A Movie To Watch Out For: It's called Destination Planet Negro by writer, director and co-star Kevin Willmott (who previously made the satirical C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, and teaches filmmaking at the University of Kansas).
It made its premiere in February, and is continuing to travel the film festival circuit. It's a genuinely laugh out loud, funny, and very clever spoof that, at times, approaches the manic heights of In Living Color during its heyday.
The premise itself is very original: a group of black leaders, including even W.E.B DuBois, during the 1930’s, gather together for a secret meeting to discuss the “Negro Problem” in America.
They decide that the only real solution is for black people to not only leave America, but this planet altogether, and, with the help of George Washington Carver, build a rocket ship to take an exploratory group to Mars, to check out the possibility of such a bold undertaking.
But as in all sci-fi movies, something goes wrong, and the three explorers wind up in present day America, to their befuddlement (For example in one scene, they see a black man with sagging jeans below his posterior, and speculate that black people in the future are so malnourished that their clothes are falling off them. And when explained to them who President Obama is, the shock is too great for them with one of them promptly passing out).
The first 30 minutes of the film are done in a campy 1950’s black and white sci-fi style, with appropriately cheesy music and special effects, while the scenes in present day America are shot in color and directed in a more natural, contemporary style, which is all even more impressive considering that, because of the film’s restrictive budget, it took Willmont an entire year to shoot the film, filming only a few scenes at a time.
All the leads are terrific in their roles, giving the film the right tongue in cheek comic touch - never too broad or with any self-conscious winking at the camera.
Hopefully the film will make it to your neck of the words, or will get a theatrical and VOD/DVD distribution deal, but it’s a truly charming and funny film that makes some genuinely real and honest observations about the mindset and attitudes of Black Americans today. (Source of article: blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact)
It made its premiere in February, and is continuing to travel the film festival circuit. It's a genuinely laugh out loud, funny, and very clever spoof that, at times, approaches the manic heights of In Living Color during its heyday.
The premise itself is very original: a group of black leaders, including even W.E.B DuBois, during the 1930’s, gather together for a secret meeting to discuss the “Negro Problem” in America.
They decide that the only real solution is for black people to not only leave America, but this planet altogether, and, with the help of George Washington Carver, build a rocket ship to take an exploratory group to Mars, to check out the possibility of such a bold undertaking.
But as in all sci-fi movies, something goes wrong, and the three explorers wind up in present day America, to their befuddlement (For example in one scene, they see a black man with sagging jeans below his posterior, and speculate that black people in the future are so malnourished that their clothes are falling off them. And when explained to them who President Obama is, the shock is too great for them with one of them promptly passing out).
The first 30 minutes of the film are done in a campy 1950’s black and white sci-fi style, with appropriately cheesy music and special effects, while the scenes in present day America are shot in color and directed in a more natural, contemporary style, which is all even more impressive considering that, because of the film’s restrictive budget, it took Willmont an entire year to shoot the film, filming only a few scenes at a time.
All the leads are terrific in their roles, giving the film the right tongue in cheek comic touch - never too broad or with any self-conscious winking at the camera.
Hopefully the film will make it to your neck of the words, or will get a theatrical and VOD/DVD distribution deal, but it’s a truly charming and funny film that makes some genuinely real and honest observations about the mindset and attitudes of Black Americans today. (Source of article: blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact)
It’s 1939 America and the Black community’s greatest minds are searching for the solution to the “Negro Problem.” One answer? Build a spaceship, fill it with all of America’s Negroes, and fly to Mars, with the help of George Washington Carver’s peanut/sweet potato–based rocket fuel. And, like many plans, this one goes awry. Word gets out that Negroes are leaving and White folk get angry, so the departure is moved up to ASAP. The intrepid team includes Dr. Warrington Avery, the physicist who designed and built the spacecraft (Director Kevin Willmott); Dr. Beneatha Avery, astronomer and lovely daughter of Dr. Avery (Danielle Cooper); Captain Race “Ace” Johnson, the best Negro pilot in the world and all-around chauvinist (Tosin Morohunfolo); and Strom, a robot that speaks with a colloquial Southern accent.
The team heads to Mars, but their ship gets pulled into a wormhole. They crash land on present-day Earth, in a deserted part of Kansas City. As in the Wizard of Oz, the film changes from black-and-white to color, seemingly to contrast the dark past with the promise of a bright future. Dr. Avery claims the planet on behalf of all the “poor, oppressed, and colored people of the world,” and then tells Strom to stay behind and fix the ship while they search the planet. Looks like the struggle is still real for nonbiological life forms. . . continue reading>> Review: Destination: Planet Negro!
Links to more info & articles:
Kevin Willmott
Kevin Willmott on YouTube
Destination Planet Negro (Facebook Page)
SLIFF shows bold, black face
The team heads to Mars, but their ship gets pulled into a wormhole. They crash land on present-day Earth, in a deserted part of Kansas City. As in the Wizard of Oz, the film changes from black-and-white to color, seemingly to contrast the dark past with the promise of a bright future. Dr. Avery claims the planet on behalf of all the “poor, oppressed, and colored people of the world,” and then tells Strom to stay behind and fix the ship while they search the planet. Looks like the struggle is still real for nonbiological life forms. . . continue reading>> Review: Destination: Planet Negro!
Links to more info & articles:
Kevin Willmott
Kevin Willmott on YouTube
Destination Planet Negro (Facebook Page)
SLIFF shows bold, black face