Angles: Women Working in Film and Video (2000)

Zeinabu trene Davis A Powertul Thang Developing a black aesthetic in film BY ANN FILEMYR POWERFUL THANG, WRITTEN, DIRECTED and produced by Zeinabu irene Davis, is an experimental narrative film about an African-American couple and their search for intimacy and friendship. Davis’ first feature film revolves around two main characters, Yasmine Allen (Asma Feyijinmi) and her love interest Craig Watkins (John Jelks). Yasmine is a single mother of two-year-old Akin and works as a freelance writer and editor. Craig is a high school music teacher and saxophone player. They have been dating for a month and are slowly falling in love. The trouble is that Yasmine desperately wants to end her self-imposed two-year celibacy. Craig, however, likes to take things slowly and is therefore not interested in rushing the physical level of their relationship. The film highlights the beauty and simplicity of a day in the lives of African-American people in southwestern Ohio, covering ordinary events in each character's day. Yasmine’s activities involve writing and caring for Akin, attending dance rehearsal and having a heartfelt talk concerning safe sex with her father, the jazz-loving Pop Allen (James S. Davis). Craig wakes up and practices the scales on his saxophone, conducts band practice, gets a haircut and receives sage advice from his mother, and herbalist, Mama Joyce (Barbara-O). In a gentle, positive way, the film shows that friendship, commitment and responsibility should always happen before intimacy is considered. Part of the process of creating A Powerful Thang was pairing skilled film technicians from Ohio and Los Angeles with students from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Each professional on the film crew worked with students to strengthen the skills they had learned in the classroom. Each student was given significant creative responsibility in key production positions. Also working on the film were Doris-Owanda Johnson, who wrote the original story; S. Torriano Berry, cinematographer; Casi Pacilio, editor; and Christina Springer, assistant producer and art director. Musical consultants were Steve Schwerner, Bob Reamer and Bill Wilson. | interviewed Zeinabu irene Davis three nights before the world premiere of A Powerful Thang in Yellow Springs, Ohio. 4 @ ANGLES A couple seeks intimacy in Zeinabu irene Davis’ A Powerful Thang Why did you start making films? It all goes back to the woman who this film is dedicated to, Gini Booth. I started at Brown as a pre-law student but got involved with Gini and a talk show she hosted called Shades. I worked with her and even got to do a couple segments. At first, I wanted to do something like her. But the process that really capped my move from in front of the camera to behind the camera was my trip to Kenya in 1981. I went for a study abroad program, but Kenya at that time was—still is—in a period of political unrest, the struggle for a freer, multiple-party state. I began working with Ngugi wa Thiong’o, probably one of the most significant writers in Kenya. He was teaching at the university, but his real work involved this play he had written. The political and historical experience he was covering in the play was presented by the people who had actually been involved in the struggle he was trying to depict on stage. It was very exciting—very heady. What was your role in the play? Since I had the media experience with Gini at PBS, I was to do, well, Ngugi’s vision was really broad, multimedia, and I was