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For Immediate Release Contact: Larsen Associates |
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For Immediate Release Contact: Larsen Associates |
SAN FRANCISCO- Frameline is proud to present the 2002 Frameline Award to the pioneering filmmaker and artist Isaac Julien. The award was presented to Julien on Saturday, May 4 at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at the opening of "The Film Art of Isaac Julien," the first major collection of Julien’s media installation work. Julien returns to San Francisco for a retrospective of his films at the 26th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, which runs from June 13-June 30, 2002.
Born in 1960, Isaac Julien was a young filmmaker just bursting onto the scene as the New Queer Cinema movement of the late 1980s was taking off. After graduating from Central St. Martin’s School of Art in 1984, Julien and several other filmmakers started Sankofa, a filmmaking collective dedicated to investigating the representations of Black characters in cinema, through the lens of class, masculinity and sexuality. After two acclaimed short films (TERRITORIES and THIS IS NOT AN AIDS ADVERTISEMENT), Julien gained international attention and acclaim for his documentary LOOKING FOR LANGSTON, exploring the queer legacy of African-American poet and author Langston Hughes. In 1991, Julien made his feature film debut with the popular and groundbreaking YOUNG SOUL REBELS, chronicling the lives of young gay Black men in the London music scene. YOUNG SOUL REBELS went on to receive the Cannes Film Festival Critics Week Prize.
Having established himself as the pre-eminent Black gay filmmaker of the time, Isaac Julien set his sights on bigger statements. THE ATTENDANT, his follow-up to YOUNG SOUL REBELS, is a challenging and eye-opening examination of the roles of Black men in the art world. At the same time, Julien was ensuring the presence of gay Black men in the dialog of gay rights through two television projects. He directed the documentary BLACK AND WHITE IN COLOUR and produced the PBS documentary THE QUESTION OF EQUALITY. His most recent film is BAADASSSSS CINEMA, a documentary about blaxploitation film that will screen on the Independent Film Channel this fall.
Julien’s recent work has leapt off the big screen and into galleries around the world, and he was recently short-listed for Britain’s prestigious Turner Award for his work. His installation work explores the use of multiple screens to fracture and re-arrange narrative and further investigate the representation of Black men.
One trilogy juxtaposes his short THE ATTENDANT with two other museum-set shorts, TRUSSED and THREE (THE CONSERVATOR’S DREAM). His latest work, THE LONG ROAD TO MAZATLAN, is a collaboration with Venezuelan choreographer Javier De Frutos that explores the mythic codes of sexuality in the West.
26th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival will present a retrospective of Julien’s key works, along with an on-stage interview and a preview of his newest documentary. The onstage interview will occur on June 26 at the Herbst Theatre, and will be accompanied by the films THE LONG ROAD TO MAZATLAN, VAGABONDIA, and THIS IS NOT AN AIDS ADVERTISEMENT, as well as sneak preview of Julien’s newest documentary. The Festival will also screen such notable Julien titles as YOUNG SOUL REBELS, LOOKING FOR LANGSTON, and FRANTZ FANON:BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASK.
Isaac Julien is currently teaching film theory as a Visiting Professor in the African-American Studies program at Harvard University and is a visiting lecturer with the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program, as well as serving as a research fellow of fine arts with Oxford Brookes University. Julien lives and works in London, where he acts as Trustee of the Serpentine Gallery.
The annual Frameline Award recognizes filmmakers who have made a significant contribution to lesbian and gay media arts. Previous recipients include Barbara Hammer, Marlon Riggs, Stanley Kwan, Christine Vachon, Marcus Hu and Peter Adair. At the 25th edition of the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, the Frameline Award was given to the founders who started Frameline in 1976.
The Film Art of Isaac Julien at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
From May 4 through July 14, 2002, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts presents the West Coast debut of new work by Isaac Julien. Incorporating themes of sexuality and race, Julien expands conventional cinematic strategies of narrative and beauty to explore and subvert stereotypical portrayals of gay and black subjects. The Film Art of Isaac Julien features film and video installations, including a trilogy comprising multiple-screen projections and related photography. This exhibition has been organized by the Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is the Bay Area's premier venue for adventurous contemporary art. Located in the heart of San Francisco's vibrant new cultural, entertainment, and commercial district, the Center celebrates our area's cultural diversity with dynamic visual, performing, and media arts programs presented in world-class venues. YBCA's two-building visual and performing arts complex is located on Third Street between Mission and Howard. The Galleries, Forum, Screening Room, Box Office, and Seven01 Cafe are at 701 Mission Street at Third, and the Theater is at 700 Howard Street at Third.
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The 26th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, screening June 13-30 at the Castro Theater (429 Castro Street), Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Avenue) and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (700 Howard Street) is the oldest and largest event of its kind in the world.
Advance tickets are available at the Festival Ticket Outlet located in The SF LGBT Community Center at 1800 Market Street in San Francisco. The Festival Ticket Outlet opens to the general public on Friday May 31. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.frameline.org, phone (925-866-9559), fax (925-866-9597) or mail (SFILGFF, PO Box 2229, Danville, CA 94526). For more information on the Festival and how to purchase tickets call the 24-hour hotline at (925) 866-9559 and/or visit the Festival online at http://www.frameline.org/festival.
The San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival is presented by Frameline, a non-profit lesbian and gay media organization, dedicated to the support, development and promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer visibility through media arts.