24.09.24, 20:30, Body and Soul (1925)

Film-Plateau is putting the cinema of political resistance on its programme this academic year. Our season opener is the almost centenary classic Body and Soul. Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951), a pioneering African-American filmmaker and author, is often considered the first black director in the United States. Micheaux made films that told stories about life within the black community, with a special focus on the middle class. Of the 40 films he independently produced and directed, only a few have survived, including this Body and Soul.

Actor, athlete and political activist Paul Robeson takes on the role of the vicar who soon turns out to be a sophisticated con man, a seducer full of fancy talk. What at first glance seems a melodramatic cliché film — a drinking, gambling-addicted charlatan who drives a young woman to ruin — emerges as an intriguing silent film classic and an early example of activist cinema.

This film will be introduced by filmmaker and Film-Plateau coordinator Julie Daems.

With live piano accompaniment.