Oscar Micheaux—the “Spike Lee” of 1920s Cinema—documentary & silent feature to screen by Truth First Film Alliance at The Last Picture House

Oscar Micheaux portrait by artist Bruce Walters.

An Illinois-born pioneer independent filmmaker and former Iowa resident’s story will be revealed onscreen in the feature-length documentary “Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking” on Sunday, March 22 at 2 p.m. at The Last Picture House 325 E. 2nd Street, Davenport. A virtual post-screening discussion follows with special guest historian Jordan Bell, from Roanoke, Virginia.

Micheaux’s 1920 silent film “Within our Gates” will screen at 4:15 p.m. Admittance to this special event is FREE. Seating for both shows is limited.

Truth First Film Alliance, Inc. is pleased to join with sponsors Azubuike African American Council for the Arts, Friends of MLK, Inc., the RockIsland County NAACP Chapter 3268B, the QC Area Film Office and the NorthwestIllinois Film Office to present these important Black history films.

Directed by Francisco Zippel, the documentary “Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking” (2021) features on-camera interviews with Morgan Freeman, John Singleton, Chuck D, Amma Asante, Haskel Wexler, Kevin Willmott, and other film luminaries, discussing the extraordinary achievements and contemporary legacy of Micheaux and his films.

Born in 1884 in Metropolis, Illinois Oscar Micheaux, became a prolific writer, authoring seven novels and was the first major Black American filmmaker to write, direct and produce independent feature films showing contemporary black life, challenging black stereotypes, and opposing racial injustice.

He founded the Micheaux Film & Book Company in Sioux City, Iowa and in 1919 produced his first silent film “The Homesteader” based on his self-published first novel “The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer.”

Sometimes considered to be his response to D.W. Griffith’s controversial 1915 “Birth of a Nation,” Micheaux wrote, directed, and produced his second film “Within Our Gates”, a silent film that portrays the contemporary racial injustice in the United States during the Jim Crow years, and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan. The film was heavily censored upon release in 1920 due to its raw portrayal of white supremacy and interracial sexual violence. It is the oldest surviving film by a Black film director. Once thought to be lost, the Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center restored the film from a single print discovered in Spain.

From 1923 to 1925 Micheaux operated out of Roanoke, Virginia living and working on Henry Street in the historic Gainsboro neighborhood. At the time Gainsboro was an active participant in the global Harlem Renaissance, and Micheaux played a crucial part in that, producing eight films for Black audiences at a time when they were prohibited from going to see more mainstream fare at white theaters.

Jordan Bell, Historian.

"During that time, he was just an entrepreneur filmmaker that was making films. But now, he's recognized around the world for his films," said Jordan Bell, a Gainsboro historian. 

Micheaux went on to produce 44 films between 1919 and 1948 (silent and sound), reaching audiences throughout the U.S., as well as internationally.

“I use my films to help elevate the race,” Oscar Micheaux once said. “I have always tried to lay before the colored race a cross section of its own life, to view the colored heart from close range.”

“Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking” will screen Sunday, March 22, 2:00 p.m. in the main theater of The Last Picture House, 325 E. 2^nd Street in Davenport, Iowa. The special post-screening discussion with historian Jordan Bell from Roanoke, Virginia will follow the documentary. Micheaux’s rare 1920 silent film “Within our Gates” will screen at 4:15 p.m. in the small theater--seating is first come first served.

      

Truth First Film Alliance, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports and encourages the production and exhibition of documentary films, and narrative films based on true stories, through public presentations and educational programs in the Quad Cities region. For more information, visit TruthFirstFilmAlliance.org.