Conversations with Roy DeCarava
Moments in Time
•
28m
Directed by Carroll Parrot Blue • Documentary • 1984 • 28 minutes
'It starts before you snap the shutter... It starts with your sense of what's important.' These are the words of Roy DeCarava, one of the foremost photographic artists of the twentieth century, contributor to the Family of Man exhibit and the first black photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. These are the words of a man who focuses his lens, sensitivities and conscience on the life, tempo and sensibilities of black people and the contemporary urban environment.
CONVERSATIONS WITH ROY DECARAVA examines his life and work, and features appearances by internationally noted photographer Ansel Adams, photography critic A.D. Coleman, and the executive director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell. It deftly interweaves 108 of DeCarava's black and white stills with a portrait of the artist discussing his life, past struggles, his efforts to foster young black photographers, and the relationship of his work to the black experience in America. DeCarava's unforgettable images have immortalized the jazz world through his photographs of contemporaries Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Roy Haynes and others.
DeCarava's vision depicts a world of contrasts; a people of power and delicacy, strength and resilience. It's a private vision, publicly expressed through his words, life and work.
"As unpretentious and sensitive as the black artist whose story it so eloquently tells... An important record of a quietly influential life in art." —Suzanne Muchnic, Los Angeles Times
Up Next in Moments in Time
-
Journal de France
Directed by Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougaret • Documentary • 2012 • 100 minutes
Travelling alone, internationally acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Raymond Depardon spent six years capturing his home country with a large format camera. This long, solitary road trip provided fertile grou...
-
Remembrance of Things to Come
Directed by Chris Marker, Yannick Bellon • Documentary • 2001 • 42 minutes
Chris Marker's "cine-essay" is dense and demanding, a splendid reminder of the agility, poetry, and power of his nimble, capacious mind.
Ostensibly a portrait of photographer Denise Bellon, focusing on the two decades be...
-
Sermons and Sacred Pictures
Directed by Lynne Sachs • Documentary • 2004 • 29 minutes
In association with the Center for Southern Folklore, SERMONS AND SACRED PICTURES profiles Reverend L.O. Taylor, a Memphis-based Baptist minister who in the 1930s and 40s built a fiery reputation by lacing his sermons with parables, fable...