Black Horizons; 3124; Cuban Films

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Welcome to Black Horizons, I'm your host Chris Moore. Tonight we'll meet the reigning Miss Prittine Pittsburgh and find out just what it takes to compete. And we'll have a visit from resident movie critic, Minette Seat, who's just been to the new to see the new film Gladiator. And we'll take a look at the latest edition of our community calendar on the horizon. So make sure you have a pin and paper handy, but before we get to any of that, unless you've been in an isolation chain before the past few months, you know that Cuba has been all over the news lately. But how much do we really know about this country and its people? This weekend, community media will present the works of Estella Bravo, a Cuban filmmaker who's bringing her country to the world. Here to tell us about her work is president of the Pittsburgh, Matanz's sister

city project, Lisa Valente and community media founder Billy Jackson. Welcome to our program. First of all, I'm not sure if she's originally from New York and she married a Brazilian. So she's really not a Cuban filmmaker, is she? Well, yeah, she was born here in the United States in 1933, and she lived here until she graduated from Brooklyn College. But then after that, she moved to various different South American countries and she met her husband from that mistake in Argentina. Well, Argentina, yeah, Argentina. Well, you must really feel like a genius here having planned this knowing that Cuba would be all over the news, having to plan this series about Cuba or Miss Bravo's work, right? I think it was divine intervention. I don't think I feel so much a genius because everything happens for a reason. And I think the Ilyon Gonzalez situation came up to point out, you know, the insanity of the blockade. And what it did for us is it gave us a good issue that we can center a film

series around. And it's a great opportunity to do so. And a chance for more people to understand a little bit more about Cuba and America and the relations as poor as they have been over the last 30 or 40 years, too, right? Visually, it's a great opportunity for them to see the culture and thematically and intellectually, it's a good opportunity for them to discuss the issues with Stella Bravo because after the film is screen, they'll be a question and answer. All right, Lisa, what is your relationship to this? And what is the Mantanz sister city's project? We're one of the only projects in the country. We're a people -to -people organization. We decided that the isolationism that was came as a result of the Cold War that we suffered in the United States as much from lack of information as that Cuban people did about us. And we decided that we were going to bridge that. That the information was very one -sided. That all we've heard is the demonization of Fidel and just absolute lies and slanders about the Cuban people and the revolution. So he's not a demon? Oh, no, absolutely he's not a demon. It's very interesting that when

Mother Teresa lay on her deathbed, people said what was the most outstanding events of her life and she said that the hour she spent alone with Fidel Castro she considered the greatest gift God had ever given her. You talk about some of the misinformation. Check this if you will and tell me if it's misinformation. People call me on KDK all the time and say Castro has killed people. He has tortured people. He has imprisoned people unjustly. Could you speak to that? Is that misinformation? I think in the actually Cuban revolution is considered militarily one of the least bloody wars ever to occur. Also during the Bay of Pigs invasion, all of the people that were captured were traded back to the United States for baby's milk. I think that there are less than 600 prisoners today that are in prison. But he sent them all over here in the Mario boat. There are some people who commit crimes in Cuba as there are people who commit crimes in every country. We don't have uniformity and homogeneity in any country at all. So I'm sure that I'm not going to speak to every person that's in jail

but I would say that the United States has the largest amount of its own population in the entire world in prison. You want death row too? Absolutely, and more on death row. So I sort of think it's really odd for us to be discussing the prison population of Cuba when it's considered one of the smallest in the world, when we have one of the largest in the world. And I think, again, it's just part of this whole miscommunication. You've been to Cuba. I've been to Cuba about 30 times. I first went in 1971, 10 years after the revolution and just a few years after the Bay of Pigs. I've been to Cuba the rest of the time since 1991, in formulating this project. How do you find it? Oh, I think it's an incredible country. Has the highest literacy rate in the Western Hemisphere has the lowest infant mortality rate equal to that of the United States. Only that's a uniform rate. In the United States, the ratio of infant mortality is very low in white communities but in African -American communities, it can go as high as 25 % and 40 % in different communities. But in Cuba, it's the same as the U .S. and it's across

