Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
| Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Thomas Allen Harris |
| Produced by | Thomas Allen Harris Ann Bennett Don Perry Deborah Willis Kimberly Steward |
| Screenplay by | Thomas Allen Harris Paul Carter Harrison Don Perry |
| Based on |
Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present by Deborah Willis |
| Music by | Miles Jay Vernon Reid |
| Cinematography | Martina Radwan |
| Edited by | Matthew Cohn K.A. Miille |
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Production
company |
Chimpanzee Productions
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| Distributed by | First Run Features |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $16,618 |
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People is a 2014 documentary film directed by Thomas Allen Harris. It is inspired by Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present by Deborah Willis, who also produced the film. The film had its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014.
The film later screened at 64th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2014. The film also screened at 2014 Santa Barbara International Film Festival on 5 February 2014. It won the Justice Award at the festival. The film had a theatrical release on August 27, 2014 in United States.
The film narrates how African Americans have used camera to bring social changes.
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 54% of 13 film critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.3 out of 10.
Zeba Blay in her review for Indiewire said that "It shows us the disturbing lynch photographs and minstrel illustrations in all their startling, horrific detail. But it also counterbalances them with countless photos of black people by black people, pictures from family albums all the way to the professional work of some of the most seminal black photographers in America. There’s an understanding that the lynch photos, the regal pictures of Booker T. Washington and Sojourner Truth, the images of Carrie Mae Weems staring straight into the camera in her Kitchen Table Series, all lie on a continuum. They’re happening now. And its through these images we’re privy to a secret history of the black photographer and the black subject, a history reaching far back into the past and shining a light on those who paved the way for everyone, all of us, to affirm our own identities through the images we take of ourselves and each other." Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a positive review by saying that, "Though a tad uneven, as a whole the documentary cannily juggles an overview of African-American history in general with the specifics of its photographic representation and talents."
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Wikipedia