josephine baker Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm typically a fan of all the movie-related stamps produced by the U.S. Postal Service, and I'm very glad to read the news that important early African American movie stars are being recognized and celebrated with a new series of 42-cent stamps (see them all here). However, I am a little disappointed that it carries on the usual exclusion of mostly forgotten non-musical race films, which are a significant part of both film history and African American history. Considering the stamps are tagged "Black Cinema USA," a number of people may assume this was the height of what African Americans were offered in the first half of the 20th century (Oscar Micheaux deserves a stamp).

Gripes aside, though, it is nonetheless a wonderful set. The five stamps feature vintage poster designs from old movies starring musical artists Josephine Baker (Princess Tam-Tam), Duke Ellington (Black and Tan) and Louis Jordan (Caldonia), plus King Vidor's monumental Oscar-nominated musical, Hallelujah! (it was one of the rare studio films featuring an all black cast) and the 1921 silent film The Sport of the Gods. In previous, separate years, Showboat costars Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel have also received their own postage stamps.

The new stamps come out Wednesday and there will be a ceremony on their behalf that day at the Newark Museum, which is currently holding the 34th annual Newark Black Film Festival. The festival is also holding free screenings of Hallelujah on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Here in Austin, the Best of QT Fest continues through Sunday night at Alamo Downtown. I'm going to test my film-watching stamina at the all-night horror marathon on Saturday. The festival is already broadening my film horizons in the biker and kung-fu genres. In addition, I've spotted Mike Judge and Elvis Mitchell at screenings and heard Quentin Tarantino's unforgettable rendition of the theme from the movie Hollywood Man. I'll share more about the festival next week after it wraps.

• The Sinus Show guys are helping the Texas School for the Deaf with their Relay for Life fundraiser at an outdoor event tonight (Friday) at midnight. The guys will be adding their humorous commentary to Karate Kid. You can buy tickets through Rolling Roadshow.
• The Paramount is hosting the Banff Mountain Film Festival on Saturday. The festival is a collection of short documentary and experimental films about mountain and outdoors adventures, such as kayaking, skydiving, and mountain climbing.

The biggest Austin film event this week is Best of QT Fest, which starts on Monday 4/24 and runs through Sunday 4/30. If you weren't lucky enough to grab one of the badges, you can still try for standby tickets on the night of specific screenings. Although the festival is taking over Alamo Drafthouse Downtown for the better part of a week, other local theaters have a number of options for your big-screen enjoyment.

• I first learned about The Music Lovers in a Harlan Ellison essay I read when I a teen, and his description of the asylum scene completely freaked me out. Fortunately, it was slightly less disturbing on screen that it was in my head. If you don't understand what I mean, you can see for yourself when Alamo Downtown shows the 1970 Ken Russell film about Tchaikovsky on Sunday 4/23, with live concert music beforehand.
• In the mood to see Nicolas Cage's Elvis imitation, Laura Dern clad in supremely trashy slutwear, Willem Dafoe with scary teeth, and Diane Ladd acting completely psycho? Alamo Village is showing Wild at Heart nightly from Monday 4/24 through Thursday 4/27, and then at midnight Friday and Saturday.
  

I have never seen so many film series starting in one week in one town in my whole life. Whether you prefer silent-film actresses, Chinese martial arts, classic widescreen films, or the fun of outdoor movie-viewing, Austin has a film series for you. April and May are going to be wonderful months for a variety of film programming in Austin.

• Adam and Steve, the film that opened the Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (aGLIFF) last year, is playing all week at Dobie Theatre. Also at Dobie this week, AFS@Dobie presents the German comedy Go for Zucker.
• Free coffeehouse movies: Austin Java is showing Intolerable Cruelty tonight (3/31) at 8 pm. Ventana del Soul is starting an Anime Movie Monday series on 4/3 at 7:30 pm with Excel Saga, which I assume has nothing to do with Microsoft.