopsychotaxiplasm : take one / Richard Brody -- Still no answers / Amy Taubin -- "We're not raping Bill" : race and gender politics in Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take one and Take 2 1/2 / Joan Hawkins -- Symbiopsychotaxiplasticity : some takes on William Greaves / Franklin Cason, Jr. and Tsitsi Jaji -- A guy who could think around the corner : Ralph Bunche: an American odyssey / Patricia R. Zimmermann -- Revealing Greaves : unhiding his archive / Shola Lynch.
Summary:
"William Greaves is one of the most significant and compelling American filmmakers of the past century. Best known for his experimental film about its own making, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, Greaves was an influential independent documentary filmmaker who produced, directed, shot, and edited more than a hundred films on a variety of social issues and on key African American figures ranging from Muhammad Ali to Ralph Bunche to Ida B. Wells. A multitalented artist, his career also included stints as a songwriter, a member of the Actors Studio, and, during the late 1960s, a producer and cohost of Black Journal, the first national television show focused on African American culture and politics. This volume provides the first comprehensive overview of Greaves's remarkable career. It brings together a wide range of material, including a mix of incisive essays from critics and scholars, Greaves's own writings, an extensive meta-interview with Greaves, conversations with his wife and collaborator Louise Archambault Greaves and his son David, and a critical dossier on Symbiopsychotaxiplasm. Together, they illuminate Greaves's mission to use filmmaking as a tool for transforming the ways African Americans were perceived by others and the ways they saw themselves. This landmark book is an essential resource on Greaves's work and his influence on independent cinema and African-American culture"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.