Robert C. Banks
Experimental film inspired by a 1923 scenario written by Serbian poet Salomon Monny de Boully, with a musical score composed and performed by Tad Mike.
“White Boy Rick”, as he was called, was a novelty: A white teenager seemingly running a major inner-city drug operation. In May of 1987, 17-year-old Richard Wershe Jr. was charged with a non-violent, juvenile drug offense. By the time of his arrest he was already a Detroit legend, frequently making front-page headlines and leading the local television news. In this film, gangsters, hit men, journalists and federal agents struggle to explain why he remains in prison at nearly 50 years old. The possible explanation is more stunning than the crimes Wershe was alleged to have committed.
Tale of life, love and the pursuit of happiness... in Cleveland. Nine vignettes about love: an old war hero defends the honor and memory of a long-lost love; a man's past comes to light in the midst of a perfect date; a recently separated paramedic gets more than he bargains for when he is thrust in the middle of a domestic dispute; a desperate man employs his friends in an elaborate scheme to meet the girl of his dreams, a recovering sex addict returns home to start a new life. There are thousands of stories of love, lust, loss and despair all over Cleveland-these are just a few of them.
Drawing by hand directly on 16mm film, Banks challenges commercial appropriations of the image of Malcolm X.
An examination of 100 years of African Americans being murdered in movies.
