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Last updated October 2001
The films and videorecordings listed below are owned by York University Libraries and available for academic use by the York University community.
Requests for these materials can be made in writing, by telephone, or in person to the
Sound & Moving Image LibraryFall/Winter Hours: Summer Hours: Monday - Thursday 9 am - 9 pm Monday - Thursday 9 am - 7 pm Friday 9 am - 8 pm Friday 9 am - 5 pm Saturday & Sunday noon - 5 pm Closed Weekends
Please note the following abbreviations:
MP : 16mm film
VC : VHS videotape
VC 3/4 : 3/4" videotape
AND THE DISH RAN AWAY WITH THE SPOON 50 min. 1992 VC #4829 Banyan Television Ltd. Poetry, interviews, music and clips from television shows highlight the effect of American television on local cultures. Looks at Cuba's attempts to produce local programs, and the response to this from the United States by introducing the anti-Castro station TV Marti. ART OF DARKNESS 52 min. 1991 VC #2570 Central TV Art historian David Dabydeen describes how eighteenth century painting romanticized the servitude of plantation slaves. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CARIBBEAN EYE SERIES: Banyan Television Ltd. 1. COMMUNITY CELEBRATION 28 min. 1991 VC #2774 Explains how folk festivals maintain a sense of community among the region's diverse cultural groups. 2. INDIGENOUS SURVIVORS 28 min. 1991 VC #2981 Describes the efforts made by the indigenous populations of Guyana, Trinidad, St. Vincent, Dominica and Belize towards cooperation, exchange and united action. 3. MUSIQUE ANTILLEAN 28 min. 1991 VC #2982 Surveys the roots and current forms of French Caribbean music and its influence on calypso and other folk music of the region. 4. PAN CARIBBEAN 28 min. 1991 VC# 2983 Describes the evolution of the steelpan musical instrument, the only acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century, and its world-wide use in popular, jazz and classical music. 5. DRAMATIC ACTIONS 28 min. 1991 VC# 2775 Gives examples of Caribbean drama ranging from folk festival characterizations to formal stage productions and social action theatre. 6. TALK AND MORE TALK 28 min. 1991 VC# 2776 Focuses on the region's oral culture. 7. INDEPENDENT VOICES 28 min. 1991 VC# 2777 Profiles five writers whose works serve as manifestoes for Caribbean independence. 8. WOMEN IN ACTION 28 min. 1991 VC# 2778 Projects underway in Dominica, Jamaica and Guyana illustrate how women are the prime movers in the region's "informal" economy. 9. CARIBBEAN CARNIVALS 28 min. 1991 VC# 2984 Opens with the Trinidad Carnival, and then visits other carnivals, looking at their unique forms but shared purpose, the liberation of the spirit. 10. VISIONARIES 28 min. 1991 VC# 2779 Four visual artists who prefer large scale formats comment on their work. 11. GAMES WE PLAY 28 min. 1991 VC# 2985 Looks at children's games and the adult games of daughts in Barbados, dominoes in Dominica, All Fours in Trinidad, Warri in Antigua and cricket. Questions the low involvement of women in games. 12. SOCA, SOUL TO SALE 28 min. 1991 VC #2986 Soca music is the latest version of the calypso to impact on international markets. This program traces its history and the many forms it has taken. 13. FILM CARIBBEAN 28 min. 1991 VC# 2987 Outlines the growth of Caribbean film production, reviewing some of the best of what has been done and what the future holds for Caribbean film-making. