MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (Venue Partner)
11 W 53rd St
212.708.9400
This event has passed.
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Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
- When
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Friday Oct 24, 2008 (6:30pm)
Saturday Oct 25, 2008 (12:30pm)
- Where
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- Price
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$10
- Links
Note: Friday's screening is introduced by Melvin Van Peebles.
Melvin Van Peebles raised a middle finger to the police and Hollywood with his watershed 1971 film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. The title's extra letters hint at the formal innovations, which include surreal negative images and split screens, but are lacking beside Van Peebles' man-with-a-mission title of writer/producer/actor/editor/director/composer. As actor, Van Peebles portrays Sweetback — a young black lady-killer on the lam after doling out justice to two racist cops — with a swagger that befits his moniker. As director, he bellows the message that he, his "Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man," and his no-budget film are independent to the core.
