It hasn't escaped my attention that, in a quirk of programming, Sundance officials have scheduled press screenings for nearly every black film in the festival on a single day: today. That today also happens to be the first day of press screenings -- as well as a day where most press and industry people are still flying into Park City -- might be grist for The Black List, a new documentary by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Elvis Mitchell. The film, a series of interviews with over twenty black luminaries (including Toni Morrison, Chris Rock, and Colin Powell), is an inspiring document that gets at the heart -- and conflict -- of being a minority. Many of its talking heads openly wish for a day when they'll be considered as a "person" instead of just a "black person," but at the same time, their distinct cultural identity is paramount. As minorities, can we have our cake and eat it too? Why, the film asks, shouldn't we try?
The presentation is bare-bones (the soothing music, clever edits, and monochromatic background sometimes suggest a Mac ad), but the discussion is meaty. The guitarist Slash discusses his mixed-race background and his discomfort with bandmate Axl Rose's bigoted line from Guns 'N' Roses' "One in a Million": "Immigrants and faggots/They make no sense to me." Louis Gossett Jr. rails against the Hollywood system that failed to reward him after his Academy Award win and the director who toned down a love scene he appeared in, claiming that the black actor was "all lips." It's a shame that only one LGBT figure was included -- with no mention of his sexuality -- but he's a significant figure that the film gives its final interview to: the acclaimed, Tony-winning dancer Bill T. Jones. Jones invokes early gay pioneers like James Baldwin (who he calls "eloquent and soft") and asks, "Authenticity, identity, love, faith -- what is identity?" In this smart, succinct film, that's a question that may never be answered -- but why shouldn't we try?
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