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Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

  • 20142014
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
178
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • IMDbPro
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014)
Trailer for Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
Play trailer2:03
1 Video
5 Photos
  • Documentary
  • Family
  • History

A film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. This epic tale poetically moves betwe... Read allA film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. This epic tale poetically moves between the present and the past, through contemporary photographers and artists whose images a... Read allA film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. This epic tale poetically moves between the present and the past, through contemporary photographers and artists whose images and stories seek to reconcile legacies of pride and shame while giving voice to images long... Read all

IMDb RATING
7.0/10
178
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Thomas Allen Harris
  • Writers
    • Thomas Allen Harris
    • Paul Carter Harrison
    • Don Perry
  • Stars
    • Arthé Anthony
    • Anthony Barboza
    • Hugh Bell
Top credits
  • Director
    • Thomas Allen Harris
  • Writers
    • Thomas Allen Harris
    • Paul Carter Harrison
    • Don Perry
  • Stars
    • Arthé Anthony
    • Anthony Barboza
    • Hugh Bell
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
    • 64Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 3 nominations

    Videos1

    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
    Trailer 2:03
    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

    Photos

    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014)
    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014)
    Thomas Allen Harris in Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014)
    Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Arthé Anthony
    • Selfas Self
    Anthony Barboza
    • Selfas Self
    Hugh Bell
    • Selfas Self
    David G. Berger
    • Selfas Self
    Dawoud Bey
    • Selfas Self
    Sheila Pree Bright
    • Selfas Self
    Marcus Bruce
    • Selfas Self
    Michael Chambers
    • Selfas Self
    Albert Chong
    • Selfas Self
    Lisa Gail Collins
    • Selfas Self
    Bridget Cooks
    • Selfas Self
    Adger W. Cowans
    • Selfas Self
    Renee Cox
    • Selfas Self
    C. Daniel Dawson
    • Selfas Self
    Roy DeCarava
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Jonathan Eubanks
    • Selfas Self
    Delphine Fawundu-Buford
    • Selfas Self
    Cheryl Finley
    • Selfas Self
    • Director
      • Thomas Allen Harris
    • Writers
      • Thomas Allen Harris
      • Paul Carter Harrison
      • Don Perry
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

    Storyline

    Edit
    A film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. This epic tale poetically moves between the present and the past, through contemporary photographers and artists whose images and stories seek to reconcile legacies of pride and shame while giving voice to images long suppressed, forgotten, and hidden from sight. —Anonymous
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Genres
      • Documentary
      • Family
      • History
    • Parents guide
      • Add content advisory

    User reviews4

    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    Black American "family photo album" marred by narrow focus
    "Through a Lens Darkly" presents fascinating images of Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass in abolitionist propaganda portraits, and of black Union soldiers and black Reconstruction legislators, to support the idea that photography allowed black people to represent themselves and counter racist stereotypes. The film's organizing concept is inherently an elitist and limiting one, however, with an increasingly narrow focus on the few who could afford to have the camera record their accomplishments and their prosperity.

    The labor of slaves, sharecroppers and then millions of industrial workers made possible the country's development and the black elite's rise. Yet black labor as a huge social force is airbrushed from this director's "emergence of a people." There's no trace of the growing class conflict between owners and workers, black and white, that fueled racist pogromism. There's little representation of overwhelming black poverty, little of black struggle. In the film, lynching is "answered" by black moral outrage but there's hardly any record of anti-lynch journalist Ida Wells. The most basic social realities are ignored and a vaguely nationalist sensibility is imposed on a necessarily incoherent parade of icons, with no hint of what these icons stood for politically.

    There are some pictures of nationalist Marcus Garvey, few of accommodationist M.L. King. Photogenic and photography-promoting B.T. Washington gets a bit more time than W.E.B. DuBois, with nothing to indicate that the former promoted black menial training and subservience to white rule while the latter challenged him from the left and fought for black civil rights. Similarly, pictures of Black Panthers and Malcolm X share a segment with the March on the Washington, though they considered it a farce.

    Elitism and nationalism are a blindfold. Is it progress that a black filmmaker can be just as self-absorbed and socially clueless as any white director? Maybe. But one might have hoped that a black creative intellectual, as an outsider, would bring a wide-angle lens to bear on our hardly post-racial society.

    Rita Freed
    helpful•3
    6
    • freeds
    • Sep 12, 2014

    Details

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    • Release date
      • January 17, 2014 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • First Run Features (United States)
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Production companies
      • K Period Media
      • Through a Lens Darkly
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross US & Canada
      • $65,169
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $9,456
      • Aug 31, 2014
    • Gross worldwide
      • $65,169
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
      • Black and White

    Related news

    Crowdfund This: Thomas Allen Harris Looks to Bring 'Through A Lens Darkly' & Black Photography History to Schools
    Mar 10ShadowAndAct
    Watch 'Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers & the Emergence of a People' Online Now, Through March 8
    Feb 19ShadowAndAct

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