the board. You talk about African -American communities in America. Does Cuba consider itself an Afro -Caribbean nation? Yes, Cuba identifies itself solely as an African -Caribbean nation. It does not identify with white European colonialization. You think most people in America would be surprised by that? I think most people would be surprised to find out that over 70 % to 80 % of the population of Cuba is Afro -Caribbean. That this is one of the revolution is actually run for the majority of people and that the quality of life for people of African descent is probably one of the highest qualities of life. What do you think of this festival and the chance that I understand you know Ms. Bravill's work? Yes. The chance to not only see her word but have her here in person and discuss her work? Well, I think it's very rare for Americans to actually have the opportunity to hear from someone who is proactive and positive about Cuba. Most Cubans who, I mean, there's a whole reason why Cubans can't get visas into this country to speak about their own

reality of the control that the Miami community has had which has given us a very one -sided view of life in Cuba. So I think that to have Estella here, she has actually had the opportunity to be in Cuba and view history from that angle. She has had the opportunity to meet with Fidel personally and to record his life from the point of view of people who would be more. I don't know what would you say Billy, it would be. Well, I think in touch with him or in touch with Cuban society? Well, I think that's exactly an example. Fidel, which was a piece that follows his rise or his presidency. That was Bravo's deal. Yes, that she did. Fidel, that we're going to show Saturday at Carnegie Lecture Hall. Fidel follows from the revolution and much of the footage in the 1960s, 1968, as you had mentioned earlier, on up to the present day. And it's the street level people. It's not just government people they interview, but a lot of the people who have interacted with him, both politically, culturally and

socially. So it's that opportunity, I think, that people have a chance to really look to see who Fidel Castro is. And the internationalism also that's involved in the film. And then a lot of personal things. I mean, a lot of people don't know that Fidel is married and has children and has a family life. And these have - It never came out on the Barbara Walters. Exactly. And these are the types of things that Estella has been able to show and talk about. And she has personal interviews with him. And I think that this is really, you know. What I think is important about that also is the kind of filmmaker, Estella Bravo is. Her approach, she follows political subjects, but it's very folksy. She interviews people. She takes time with them. In the editing process, she shows relationships, which are important. If all the things with Ellie on the footage that you saw the stations doing down in Cuba, all show the poverty. You know, it didn't show any families. It didn't show any relationships. So that's a good thing about her work and the reason why I've chosen her. And another thing is, I say everything happens for a reason. A month ago, I was in New York at the first Havana Film

Festival. And I was there to meet with Harry Belafonte, who we're bringing in October 7th here at Pittsburgh. And he is now just fine out while I'm speaking to him. Somebody brought a message to him that Estella Bravo just tried to reach him and she'll call him back later. And I'm saying, we're bringing her here. You know, and so it's a small world. And it's good that we're all working together and I get a chance to understand who Estella is through Harry Belafonte, who's significant. And then at the same time, through Estella, I can understand who Harry Belafonte is. So it's a good, really. So people should get out and see this and talk to Estella Bravo. And I imagine she's willing to talk to anybody about this. Anybody who's willing to have a dialogue? Well, definitely. The film lasts, it's a one hour film. I'm sorry, 75 minutes long. And that'll leave us a good half an hour for questioning the answer for people to do that. And the reason why we're having a Carnegie lecturer, in addition to the fact that Carnegie is our home. And we were based in the homewood branch, the Carnegie. But we have a large auditorium there and enables us to have - It's going to be in homewood. No, no. It's going to be

Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland, Saturday afternoon, three to five. And what it enables us to do is to do group rates for - And that's a big auditorium with a lot of seats in it. A lot of seats in it. And it's still intimate enough for you to see the screen. Yeah, it's nicely created, stadium seating. Yeah, I've been there recently. Well, we want to thank you both for being here with us. And we hope a lot of people get out for this event, okay? A unbelievable opportunity. All right, thank you. Thank you. If you'd like to check out Estella Bravo's Cuban film, you can do so Saturday afternoon at three at Oakland's Carnegie Lecture Hall. That's the one around the back. Okay, don't go into musical. Around the back. For more details, call the community media hotline at 412 -361 -5141. And number again, it's 412 -361 -5141. Spring has definitely sprung and there's lots to do. So grab that pencil and paper because it's time for on the horizon.

