The director and writer Melvin Van Peebles, outstanding figure of African-American cinema who was distinguished by his films of the film movement "Blaxplotation", died on Tuesday at 89 years of age in New York.
"My father knew that the images of blacks imported," said today one of his children, Mario Van Peebles.
"We want to be the success we see, and therefore we need to see ourselves being free," he added in a statement, in which he also affirmed that "real liberation did not mean imitating the mentality of the colonizer."
The director and writer influenced a whole generation of African-American filmmakers, including Spike Lee and John Singleton, with films in which the African-American community was the protagonist and who were part of the US black film boom. In the 70s .
Van Peebles was known for directed productions such as Classical Indie Ribbons "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" - which will be projected this week at the New York Film Festival on the occasion of its 50th anniversary - "The Story of a Three-Day Pass "," Watermelon Man "and" Do not Play US Cheap ".
"Sweet Sweetback's", which tells the story of an African-American who runs from the white authorities, was filmed in 19 days with a small budget of $ 500,000, but kneaded more than 10 million dollars at the box office, becoming the independent film of greater Economic success until that moment.
"Watermelon Man" also became a taquillazo, after which Van Peeble was offered a contract for the production of three films by Columbia, which he rejected in order to continue producing films freely.
"In a career without parallel distinguished by incessant innovation, a curiosity without limits and spiritual empathy, Melvin Van Peeble left an indelible mark on the international cultural panorama through his films, his novels, his plays and his music", He affirmed by his part CRAINION COLLECTION, the distributor of a large part of his films.
Date Of Update: 23 September 2021, 04:36