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CYCLES 17 min. 1989 VC #3967 Zeinabu Irene Davis Rasheeda Allen is waiting for her period, a state of anticipation familiar to all women. This experimental film draws on Caribbean folklore, uses animation and live action to discover a language unique to African American women. COCONUT/CANE & CUTLASS 30 min. 1994 VC #4524 Michelle Mohabeer Poetic rumination on exile, displacement and national identity from the perspective of an Indo-Caribbean lesbian who migrated to Canada twenty years ago. COLUMBUS AND THE AGE OF DISCOVERY 4. WORLDS LOST AND FOUND 58 min. 1991 VC #2380 Sailboat retraces the route of Columbus' first voyage, starting at San Salvador, through the Bahamas to Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, searching for the Caribbean Columbus saw, and finding the changes left in his wake. FOLKWAYS VIDEO ANTHOLOGY OF MUSIC AND DANCE OF THE AMERICAS 4. THE CARIBBEAN 60 min. 1995 VC #3623 JVC/Smithsonian The Caribbean ids represented by a large number of examples from 14 countries that reveal the richness and variety of the musical cultures of the region. PANTOMIME 26 min. 1991 VC# 2811 Thames TV Adaptation of the Derek Walcott play which explores relations between blacks and whites in the post-colonial world. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PORTRAIT OF THE CARIBBEAN, PROGRAM 1 and 2 120 min. 1991 VC #2902 Barraclough Carey Prod. 1. IRON IN THE SOUL: A look at the history and the legacy of slavery in the Caribbean; excerpts from a Jamaican plantation overseer's diary present a graphic account of slaves' lives. 2. OUT OF AFRICA: A sense of Africa pervades the Caribbean, but in Haiti it feels like Africa itself. The history and culture of Haiti and Jamaica are compared. PORTRAIT OF THE CARIBBEAN, PROGRAM 3 and 4 120 min. 1991 VC #2903 Barraclough Carey Prod. 3. PARADISE LOST: The Spanish legacy in the Caribbean is examined, with a look at life in the Dominican Republic. 4. LA GRANDE ILLUSION: The identity crisis faced by Martinique and the French Caribbean is examined - do they belong to the Caribbean or to the economy of Europe? PORTRAIT OF THE CARIBBEAN, PROGRAM 5, 6 and 7 180 min. 1991 VC #2904 Barraclough Carey Prod. 5. WORLDS APART: East Indians are the largest single population in Guyana and Trinidad. The influence of their strong cultural identity in examined. 6. FOLLOWING FIDEL: Life in Cuba under the Communist regime of Fidel Castro offers contrasts in improved education but inadequate housing. However, some of the population prefer this to the former dependence on America. 7. SHADES OF FREEDOM: A Caribbean identity cannot be found by simply discovering the past. Host Stuart Hall visits Jamaica and Antigua in search of the new Caribbean identity. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - REPERCUSSIONS: A CELEBRATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES 6. CARIBBEAN CRUCIBLE 60 min. 1984 VC #1583 Third Eye Prod. Shows the complex ties of the music of coastal West Africa to that of Europe. THE WOMEN TRADE 50 min. 1992 VC #3323 British Broadcasting Corporation Exposes the women trade-women from poor countries tricked into becoming prostitutes in European clubs. Follows the women trade from recruitment in the Caribbean to the vice clubs of a Dutch- based gang.
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THE GARIFUNA JOURNEY 46 min. 1998 VC #6094 Andrea E. Leland/Kathy L. Berger Presents the rich culture and fascinating trajectory of the Garifuna, descendents of Carib Indians and Africans who successfully resisted slavery.
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BLACK SUGAR 57 min. 1988 VC #0052 National Film Board of Canada Documents the inhumane conditions encountered by Haitian workers who harvest the sugar cane in the Dominican Republic.
GRENADA, CARIACOU AND PETIT MARTINIQUE: THE FUTURE COMING TOWARDS US 60 min. 1983 VC #1474 Caribbean Resource Inst. Recounts Grenada's experience with colonial rule, the oppressive government of Eric Gairy in the 1970's and the revolutionary approach of the late Maurice Bishop which sought to create a form of participatory democracy and came under attack from the Reagan administration.
