English Version / Deutsche Version

A COMPLEXION CHANGE
Transnational and Intercultural Diplomacy

"FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND?" - Exhibition
Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre

"A HUMAN EXPERIENCE"
Photographic Exhibition - Visual Documentation

Producer/Director/Curator
Prof. Donald Muldrow Griffith / Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre

July 1 - August 31, 2012
Vernissage, July 1st, 3 pm
Film Presentations: 4 pm (Cinema/Kinosaal)
please click >here< for film program

Rathaus Schöneberg (city hall) foyer
John-F.-Kennedy-Platz, 10825 Berlin-Schöneberg

Opening Remarks
Amir Kaufmann
Norbert Lang
Melitta Manigk
Adrian Shephard
Andrea Siemsen
Siera
Thomas M. Wendt
Ursula Wunder

Footprints in the Sand?
(an exploration - excavation)
Poetry by Ursula Troche
Presentation: Prof. Donald Muldrow Griffith

Admission is without charge.

 

The exhibition documents the history of
Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre

in association with

Prof. Levi Frazier, Jr. - USA
Regina Gerschke - Berlin
Amir Kaufmann - Israel/Berlin
Norbert Lang - Berlin
Galina Likosova - Colombia
Andrea Lippold - Berlin
Melitta Manigk - Berlin
Adrian Shephard - UK/Berlin
Thomas M. Wendt - Berlin
Ursula Wunder - Berlin

Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre was founded by Prof. Donald Muldrow Griffith, Prof. Gayle McKinney Griffith, Lynnda Curry, Ricky Powell and Detlef Bäcker, four American artists and a German colleague, who met in Berlin during 1979 at Theater des Westens and decided to undertake intercultural, interdisciplinary and international productions in dance, theatre, television, workshops, film/video festivals and publications.
This exhibition paints a picture of the activities of various people during their historical contributions to Berlin, elsewhere and hence, the portrait seeks to prevent these undertakings from becoming "Footprints in the Sand?".

 

Film Presentations: 4 pm
(Cinema/Kinosaal)

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An Evening Retrospective with
Black International Cinema Berlin and Friends

BELIEVE: The Barack Obama Story
Director: Thomas A. Hart Jr.
Documentary, Color, 85 min.
USA 2009
English

"Believe: The Barack Obama Story" is a revealing portrait of President Barack Obama: his parents and diverse childhood experiences in Hawaii, years as a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago, and milestone achievement as the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. The documentary highlights his marriage to wife Michelle and family life with their daughters, early political career, winning campaign to become a US Senator and his inspiring speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Finally, the film chronicles his historic campaign to become the 44th President of the United States, culminating in his election night speech and inauguration. The film features interviews and videos with Barack and Michelle Obama, as well as those who have known him from his childhood to those involved in his historic political career. It was filmed across the nation including Hawaii, Chicago and Washington, DC, and has an original music soundtrack with inspirational theme song Do You Believe, arranged and performed by Sounds of Blackness.

KHANEVADEH SALEM / A GOOD FAMILY
Director: Amir Hossein Torabi
Narrative, Color, 6 min.
Iran 2011
Persian with English subtitles

A child creates what he imagines is a good family.

COLORED FRAMES
Director: Lerone D. Wilson
Documentary, Color, 56 min.
USA 2008
English

A look back at the last fifty years of African American art, "Colored Frames" is an unflinching exploration of influences, inspirations and experiences of Black artists. Beginning at the heights of the Civil Rights Era and leading up to the present, it is a naked and truthful look at often ignored artists and their progeny.

VIDEO ART
"Fade up"
"Candygirl"
"Everything makes sense in the reverse"
Director: Miro Mastropasqua
Experimental, Color, 10min.

Three short experimentals exploring the artistry of video clips.

SIDEMAN
Director: Frédéric Baillif
Documentary, Color, 65 min.
Switzerland 2003
English, French with English subtitles

The film is the portrait of a young Swiss American harmonica player living in New York. Grégoire Maret, born in Geneva, is 26 years old. He moved to New York City seven years ago to study the instrument at the New School of New York. He is performing and recording today with great jazz and fusion music artists. Grégoire Maret is also a very touching person who speaks about his work in a very passionate and humble way. The film relates his life from August 2001 to April 2002, between a recovering New York City and a relaxing Switzerland.

TROTHA TRIFFT...
Director: Ulrich von Trotha
Documentary, Color, 30 min.
Germany, 2010
German

Ulrich von Trotha in a conversation with Prof. Dr. Sebastian Nordmann, director of the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin.

