African-American Studies Collections

Filmography: Z

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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ZAN BOKO.
1988. 94 minutes (V2880). In More with English Subtitles.
Burkina Faso. Directed by Gaston J.M. Kabore.

Peasants in a village near an ever closing city are worried about what will happen to them and their homeland. They are soon consumed by the city and are immediately in conflict with their sophisticated urban neighbors. Tinga, one villager who resists the change and power of those behind as long as he can tries to maintain his ties. A young reporter from the capital also tries to present a true picture of what the urbanization costs the poor and powerless, but he too is defeated by power and political corruption. This film is an indictment of the push to urbanize Africa at the expense of its tribal and cultural past. It is a classic tale of the little man being consumed by the powers that be. With: Joseph Nikiema as Tinga the Peasant, Collette Kabore as Napoko his wife, Celestin Zongo as Yabre the journalist, Jean Francois Ouedraogo as Roger, Georgette Salambere as Simone, Hypolyte Wangrawa as Le Gardien, Jean-Modeste Ouedraogo as Le Ministre, and Julien Yougbare as Le Secretariat General.
Notes: Photographed by Sekou Ouedraogo. Music by Henri Guedon and Don Cherry. Screenplay by Kabore.


ZORA IS MY NAME.
1989. 90 minutes. (V3267).
Biographical Dramatization. Directed by Neema Barnette.

Ruby Dee produced this dramatization of the words and folk tales of Zora Neale Hurston. Semi-autobiographical in nature, Hurston's works were some of the most liberating writing of the Harlem Renaissance. She used the story telling passion that surrounded her in her childhood in Florida -- and that she learned while traveling through the South gathering black folk tales in the 1930s and wrought spirited, sensual tales. Dee and her very fine cast do justice to the spirit and letter of Hurston's words. Its a stage bound production but is rich in flavor and emotionally satisfying. With: Louis Gossett, Jr., Flip Wilson, Oscar Brown, Jr., Paula Kelly, Roger Mosley, Beah Richards, Count Stovall, and Lynn Whitfield.
Notes: Teleplay by Ann Wallace. Music by Olu Dara.


ZOU ZOU.
1934. 92 minutes. In French with English subtitles. (V2426).
Directed by Edmond Greville.

Story: A circus folds in Paris and a kind old man raises two circus orphans as his own children. The children become attached as they grow up but the girl, Zou Zou, over the years falls in love with her "brother." The brother, after returning from sea falls in love the Zou Zou's best friend -- the daughter of the laundress Zou Zou works for. In the end Zou Zou, becomes a big cafe star to save her brother from a trumped-up prison term. This film was the first done by the amazingly popular American born Josephine Baker, who had become the toast of Paris cafe society. Baker, personified the Jazz Age to the French and in this film she represents French notions of exoticism and natural sexual energy. Nothing enlightening about this film, just Baker's sexy elegance and dancing. With: Jean Gabin, Yvette Lebon, and Pierre Larquey.
Notes: Songs include Haiti. This film shows how widespread the influence American musicals was in this period. Zou Zou is a both melodrama and backstage musical like the Warner Brothers musicals of the period.