What's that? Yeah. Yeah. Pumpkin. Pumpkin. I want to be here now. Wait, wait a minute. Well, if you have an event that you'd like to see publicize, send all the details to us

at on the horizon, care of WQED -4802 -5th Avenue, Pittsburgh PA -15213. For nearly a decade now, Pittsburgh's misspreteen pageant has been giving young ladies from our area an opportunity to compete for scholarship prizes and more. Back again to tell us about this year's competition is pageant producer, Mary Ellen Pullenitz, and the reigning misspreteen Tiffany Lovejoy. Hi, Tiffany. How are you? I'm fine. You look lovely. Thank you. But you know you're the first beauty queen I've seen with a cast on her wrist. What happened? You did the trip going down the aisle as you were making your promenade. Mm -hmm. I was running and I slipped. You weren't chasing anyone away. Mm -hmm. Okay. You slipped and it was just an accident. Tell me about your reign. How has it been? You will give up the crown when the next misspreteen is crowned in August. Is that right? Mm -hmm. So it's been a while. You've been here in doing this for a while. How was it? Yeah. It was very fun. A lot of exposure. Uh -huh.

And it was just a very good experience. What did you do? Where did you go? What kind of places did you go? I went to two parades. Mm -hmm. I was in the Wemmu award show. And I was one of the hosts. And can you do your wave? You have to do it without the cast at hand, right? You got a lot of practice. Did they cheer you when they saw you? Mm -hmm. Was that a good feeling? Okay. Now I understand you had entered the misspreteen pageant before, right? And you didn't win. Did that make you more determined to come back and win the next time? Yes. So what were you thinking? I was thinking I have to win this. It seems like a very good experience. Uh -huh. And I just have to go back. And try it again. Try it again. I admire that attitude. What was the most important thing that you learned while competing? To be the best person I can be. My poise. Um, to be like well -mannered young lady. This.

Well, I think that says a lot right there. You must be very proud, Mary Ellen. What is this, the ninth year? Our ninth year. Okay. Tell me about the pageant and whose eligible? The pageant is open to preteen girls in a Pittsburgh in Western area, 9, 10, 11, and 12 -year -olds. As long as you're not 13 before August 13th, you're eligible to compete. So someone might be a teenager doing their, have you turned to a teenager yet? Uh -huh. So you, she fit right into that category right there. Okay. She competed in August as a 12 -year -old and in September, she turned 13. Okay. So what happens during the pageant? Is there a schooling process? Are they taught that poise and to be the best person that they can be? Absolutely. What kind of program do you put the young ladies through? It's a six week training program that we have. We have our rehearsals right here in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh where we groom the young ladies to compete. We, um, we concentrate on our self -esteem. They're a confidence and they're awareness of what they can bring back to Pittsburgh and to their own societies. That's what the program is basically structured about. And in the midst of that, we teach them to compete.

And they compete for cash and prizes, education and awards. There's a field trip involved. And then they get to meet and mingle with other girls within other communities. So it's an interaction, which is really nice. That's an important thing, too, to know that there are other people outside their own communities. Because not too many years ago, too many of our young people were putting Bob wire around their own communities. Exactly. And didn't want to meet someone who they could be friends with. Which is why we put that in there exactly. Is that good for you to meet all those other young ladies? Yes. Did you develop some friends? Uh -huh. Who became your closest friend? Um, Tierra Bay. And this was someone you had not known before, right? Uh -huh. Well, it shows you there's a whole wide world out there, I guess. Now, what do you need in terms of help to get this thing put on? I would imagine you need people power, you need money, donations. You need all kinds of things to make sure that our young ladies are having a positive experience. Exactly. It's so important for us to get more volunteers involved. Rather than teenagers or adults, we have a training program six weeks throughout the summer, every Saturday

and July. So the time, your timing is very important. We have a field trip that we need volunteers for, as well as financial support. Um, it doesn't, this program is not free. So as many people as we can to give financial support, whether it be donations or what have you, is very important. What are your hopes and dreams for the future? You want to one day be able to give big scholarships, right? High school scholarships, because the girls are pre -teens. So they're not focusing right now on the universities and the college aspect of education, but they are going to be entering the high schools. So educational high schools is what we're looking for now. Winchester Thurston at Ellis, just the private schools that some of the children cannot afford to go to. Well, that would be a big boost right there. Definitely. Now, in terms of nine years of doing this, are you having young ladies that competed in the early years, coming back and helping to give back to the young girls who are coming along now? We have three

contestants that actually work past or former Queens, and they're now on our staff. So they come back every year, they're in colleges now, and they come back every year and help donate their time so that they can give back to the girls that are online now. Now, nine years is a long time. What do you see in the future? Have any more years? Are you going to do this? What kind of organization are you going to create? You ever see passing this off to someone else and not being the prime mover anymore or what? I have a 10 -year -old daughter, we call her Risi, and she is going to take over the pageant. This is what she tells me now. When I get to her, I cannot do it, but what this has created was we're going to have a pageant for the hearing impaired. And it's going to be a pageant for people, contestants, through 9 -12, and it's going to be for pre -teens. I'm in the process now of attending a degree in Sign Language, ASL Sign Language, so I'm working with the Deaf community now, and we're going to open up the pageant for the Deaf community. This is a lot of work for you. Now, will it be integrated in terms of non -hearing as well as hearing people? Now,

we'll actually have an additional program. The program will focus on the same things that the self -esteem and the awareness, the confidence, but there'll be a hearing impaired pageant, and then there'll be a hearing pageant. Tiffany, are you sad to see August coming, or are you glad to be relieved of some of these responsibilities? I'm sad to see it come because it was very fun, and me a whole bunch of new people, and I just don't want to give my crown that back. Do you have to give it up? Do you get to keep the theater? So, that's a lifetime thing, and you'll always have that to look back on. Are you going to compete in any more pageants, or was it set for you? I'm going to compete in Miss Black Teenage and Miss Teen Pittsburgh. So, you're just moving right along through all the pageants there, right? Well, it could be some scholarship money out here for you, and that could really help your parents out in terms of your education. Well, good luck to you in the future. I know you won't need luck, though. You seem to be a polished and poised young lady. Thank you. Marilyn, we want to thank you for being here, and hope that volunteers and people with money will join your effort to help broaden the horizons

of our young girls, okay? Thank you. Thank you both. Let me see your queen way one more time. All right, I love it. If you or someone you know is interested in competing in the Miss Teen Pageant, give them a call. If you want a volunteer, you got money, call them at 1 -800 -900 -8845 -access -code -01. That's 1 -800 -900 -8845, and then hit that access code -01. Well, our resident movie critic is back in the saddle, or should I say, chariot? Again, after seeing the latest in a long line of costume epics, this one's called Gladiator. Here's a clip. Who is he?

He will remove your helmet and tell me your name. My name is Gladiator. All that you have murdered some of us has been to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance. Today, I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome. They said you were a giant. I still care for you. At my signal, unleash hell. Am I not responsible? What we do in life, it goes in eternity. This is another one in the long line. Ever since been here, the original has been here in black and white and silent, right? This is the great Cecil B. Demil tradition. It's got everything

from the chariot races to the heartfelt lamentations to God's way. Have you left me alone in the desert? And then you have lots of decapitations and lots of great outfits. It's grisly and a lot of fire and lions and tigers. All of you have come by to know where they are. No, it stays away from the whole Christian thing. It's all about Rome and the horribleness of the various emperors and how the whims of the emperors change for one time together. And could make an honest man a slave and then suddenly get the champion of the wedding. Are there crowds, mass scenes and stuff like that? Huge mass scenes, but the use of... All computer generated so they avoid the lunch penalty, right? Exactly. They did a lot of mat painting and a lot of computer generated animation to do the Colosseum films, where they had basically a structure, a model that they filmed and then they just filled it in by doubling images of crowds of people milling about going... Oh, Cecil B. Demil in high tech. Exactly. And it avoids the lunch penalty and having to feed all of them. But it's this perfect combination of

