director Tag

Black is Beautiful (2018) 11 – Marlon Riggs

Marlon Riggs was a pioneering Black gay filmmaker. He was born in 1957 in Fort Worth Dallas and  grew up there as part of a military family and moved around a lot. He lived in Georgia and Germany as a result. Always an incredible student and queer he faced discrimination, racism, and alienation from both many people. In the mid 70s he got a scholarship to Harvard University and although he excelled academically was hiding his true sexuality. Then Marlon moved to the Bay Area where he attended UC Berkeley study film and Black history. He became a filmmaker and shot his first documentary “Long Train Running” about West Oakland blues history in 1982. He also began to embrace his sexuality and bean what would become a life long relationship with Jack Vincent. They were among the first gay couples in the Bay to apply for domestic partnership. He went on to become a faculty member at UCB an self funded and produced another film called “Ethnic Notions” about the historic portrayal of Black folks which aired on PBS. He went on to join a group called the “Black Gay Men United” and made a film called “Tongues Untied” which was revolutionary in its portrayal of queer Black men. The film received wide acclaim and criticism. Riggs would go on to make several more films, to win international film awards, to become a young tenured UCB faculty member, and to receive an honorary degree from CCAC (now CCA). Marlon learned after having kidney failure that he was HIV positive. He would later die from complications of AIDS and he vowed to not stay silent about the disease which was ripping apart both queer and straight communities across the US. Marlon was a pioneer in film, Gay pride, and Black history.

Sources: MarlonTRiggs.com, Current.org, I Shall Not Be Removed (film)

Inktober 18 – Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez is a Nyorican (New Yorker + Boricua) from Brooklyn. She started her creative journey as a dancer in the clubs of NYC who was known for getting down to hip hop, house, etc. The first time I saw her was in the film Do The Right Thing, then followed her career as an actress. She has been an actress lending her voice and physical performance in over 60 films, documentaries, and TV shows. Because she is such an amazing dancer she also worked as one of the Soul Train dancers, and has done choreography for Heavy D, Bobby Brown, LL Cool J, Diana Ross, and Broadway. And now she’s an author and a director who has written about her experience, mental health, and has been an advocate for Puerto Ricans. This is Rosie from the famous opening credits of…..you remember that movie?

Source: Sway in the morning, Various films, Wikipedia

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Inktober 17 – Guillermo Del Toro

The first Del Toro film I saw was La Espina del Diablo which was an incredible film mixing history, fantasy, and a bit of horror. Born in Guadalajara Mexico Del Toro got a fascination with film at an early age and has worked as a writer, director, and producer on well over 30 projects. Some of my favorites are Hellboy, The Hobbit, The Book of Life, and the first film I mentioned. As a child both my grandmother and my mom had a love for fantasy and horror. I then gravitated to these as well. Besides making films, I appreciate that Del Toro helps other filmmakers. Especially his hand in the making of “The Book of Life”. You can see more of his work at www.deltorofilms.com

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Inktober 12 – Aurora Guerrero

 Aurora Guerrero is a Xicana filmmaker from San Francisco who started working in film in the mid 2000’s. She went to school at UC berkeley and began assisting or working as a PA while she made short films. She then developed her first narrative feature film, the groundbreaking film Mosquita y Mari which explored a romance, attraction, and friendship between two young women who were Multilingual, multicultural and Xicana as well. Since the success of this film she’s gone on to direct for TV shows such as Fly and Queen Sugar. On a personal note, I got to meet some of the crew who worked on #mosquitaymari and they beamed w/admiration for Aurora and her film. Once I saw it I understood why. We need more women of color directing films and tv! Can’t wait to see what story she develops next. 



Sources: Remezcla,IMDb, IndieWire 

Want this original drawing? $60 or Print? $20 (includes shipping)  
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