Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Writer: Michelle Smith, 706/583-0045, publicity@drama.uga.edu
Contact: Kenneth Kilfara, 706/254-6840, kilfara@gmail.com

UGA filmmaker confronts McCarthy-era prejudices with “Blacklist” documentary

Athens, Ga. – Canada Lee (1907-1952) was a musician, jockey, boxer, humanitarian, social activist and groundbreaking stage and screen actor during his lifetime ­- yet few people have heard of him or remember his accomplishments. Award-winning independent filmmaker Kenneth Kilfara, an MFA graduate of and adjunct faculty member in the University of Georgia department of theatre and film studies, has set out to change that fact with his documentary “Blacklist: Recovering the Life of Canada Lee,” currently in production.

A gifted actor in the years just prior to the civil rights movement, Canada Lee worked to expand the role offered to black actors beyond the stereotypical “step-and-fetch-it Negro” characters so prevalent during the time. His portrayal of empowered, sympathetic black characters on screen was a seminal force in shaping opportunities for future generations of such black actors as Sidney Poitier. But Lee’s name has been erased from the history books. “Despite his resounding effort to enact growth and change,” recounts Kilfara, “Canada Lee remains largely forgotten by contemporary America. Only comprehensive anthologies mention his name, and even these lack a definitive understanding of his work.”

Kilfara is working closely with Frances Lee Pearson, Lee’s 85-year-old, legally blind, white widow, who is rather forthright about the difficulties the interracial couple faced during the “dark days” of McCarthyism. “Frances watched it steal away her husband’s life,” says Kilfara of the pressure Lee faced in being wrongly targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. “That the FBI in the 1940s withheld information that would have cleared Canada’s name is unconscionable. This documentary seeks to exonerate Canada Lee and restore his rightful place in history.”

“Blacklist” is sanctioned by the Canada Lee Heritage Foundation as the only authorized story of Lee’s life. Kilfara’s efforts have also gained the support of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, which houses Canada Lee’s photo and manuscript archives.

As an adjunct professor at UGA, Kilfara has been given the unique opportunity to design a documentary course around the “Blacklist” project. “An educational environment is quite a fitting place to work on re-introducing Canada Lee to society, given how much time Canada gave to students who needed his help,” says Kilfara, who is currently seeking additional funding to complete the film.

While still in the production stage, “Blacklist” sample trailers have already been exhibited at Humboldt University in Berlin, where Kilfara presented research related to the “Blacklist” project last winter. Kilfara also screened a 15-minute reel to highly receptive audiences at the 27th Independent Feature Project Market and Conference in New York City in September. “‘Blacklist’s’ reception at a venue like IFP speaks to the timeliness of this story,” says Kilfara, who adds, “those, like Lee, who spoke their minds in the fight for racial equality, were once labeled as subversive by this country, yet their voice is essential to the open discourse on which our democracy was founded.”

Kilfara will screen his work at UGA’s Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts in the coming year and at the Georgia Museum in Athens on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 5:30 p.m.

For more information, contact Kenneth Kilfara at 706/254-6840 or kilfara@gmail.com.

For trailers, photos and research information, visit http://www.blacklistthemovie.com.

The department of theatre and film studies is a unit of UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.  For more information, visit http://www.drama.uga.edu/.