BREAKNG LEAVES 30 min. 1998 VC #1080 Karen Kramer In the Haitian countryside, where people have little access to doctors, hospitals, or conventional medicine, peasants have learned to use local leaves, herbs, and therapeutic massage as a way of curing simple ailments, BITTER CANE 75 min. 1983 VC #2514 Haiti Films An in-depth look at the history and modern realities of the Haitian society and agricultural practices. HAITI, COUP DE GRACE? 82 min. 1995 VC #4229 Crowning Roosters Arts With the second U.S. occupation, terror is replaced by a narcosis in which Haiti is presented as a model of New World Order, with President Aristide once the priest of the poor, but now a cherished symbol of neo-liberal American policy. Agendas are now set by the World Bank and the U.S.A.I.D. HAITI IN ALL OUR DREAMS 54 min. 1995 VC #5680 InformAction, Equipage Driven into exile by the Duvalier dictatorship in 1959, Haiti's great poet Rene Depestre finally settles in France to write of the Haiti of his dreams. One day his niece Michaelle Jean comes to tell him Haiti awaits his return.
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ALMOST CANADIAN/TROUBLE IN PARADISE 25 min. 1994 VC #3561 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Explores the problems faced by Jamaican Canadian landed immigrants with the deportation of criminal non-citizens from Canada and the United States. Deportees face resentment in Jamaica, and this, as well as a poor economic situation, makes their integration into Jamaican society difficult. BEATS OF THE HEART SERIES ROOTS, ROCK, REGGAE 52 min. 1977 VC 4001 Jeremy Marre Inside the Jamaican music scene from the Trenchtown ghetto to the hills behind Kingston where followers of Rastafari sing hymns. Features performances, interviews, and studio scenes with Bob Marley and others. DANCEHALL QUEEN 96 min. 1997 VC Feature Don Letts/Rick Elgood Home use - no classroom rights Marcia, a humble Kingston street vendor struggling to survive as a single mother, finds a way to a better life through the dancehall. DARKER SIDE OF BLACK 55 min. 1994 VC #1246 Isaac Julien Moving between New York City, Kingston Jamaica and London, the film investigates the social and political influences of rap and reggae music. FORWARD TOGETHER 58 min. 1976 MP #3240-3241 Les Films Sur Place Reveals the plans of Michael Manley, leader of the People's National Party, to change the country's economic structure through democratic socialism. JAMAICAN ART 25 min. 1978 MP #2144 Lloyd Reckford Influenced by European teaching and tradition, Jamaican painters are developing a style based on the country's social and political life. LAND OF LOOK BEHIND 88 min. 1982 VC #4849 Alan Greenberg A documentary of the funeral of Bob Marley that becomes a visionary poem on the lives of the Jamaican people. It adds to the viewers' knowledge of reggae and the Rastafarians Sect that springs from it. MISS AMY AND MISS MAY 40 min. 1990 VC #2335 Sistren Women's Theatre Group A docudrama about Jamaican activists Amy Bailey, daughter of black country school teachers, and May Farquharson, daughter of white plantation gentry, who crossed racial and class boundaries to campaign together for pensions for the elderly, care for homeless children, birth control for women and equal employment opportunities for all. NO TIME TO STOP: STORIES OF IMMIGRANT AND VISIBLE MINORITY WOMEN 29 min. 1990 VC #2268 National Film Board of Canada Angela Williams from Jamaica is one of three educated women who tell how they are forced into low paying jobs in Canada. POCOMANIA: A LITTLE MADNESS 22 min. 1968 VC #0441 British Broadcasting System Shows the life of one pocomaniac, a member of one of the strongest of the many cult groups in Jamaica. POETRY, TALK AND TING: AN EVENING WTIH LOUISE BENNETT 90 min. 1991 VC #3633 York University Louise Bennett, noted Jamaican poet and folklorist, explores the themes that have been basic to her writing. Part reminiscence, part drama, "Miss Lou" explores the Jamaican language, the colonial and post-colonial