THE EDGE OF EACH OTHER'S BATTLES: THE VISION OF AUDRE LORDE
Director: Dr. Jennifer Abod
Documentary, Color/B/W, 60 min.
U.S.A. 2006
English

This powerful documentary is a moving tribute to the legendary Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992). One of the most celebrated icons of feminism's second wave, Lorde inspired several generations of activities with her riveting poetry, serving as a catalyst for change and uniting the communities of which she was a part: Black arts and Black liberation, Women's liberation and Lesbian and Gay liberation. Nowhere was this more apparent than the groundbreaking "I Am Your Sister Conference" which brought together 1200 activists from 23 countries to use Lorde's work to address transcultural understandings of race, gender, sexuality and class. Through candid interviews with conference organizers, impassioned speeches and thrilling footage of the inimitable Lorde herself, "The Edge Of Each Other's Battles" brings Lorde's legacy of poetry and politics to life and conveys the spirit, passion and intensity that remains her trademark.

MOMENTS OF AWAKENINGS
Director: Amir Kaufmann
Narrative, Color, 23 min.
Germany 2008

One man, one artist, with a shaking path of awakenings...

IDA B. WELLS - A PASSION FOR JUSTICE
Director: William Greaves
Documentary, Color, 54 min.
USA 1989
English

With readings by Pulitzer-Prize-Winning author Toni Morrison, this work documents the life and times of Ida B. Wells, the pioneering African American journalist, activist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader of the late 19th and early 20th century. For 40 years Wells´ stature in Black America was equal to that of such leaders as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois.

A MAN WITHOUT LIMITS
Production: Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre & Pol-Tel
Direction: Dr. Ntongela Masilela
Documentary, Color, 30 min.
Poland/Germany 1988
English

Documents Europe's first Black Cultural Festival, produced and directed by Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre, March 3-23, 1986 in Berlin, Germany. The venues were the Theatermanufaktur am Helleschen Ufer from March 3-16, music - dance - theatre; Hochschule der Künste Berlin on March 11, symposium; Kino Arsenal from March 17-23, film. Organisation and artistic direction: Prof. Gayle McKinney Griffith, Prof. Donald Muldrow Griffith, Donald Muldrow McKinney Griffith II, Dr. Ntongela Masilela (South Africa); in cooperation with: Prof. Dr. Abdul Alkalimat (USA), Uazuvara Ewald Katjivena (Namibia), Getinet Belay (Ethiopia), Joliba Africa Center; organisation assistance: Annette Koschmieder. Awarded "Best Film 1988" by the Polish Commission for Film Arts.

I DREAM A WORLD
Production: Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre & Pol-Tel
Direction: Tomasz Lewinski
Documentary, Color, 24 min.
Poland/Germany 1988
English

A portrait of a multi-cultural, ethnic gathering of dancers, teachers and their communication during the cultural event "Dance & Sport" in Arezzo, Italy, July 12-26, 1987, produced and directed by Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre. Awarded "Best Film 1988" by the Polish Commission for Film Arts.

" 'round Midnight ??? Show "

JAMES BROWN: THE MAN, THE MUSIC & THE MESSAGE
Director: Thomas A. Hart Jr.
Documentary, Color, 75 min.
USA 2007
English

"James Brown: The Man, The Music & The Message" is an inspiring and entertaining program about the remarkable life of "The Godfather of Soul". Hosted by television veteran Dick Cavett, this definitive biography features up-close and personal interviews with the legendary entertainer, as well as his great music, stirring concert performances and major events in his life. The program also features interviews and appearances by an impressive list of music celebrities, including Dick Clark, Michael Jackson, Little Richard, Bobby Brown, MC Hammer and more. Mr. Brown often said, "This film is the best one ever done on me."

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"FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND?"

The lessons of history arrive in the form of personal experiences, books, media presentations, paintings, architecture and so on.

How these materials are interpreted and perhaps, through the ages, re-interpreted assuming the information is included, varies according to the group or the individual perspective, interests, socio-economic influences and opportunities.

As we pass through the formal educational process, we are informed of histories; others and ours.

It generally requires an enlightened mentor or parent to point out what is overlooked in the presentation of history, so earnestly injected into our academic and formative education.

Many years ago, as this awareness of history's exceptions were realized, my parents, John Willis Griffith, Edith Paulina Griffith, and my mentor, Oscar Brown Jr., pointed out the necessity for assuming responsibility and making sacrifices necessary to enlighten shadows and fill empty historical spaces.

So, the development of information, awareness, heightened sensibility and maturation leads to inevitable conclusions.

Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre from inception in 1980, remains an initiative and institution for the documentation and preservation of the existence and contributions of individuals and groups, to the societies in which they and we reside.

We are participants in the process of embedding in memories and stone, what previously might have been, "Footprints in the Sand?".

Prof. Donald Muldrow Griffith
Fountainhead® Tanz Theatre
Berlin Germany 2010

"Footprints in the Sand?" 2011 - Visual Impressions

MOTTOES "I may not make it if I try, but I damn sure won´t if I don´t..." Oscar Brown Jr. "Mankind will either find a way or make one." C.P. Snow "Whatever you do..., be cool!" Joseph Louis Turner "Yes, I can...!" Sammy Davis Jr. "Yes, We can...!" Barack Obama
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