Casual in Munich: Sir Isaac Julien is optimistic about the future of black cinema. © Markus Götzfried/Münchner Merkur
The British video artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien presented his TV documentary "Baadasssss Cinema" at the Museum Brandhorst in Munich.
Filmfest München celebrates its 40th birthday this summer. With a whole series of top-class events, they already want to slowly get in the mood for the festival week at the end of June. The event kicked off with an evening with the British video artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien at the Museum Brandhorst. First, his TV documentary "Baadasssss Cinema" about the Blaxploitation cinema was shown. In his critical homage, the 63-year-old sends the audience on a journey back in time to the USA of the early seventies, back to the first black heroes in film history with their ultra-cool style, to afro and action, to driving disco beat and funk with earworm guarantee.
Isaac Julien presented "Baadasssss Cinema" in Munich
Julien's film, although shot in 2002, has lost none of its political significance. On the contrary. For a short time, the focus was on guys like the legendary private detective Shaft in Gordon Parks' film of the same name. But the actor Richard Roundtree received only a ridiculous fee for his work at the time – and the other actors of those productions rarely succeeded in building on these successes after the short blaxploitation wave. In addition, from today's point of view, the films conveyed an extremely cliché-laden image of the black community, full of women who are always ready to have sex and men who work exclusively in the gangster and drug dealer milieu.
Full house at the Museum Brandhorst when the British artist Isaac Julien talks about his work. © Markus Götzfried/Münchner Merkur
With the hope of a future "Black Hollywood", Julien closed his film in 2002. The question of what has become of it more than 20 years later and after mega-productions such as "Black Panther" (2018) was the subject of a lively discussion on Tuesday (May 9, 2023) at the Brandhorst. In view of Oscar films such as "Moonlight" by Barry Jenkins, you can see that there has been change since his film, Julien emphasizes. "Barry is a great director, and I'm sure this young generation of filmmakers will continue to make a splash with their subjects." What he particularly likes about younger people, however, is that traditional binary thinking in fixed categories, which was very decisive for his generation, no longer applies to them.
Initially, Filmfest programme curator Julia Weigl and Monika Bayer-Wermuth from the Museum Brandhorst got the amiable artist on track with well-prepared questions about his cinematic work, installations and exhibitions. But at some point the conversation took on a life of its own, and the Londoner, who was ennobled by the Queen last year and to whom the Tate Gallery has just dedicated a major retrospective, chatted cleverly and charmingly about his work, his motivation and the fact that he had felt like an outsider in many ways in his youth. If you would like to learn more about Isaac Julien's life and work, we recommend the extensive retrospective "Isaac Julien: What Freedom is to me" (Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 208 pages; 49.90 euros).