experience, and the value of stories passed down from ancestors. ROCK & ROLL SERIES 9. PUNK 60 min. 1995 VC #3943 Don Letts Explores two late '70s musical innovations that shaped rock and roll punk and reggae. Members of the Wailers and the Clash recall how Jamaican reggae crossed international boundaries deeply influencing punk and pop rock. STRONG JAMAICANS, STIRRING TIMES: THE STORY OF ORGANIZED LABOUR IN JAMAICA 133 min. 1999 VC #5522 Cynthia Wilmot 1. Pay me for my work -- 2. Lighting the fire -- 3. The pot begins to boil -- 4. The women warriors -- 5. Growing years -- 6. Blazing new trails. Begins with the 1831 strike organized by Sam Sharpe, a literate house slave, which brought out 20,000 sugar cane workers and continues through to the founding of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions in 1990, and formation of partnerships with government and business. SUPER-COMPANIES 57 min. 1987 VC #0125 National Film Board of Canada Reviews the history of Alcan, a Canadian company, and assesses its social and environmental impact on several countries. SWEET SUGAR RAGE 41 min. 1986 VC #1475 Sistren Theatre Collective The harsh conditions facing female workers on a Jamaican sugar estate are revealed in a drama workshop.
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AIME CESAIRE: A VOICE FOR HISTORY 160 min. 1994 VC #4386-88 Euzhan Palcy Introduces the celebrated Martinican author who coined the term "negritude", and launched the movement called the "Great Black Cry". SUGAR CANE ALLEY 103 min. 1983 VC FEATURE Euzhan Palcy A boy's coming of age on a sugar plantation in Martinique during the 1930's. Based on the book Black Shack Alley.
GROWING UP IN THE WORLD NEXT DOOR 58 min. 1988 VC #0381 National Film Board of Canada Shows how three third world teenagers have benefited from their communities' involvement in international development projects. Includes Patsy from St. Vincent.
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A CONVERSATION WITH C.L.R. JAMES 58 min. 1983 VC #2366 Salwyn R. Cudjoe C.L.R. James is interviewed by Selwyn R. Cudjoe about his work, beginning with The Life of Captain Cipriani(1933) up to his essay on the assassination of Walter Rodney. HOSAY TRINIDAD 45 min. 1998 VC #5181 Smithsonian A record of the observance of the Shi'ite Muslim rituals of Muharram. Shows how the religious customs have been retained and become part of the island culture. MAS FEVER: INSIDE TRINIDAD CARNIVAL 55 min. 1989 VC #5384 Glenn Micallef Goes behind the scenes for an insider's look at the people and events associated with this lavish festival that preceeds Lent. A MATCH FOR LIFE 27 min. 1998 VC #5452 Match International An overview of five projects on which Match International is working with women's groups to enable them to improve their lives. Women in Trinidad and Tobago lobby against domestic violence, and prepare themselves to take roles in government. MY MOTHER'S PLACE 49 min. 1990 VC #2582 Richard Fung Uses stories of Rita Fung, the grandaughter of Chinese indentured servents in Trinidad, to explore the ideas of race, class and gender that develop under colonialism. REFLECTIONS ON THE DANCE 57 min. 1983 VC #1192 Banyan Ltd. Astor Johnson, director of the Repertory Dance Theatre based in Trinidad and Tobago, discusses his ideas on dance. STEEL BANDS OF TRINIDAD: PAN IN "A" 58 min. 1987 VC #4658 Villon Films A program of steel band music. STEELBAND MUSIC IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: CLASS AND COLOR CONFLICT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PEOPLE'S MUSICAL EXPRESSION 33 min. 1984 VC #0211 Rhode Island College Traces the origins of the steelband, and provides personalized acounts of the involvement with and the intense rivalry among bands that characterized the early years. TACARIGUA: A VILLAGE IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 28 min. 1985 VC #2365 Cornell University Presents the everyday life of the village inhabitants.
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