MASTER CLASS: THE L.A. REBELLION
Ages 16-29
Summer 2021, Online
In this hybrid film studies and production workshop student fellows will apprentice themselves to the master filmmakers of the L.A. Rebellion, an important seventies movement in independent film driven by the first generations of Black UCLA film school students. Clyde Taylor, in his essay "Once upon a Time in the West . . . L.A. Rebellion," writes that “the most powerful gain to be drawn from this work remains the spectacle of Black people in full light as beings-for-themselves instead of fantasy beings for others.” Through selected films, fellows will explore the cinematic portrayals that defied the Hollywood filmmaking of the period, considering both what unifies the films and what distinguishes individual directors’ visual styles and choices of content. Fellows will then use these examples as inspiration for finding their own voices, learning from and responding creatively to what they’ve studied. Footage created by each fellow will be combined into a collaborative project, portraying Baltimore life in the spirit of the L.A. Rebellion. Their work will be shared in a virtual exhibition and on the program website. The workshop will include guest appearances by L.A. Rebellion filmmakers. Limited to 8 student fellows.
Master Class: The L.A. Rebellion is a co-production of Baltimore Youth Film Arts and Morgan State University.
Keith Mehlinger is Director of the Screenwriting and Animation program (SWAN) at Morgan State University. A producer/writer/director, he produced episodes of the syndicated series, Story of a People, and also has an extensive background in corporate film. He’s a contributor to From Street to Screen, the recently released volume on Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, and was in film school at UCLA during the L.A. Rebellion.
Emmet Sheehan is a Baltimore City native with a background in stage and film. He was part of the pilot program that helped launch the film department at Baltimore School for the Arts, and trained at North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Intensive. He is currently working on several short film projects.
