In the Pics section, film critic Floortje Smit casts her eye on contemporary visual culture.
Do you know who won the Oscar for Best Documentary? Can you name the creator who received the prestigious film award from Chris Rock after being punched in the face by Will Smith?
That was director Questlove, for his debut Summer of Soul† You have to consider what that is like, having to say a word of thanks immediately after The Moment while the audience is still gasping for breath. “I think everyone was stunned,” he said afterwards. ‘It was a weird moment.’
That was a fine succinct analysis. But it didn’t stop there, the past few days. It was discussed whether the prank was improvised, whether Rock knew about Jada Pinkett Smith’s illness and what had transpired in the seconds between the shot of a smiling Smith and the moment he stepped onto the stage. There has been speculation about the ramifications for the Oscars, for Smith’s career, for Chris Rock’s career, for the (for decades also movie-enhanced) racial stereotypes about the violence and quick temper of black men. There were analyzes of what ‘the blow’ and the reactions say about humour, about masculinity, about the relationship between Jada and Will, about the American film industry. There are now even conspiracy theories around Scientology, deep state and Russian interference. Pinkett Smith responded† Smith responded† Smith’s mother responded† The Academy wants a few weeks to consider possible steps. Still: that Smith will have to hand in his first and probably last Oscar after Sunday is unlikely – Harvey Weinstein still has his too.
Back to that beautiful Summer of Soul. That dazzling documentary (five stars in de Volkskrant) shows unique footage from the Harlem Cultural Festival – a free festival that attracted more than 300,000 visitors 150 kilometers from Woodstock in the same hot summer of 1969. An important moment in the development of a proud African-American self-awareness, a revolutionary festival that passed peacefully despite the heightened discontent within the community. But because nobody was interested in this footage after that – with Stevie Wonder, BB King, Nina Simone and so on – it disappeared in the attic for fifty years. Even those who had been there began to doubt their memories, so much was the festival written out of history.
“This isn’t just a story about marginalized people in Harlem in 1969,” Questlove said in his acceptance speech. “This is the story…” And then he couldn’t get out.
Appropriate and sad: Summer of Soul is the story of what disappears from the history books when all the media look in the same direction.