Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
Director: Thomas Allen Harris
Logline: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People is a two-hour documentary film and multimedia project that explores the ways black communities have learned to use the medium of photography to construct political, aesthetic and cultural representations of themselves and their world.
Synopsis: Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People is a feature length, two-hour documentary and multimedia outreach project that explores how African American communities have used the medium of photography to construct political, aesthetic and cultural representations of themselves and their world. With funding from the Ford Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and the National Black Programming Consortium, this ground-breaking project will be the first film to vividly bring to life the individual photographers and photographer collectives- both anonymous and celebrated, historical and contemporary – whose images and personalities helped define and transform the lives of African Americans through the magic and power of the camera lens. After working on this project for six years, we are now seeking funds for post-production and completion. Because this project has such a rich visual field of photography as well as a large historical scope, a significant part of the budget is allocated to licensing fees as well as the scanning and animation of the photographs and archival materials.