Skip to content
Latest
Posted Film Festivals

AFI Fest: Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker

J.C. Leyendecker was one of the most influential commercial artists working in the early 20th century. His work graced many magazine covers, including The Saturday Evening Post, and his character The Arrow Collar Man was one highly recognized figure in advertising. He influenced how illustrators approached advertising and magazine art and was an early inspiration for Norman Rockwell. But perhaps more importantly, Leyendecker, a gay man whose lover Charles Beach was the primary model for his work, coded his art with homoerotic imagery that was both subtle and subversive. 

Directed by Ryan White, Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker is a fascinating portrait of a lesser known LGBTQ icon. The documentary explores his work, his long-term relationship with his partner/model Charles Beach and the many ways he influenced advertising and popular culture through art. It includes  interviews, examples of his art and animated sequences.The film tries to make a direct connection to the modern day representations of LGBTQ models in commercial photography but not very effectively. It’s 29 minutes long and I think it could be expanded into a feature length documentary to offer more biographical details and historical context.

Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker premiered at the 2021 AFI Fest as part of their Meet the Press programming.

Posted Documentaries

AFI Fest: Meltdown in Dixie

The confederate flag flies boldly in front of Edisto River Creamery & Kitchen in Orangeburg, South Carolina. In a time when other markers of the South’s confederate past were being torn down, the owner of the creamery sought to take down this confederate flag. However, the flag pole and its commemorative marker sit on a tiny plot of land owned by a vocal member of a local Sons of the Confederacy chapter. Meltdown in Dixie is a short documentary directed by Emily Harold, chronicles the legal battle that ensued between the flag opposer and the flag owner. The creamery is now permanently closed but during filming it was open and struggling with backlash from the local community. The documentary treads very carefully, not casting judgement on either side and giving everyone a platform to speak. If anything it offers an insight into a disturbing mindset that still persists today.

Meltdown in Dixie premiered at the 2021 AFI Fest as part of their Meet the Press programming.

Posted 1 Comment on AFI Fest: Lead Me Home BIPOC

AFI Fest: Lead Me Home

Nobody deserves to be homeless. And yet, the United States is dealing with a serious homelessness crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic and bound to get worse. Directed by Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk, Lead Me Home is an empathetic and eye-opening look at the homelessness situation in three major American cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. It gives a face, a name and a story to these individual facing this crisis. It may not win over those who chose to turn a blind eye to the situation but it will reawaken a sympathetic spirit in those of us who do ultimately care. Lead Me Home is distributed by Netflix and will launch on the service November 30th. I hope this film will be submitted for Academy Award consideration because I think it’s a strong candidate for Best Documentary (Short Subject).

Lead Me Home premiered at the 2021 AFI Fest as part of their Meet the Press programming.

Posted BIPOC

AFI Fest: Golden Age Karate

From a very young age, Jeff Wall showed that he had the chops to be an athlete. When his mom enrolled him in karate classes he thrived. He won pretty much every competition he entered into and quickly moved up the ranks to earn his black belt. It wasn’t enough to just compete, he wanted to share his love with others. In Sindha Agha’s short film Golden Age Karate, we see Wall teach karate to elderly residents at a local nursing home. He empowers his students by teaching them something new and helping them get in tune with their bodies. This delightful and heartfelt documentary short is a glimmer of hope in an era of generational strife.

Golden Age Karate premiered at the 2021 AFI Fest as part of their Meet the Press programming.

Posted BIPOC

How They Got Over: Gospel Quartets and the Road to Rock & Roll

Produced by Robert Clem and Mike Tannen, How They Got Over is a vibrant tribute to the gospel quartets of the early to mid-20th Century. Groups like the Soul Stirrers, Dixie Hummingbirds, Highway QCs and the Blind Boys of Alabama, performed all over the country bringing their energy and exuberant showmanship to eager audiences. Gospel quartets became so incredibly popular especially with their spirited performances, that they went on to  have a major impact on secular music, in particular R&B and Rock and Roll. The same emotion put into a song of worship could easily be transferred to love songs. Some artists like Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin and Lou Rawls got their start in gospel before making the transition over to secular. And once that transition was made, artists were no longer welcomed back into the tight knit world of gospel music.

Gospel quartets and their influence on the energy and style of rock and roll has been overlooked and  How They Got Over seeks to change that. I would have liked to have seen more analysis of the correlations between gospel and rock and roll. Overall the film could have used more structure and a more defined purpose.

With that said, this documentary is a time capsule gem that gives viewers insight into the importance of these black artists and what they brought to the world of music. It boasts plenty of footage of those spirited performances by gospel quartets it’s clear to see how secular musicians, like James Brown and Elvis Presley, fed off that energy and imbued their own performances with it. In addition to a historical timeline of how gospel quartets were born out of spiritual, minstrel and jubilee singers, there are also several interviews with gospel quartet singers who are now no longer with us. A must-see for anyone interested in music history.

How They Got Over hits theaters both live and virtual today. Visit the First Run Features website for more details.
JustWatch.com