Spartacus and Braveheart because you have this man of the people who's forced to go out. And all he wanted to do was go home to his farm and his family. And they took that away from him. And then just like in Spartacus, his sidekick is of course this giant black man from Africa, who's played by Juman Hunsu, the guy from... From Homestead. Homestead. Yeah, Willie Strue did it. Exactly with Kirk Douglas, there's even the scene where they're chained together in the Colosseum. Integration. Uh -huh. It's just like, all right. Is this a defiant one or what? So when does the black guy die? Never, man. I have to say this. No, no, no. He doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't. It's very strange. It was a different kind of movie. I might want to go see it anyway. So this guy is Maximus, a former general. Yes, he is General Maximus. And General Maximus runs a foul of the emperor who's played by this Marmy Joaquin Phoenix. And he's very angry because of course his father, Marcus Aurelius, doesn't love him as much as he loves General Maximus. So he knocks his dad off. And then he has a, you know, horrible things. Burning crops, you know, lopping

off children's arms. The ancient empire of Rome. Exactly. Corrupt. It's just you sit there and you go, hmm, sin it. Corrupt sinitors. Where are we? Where are we talking about? It's a miracle. And the scene in the Colosseum, it's just like WWF Wrestling. Only, you know, it's a couple. Well, when I first saw Gladiade, I said, oh, they've taken to the opposite tech. They've made the TV series into a movie. But then I see it's the ancient movie. Yeah. And we're just wondering how long it's going to be before there is indeed a WWF wrestler named Gladiator or General Maximus. Well, I think Maximus is a good name. I would have been named Maximus Silius. I would have been. Or something like that. Or something like that. Or something like that. So how do you rate your movies? Well, I have to say that I saw this movie at the brand new spectacular Grand Opening of the Giant Lose Theater in Homestead near the Quarter Front. Were you impressed? Yes. I was duly impressed. There's like a 12 -foot tall Coca -Cola bottle and a 30 -foot tall box of popcorn mounted on top of the rotating on top of the refreshments stand. Huge, wide

hallways. People actually stand there, but they're going, may I help you? What film are you going to see? And like offering you breathments as you leave the theater. That's only so you can't sneak into the other field. Not chose 750. And it's, but it's amazing because, you know, one of the things I have to say that pleased me most about is it seems like everybody in Homestead got a job in the theater. Well, that's good. It's good to see Homestead working. Everybody working. Mary Espiss on the job. So this is a good movie you'd play the full price to go see. I would pay the full price and I did eight bucks. Okay, thanks for that. Eight bucks at your multiplex. Appreciate it. Well, that wraps up another edition of Black Horizons. Please don't forget to watch the National Black Programming Consortium's broadcast festival showcasing the best and minority filmmakers. And that's 930 tonight immediately following this program. I'm Chris Moore for all of us here at Black Horizons, including many say goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. What's that? That is donated by Macondo, South Creek Street, Oakland. Yeah.

I want to be a head now. Wait, wait a minute. Groupy, groupy, jazzy, funky, pounce, bounce, dance, as we dip through the melodic scene. Relentless flow when drips at MSC. Sweet sugar pops, sugar pop, rocks, and pop. You don't stop till the sweet beat drops. I show improve as I stick and move. Fill the poems with sight and point top of the groove. To my floatin' like a butterfly instead of floatin' Something like a lullaby brace itself. As the beat hits ya. Dip, jump. Dip, dance, jump. What's that? Did it beat your body? Yeah. Did it beat your body? Pump, keep, pump, keep. You'll be dropped. Jazz and hip hop. Trippin' in your dormit's its own and pop. Funkin' music, fly a loosen. Keep sick, coastin' on the river to cruise in. Up, down, down the route. Fought the valve, but never to let's get got it. Thanks

for watching. Thanks for watching. Thanks for watching.