On DVD – “Black Nation” (Uncompromising Look At The State Of Black Men In America)
As seen through the lenses of Swedish filmmaker, Mats Hjelm… Black Nation is a documentary feature “that takes a hard, uncompromising look at the state of Black men in America today through the prism of the streets of Detroit and the City’s controversial Church Shrine of the Black Madonna… set within the framework of a Father’s day service, the film tracks the despair of its congregation while at the same time showing the way forward with the great hope and dignity embodied in Obama’s words – “yes we can”! The Church strives to promote and develop community led programs and institutions that restore pride and dignity to its congregation and in particular, black men.”
Mats Hjelm, also an internationally renowned video artist, is said to have a deep personal connection to the City and the Church, which began with his filmmaker father’s documentation of the 1967 Detroit riots, the Church’s part in this seminal event, and the filming of Stokely Carmichael’s 1968 fundraising tour of Europe.
The film has played at a handful of international film festivals, and is now available on DVD. Though you won’t fin it on Netflix or Amazon. You’d have to buy it on the film’s website, for $20, HERE.
The film’s website states:
A black man has attained the highest office in the world, while according to the New York Times black men are “sleeping through the holocaust”. One only has to look to the City of Detroit, once a model of upward mobility for blacks in America. It now sits as a mere shell of its former self – vultures literally picking at the bones of its once great buildings – stripping them of everything from wire to copper pipes. Its economy already in tatters, it awaits the imminent collapse of the auto industry. How is it even possible for the African American men of this once proud City to conceive of a way out of the double jeopardy of crime and unemployment – let alone take positive steps toward the future?
Trailer follows below:
