The racist knick-knacks in your grandma's attic? This doc goes THERE.
Filmmaker Chico Colvard investigates the propagation of demeaning representations of African-Americans. From industrial China to the rural American south to contemporary Brooklyn, we observe the people and places that reproduce, consume and reclaim BLACK MEMORABILIA. This feature documentary takes us on a journey into the material culture of racialized artifacts and confronts us with the incendiary features of these objects. BLACK MEMORABILIA also moves beyond perverse attractions and absolute objections to collectibles and antiques that serve as reminders of America's troubled racial history. In the midst of roiling ethnic unrest in the US today, the film's confrontation of our feelings about these objects strikes at the heart of a pressing contemporary issue and opens a unique dialogue about the continuing legacy of racism in America.
Direction
Colvard refuses easy answers; lets contradictions breathe.
Production
China-to-Mississippi scope on indie doc budget.
Director
Chico Colvard
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Black memorabilia collecting exploded in the 1970s when Black historians began preserving artifacts white collectors discarded.
Colvard originally intended a narrower film about one collector; the China thread emerged when he discovered global manufacturing continues producing these items for export.
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