If Men Could Fly: The Life and Films of Menelik Shabazz
By GL Harris, Blogger-in-Residence
Menelik Shabazz crossed boundaries, and he crossed seas. He was a storyteller that put forth his ideas about the power systems of the West and how these systems have impacted diaspora African peoples in Great Britain, the Caribbean, the United States, and in Africa. The filmmaker was known for the strong narrative of his docu-drama style in films like Catch a Fire: The Story of Paul Bogle and the Morant Bay Rebellion 1865 and Time and Judgement. Later on, while retaining a strong narrative, a new holistic and spiritual focus emerged in his films as they explored the inner self, and universal themes of life, love and legacy. While working on his latest film project in Zimbabwe, Menelik transitioned on June 28, 2021. He was 67.
“We will continue to showcase his films,” said Diarah N’Daw Spech, co-founder and co-director of the New York African Diaspora International Film Festival (NYADIFF).
NYADIFF saluted the British Barbadian award-winning filmmaker in a summer tribute at its Washington, D.C. ADIFF regional festival. Showing several of Shabazz’s films introduced new audiences to the filmmaker and reminded his fans of the late auteur’s contribution to cinema.
In a career that spanned more than thirty years in cinema there were countless milestones. The award winning documentary Catch a Fire was one. Aimimage Productions was commissioned by the BBC to tell the life of Jamaican Baptist minister Paul Bogle who began to stand up for Jamaicans oppressed by the island’s government, in the 1800s. The uprising changed the attitudes of British leaders towards its subjects.
“I was approached to see if I could put some meat on the bone to make this project a reality. I realized that a trip to Jamaica was necessary to make any sense of who Bogle was and to connect to his spirit. I traveled to Jamaica with historian Cecil Gutzemore,” Menelik Shabazz wrote in his Story Behind the Film Series.
As fate would have it, Shabazz met Bogle’s great grandson, Philip Bogle, whose recounting of the events leading up to the rebellion were recorded.
“That was it! He spoke as if he were there—I could hang the film on his story. He died a year later. I felt a deep sense that he was hanging on to tell this story,” Shabazz said.
The director was always forward looking and unwavering in his commitment to making films that looked at the challenges black people have faced across the globe. His 1988 sci-fi/documentary Time and Judgement critically examines 400 years of prophecy and exile of Africans. While it narrates the tribulations of the African diaspora, there is a special focus on the 20th century achievement of African and Caribbean nations coming from under colonial rule. And the American 1960s Civil Rights Movement are highlighted. The archival footage is a veritable who’s who of black leaders including: Maurice Bishop of Grenada, and Walter Rodney of Guyana. Reverend Jessie Jackson, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), and Louis Farrakhan of the United States. Also, Samora Machel of Mozambique, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey of Jamaica, and more.
In his Story Behind the Film, the director wrote:
“(It) was a film where I could be creatively free; I had a guarantee TV slot on the newly formed Channel Four under Commissioner Alan Fountain. I wanted to add many layers to the film, and I was deep in my Rastafari phase and so I wanted to combine spirituality, symbolism, politics, poetry into a blender. Out came a film that even today I am not sure I fully understand,” he wrote.
The film opens with the Queen of Judgement who has summoned Time. A scale holds money on one side and on the other a heart.
“I hear the weeping and wailing of the people on planet earth where hearts are weak. Love is dying,” she intones.
The symbolism of Time and Judgement are established through biblical prophecy. The film uses animation that was engaging for the time period and its ideas are still relevant. There is still a confrontation between the heart or love and money which represents power and greed.
When I first met the director at the ADIFF, he had an essence of cool, intelligence, and charm. He was working on establishing his magazine, Black Filmmaker Magazine (bfm) in the pre-digitized era of filmmaking, before the dawn of social media. Pulling out a smartphone to make a movie was not yet an option. Film was costly. And, access to audiences was mainly limited to theatres. Film distribution was tightly controlled by big cinema chains and big movie studios. Independent filmmakers had to bow to these systems or remain underground.
In 1998, bfm became the first black film magazine that connected readers across the African diaspora with legends on its cover like Spike Lee and Pam Grier. Shabazz then founded the bfm International Film Festival as a platform for screening international films by and about black people.
“BFM was the outcome of my frustrations in the film industry. I wanted to channel that anger into something positive which initially started as a magazine and the intention to pass on information to the next generation about the film industry. One thing that was happening at that time was a lack of young people entering the industry on a consistent level. The magazine was an interface between industry in filmmakers and out of the initiative developed the black filmmaker International film festival,” Menelik Shabazz said in an interview, reposted in Alt-a-Review.
Shabazz’s love of cinema began when he was young, in Barbados. But the idea of making films began in his teen years. While attending North London College he was introduced to emerging portable video technology which made filmmaking more accessible. Menelik enrolled at the London International Film School. However, lacking financial support he was forced to stop his studies.
With the tools he acquired at film school, along with his vision and grit, he created something transcendent. It’s hard to believe there had been no more than one black filmmaker in the UK before him.
His first film Step Forward Youth (1977) has the reggae music style associated with Bob Marley and Rastafari. Reggae and jazz, or a discordant musical style, that underpins his films.
Shabazz has left an incredible body of work through his films that tackle many of the social issues of Black Britains. His landmark films include Burning an Illusion, Blood Ah Go Run, The Story of Lover’s Rock and Looking for Love. While his work embraced the political and cultural struggle since the 1960s, he managed to wrestle the global south’s descendants into that beautiful visual canvas he painted. His legacy is a cornerstone for future generations of black filmmakers around the world.
Catch a Fire: Directed by Menelik Shabazz, Jamaica/UK, 1995, 30 min, documentary, English
Time & Judgement: Directed by Menelik Shabazz, Barbados/UK, 1988, 84 min, documentary, English