Cinema - posted 24/2/2006

When playing in the light can leave you in the dark.

Oliver Barrett investigates the Independent Cinema Office’s latest release.

A premiere carries a certain amount of emotional baggage. Briefcases of expectation, holdalls of apprehension and a multitude of other luggage carry the full compliment of feelings relating to the first public screening of a film. Seated a full twenty minutes before the start of the Independent Cinema Office’s touring project “Playing in the Light’ at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on the Mall on the 26th January, I amused myself watching the performers, directors and promoters struggle with their charge.

Some had the superhuman strength of a travelling single mother with young yet mobile children and scampered about with their bags doing their best to deal with their nervous energy while others chose a more relaxed approach and sat on their suitcases and waited. Managing only to get quotes such as ‘the proof is in the pudding’ and ‘let’s wait and see’ I concluded that they were each carrying a backpack of nerves regardless of their calm or furtive stance. As the lights dimmed and the audience of about thirty other guests from a broad range of society settled our journey began.

‘Playing in the Light’ is divided into two programmes; ‘Ways of Seeing Things’ and ‘Playing a Part’. Each consists of six short films which span from four to fifteen minutes in length. As part of the British Film Institute’s ‘Blackworld’ project the films seek to explore the relationship between performance and film within the context of ‘black creative culture’. ‘Ways of Seeing Things’ considers this notion through the audience’s interpretation of the performance and how it is directed by the composition and delivery of the piece. ‘Playing a Part’ focuses attention on the performer’s role within the context of the film and it’s reflection upon society from a racial perspective.

Striking the relationship between the intention of the ‘Blackworld’ project and ‘Playing in the Light’ is achieved to great effect. ‘Four Women’ (1997) directed by Julie Dash - a powerful dance celebrating the emancipation of black women performed by Linda Young to the music of Nina Simone - is a testament to racial struggle. The comical ‘Dansons’ (1999) directed and starring Zoulikha Bouabdellah is an irreverent take on La Marseillaise that considers French and Arab racial integration with simplistic brilliance. Integration and racial barriers are also readily exposed and ridiculed by Lip (1999) a montage of film outtakes directed by Tracey Moffatt and Gary Hillberg charting the on screen relationship between white and black characters in Hollywood. Their excellence was however surpassed by Jonzi D’s ‘Aeroplane Man’ (2000), which stole the show.

Jonzi D’s comic journey towards self-discovering drew laughter and applause from a previously silent audience. As well as being entertaining it seamlessly uncovered his personal quest for identity and the conflict of identity and ‘otherness’ so prevalent throughout England’s second and third generation ethnic communities - a point which the other films failed to make and a definitive winner with an English audience.

Establishing the film’s intention was by no means all the evening had to offer. Themes such as love and desire were addressed in the captivating piece ‘Three’, directed by Isaac Julien, starring Bebe Miller and Ralph Lemon and British actress Cleo Sylvestre. Tanya Syed’s ‘Delilah’ (1995) a ‘meditation on violence’ unfurled the conflicting issues of love and survival to dramatic effect and ‘Untitled’ (1989) a moving tribute to dancer and choreographer Arnie Zane who died of AIDS in 1988 by his former lover Bill T Jones stripped bare the notion of grief. Their inclusion while offering variation from the core theme also allowed the respective programmes the opportunity to showcase different styles and techniques.

Variation and intention is not an easy cocktail to mix. The two programmes that spanned over 65 minutes displayed one of the broadest ranges of musical theatrical and visual experiences I have ever seen. Break-beats collided with classical dance, silent face painting contrasted Brazilian street scenes and black and white film reflected colour that would make the any artist jealous. When this spectrum is applied to the aim of the project and then subdivided into the intentions of the two programmes the experience results in a mind-blowing brew that can leave you spinning in the dark rather than playing in the light.

Although there is the occasional clanger - such as ‘Haroldinho’ (2005) directed and starring Harold Offeh, whose performance can only be likened to Ricky Gervais’ character David Brent from his acclaimed series ‘The Office’ - the individual films cannot be blamed for this shortcoming. Attempting to make such a broad variety of films apply to the goals that ‘Playing in the Light’ aims to achieve is simply over-ambitious.

‘Strong Women’ (2000) directed by Jayne Parker exemplifies this point. As part of the ‘Ways of Seeing Things’ programme the film depicts, Vicki Amedume - a former body builder turned trapeze artist - performing acts of Herculean strength while suspended in mid-air. Amedume’s evident power and grace, coupled with the camera’s obsession with her clearly toned body, does indeed cause the viewer to consider the way in which they are seeing what the are presented with, but in spite or Amedume being black there is no real connection with the racial tone of the overall project. Parker’s work is often well received yet it’s inclusion in the project seems inappropriate and detracts from what could be an interesting piece given the correct context.

Over ambition is by no means a bad thing especially when the aim is to push boundaries. Experimentation by its very nature must break down preconceived notions and challenge the viewer to make judgments, but I cannot help but think that this might have been achieved to far greater effect if the composition had been completed with a little more care and attention. The pace, intensity and often random manner with which the viewer is bombarded with images leaves little time for any judgments to be made or notions to be challenged and this defeats it’s own purpose. I would have put these points to the performers, directors and promoters had I had the opportunity, but they seemed to have evaporated in the interval.

Wondering why they had fled the scene when the close of the show received a heart-felt round of applause, my mind span like an amphetamine-charged baggage reclaim carousel. Having lost my expectations I wondered what kind of baggage, if any I should take from this event.

“You have to take from it what is you are looking for,” said dance student Meryl Banks, 29, “If it’s dance then you will find it. If it’s social context you will find it too. You really have to keep an open mind and expect not to be force-fed in the usual commercial way.”

With this in mind I took a rucksack of experience and made for the exit.