Elena Oumano, Ph.D., book author, music journalist, lecturer

Reading Cinema Today is like attending a fascinating panel discussion chaired by a host smart enough to step back and allow this distinguished and varied group of 39 contemporary international filmmakers their say on subjects that include cinematography, the filmmaking process, rhythm and structure, cinema and business, the viewer, and cinema and society. The participants include such cinema legends as Constantin Costa-Gravas and Olivier Assayas, critically-adored radicals like Andrew Bujalski and Brillante Mendoza, and many other gifted film artists whose collective work represents the finest examples of contemporary international filmmaking, all of whom were interviewed by the author specifically for this book.

It was high summer—rock 'n' roll season—and we were just uncomfortable enough with our dull and repressive landscape to work up that friction into a rush of revolutionary blood, and then kick it off with a party. For the nearly half-million revelers at the 1969 Woodstock Music & Arts Fair—and the many more who either wish they'd been there or have convinced themselves over the decades that they actually were on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, for those three days in August— Woodstock was the most vivid proof possible of a larger dynamic at work.

What more delicious—not to mention cheap—way to pass the dog days of a New York City summer than by taking a vicarious plunge into the French underworld from the safe comfort of an air-conditioned cinema? Starting with the bleak contours of the period preceding the German Occupation and its aftermath's anxious confusion to the stylish rebellion of the New Wave and today's slicker psychological studies, French film directors like Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques Becker, Jean-Luc Godard, and Claude Chabrol refashioned the tropes of American B-movies to create enduring masterpieces of good and evil.

Profile/Q&A on the prolific and versatile artist/filmmaker/stand-up/storyteller

Here in New York City, gays in clubs win' up to wildly popular reggae dancehall lyrics like "Fire fi de man dem weh go ride man behind," much as older gays pray in churches that condemn homosexuality. A mere dozen or so protesters picketed the sold-out Hot 97 "On da Reggae Tip Live" at Hammerstein Ballroom last September. Why pay mind to the words when the riddim and the vibe sweet yuh so?
But on Sunday, January 29, JAMPACT, an NYC-based Jamaican American civic group, held a panel at St. Francis College composed of Dr. Gordon Shirley, Jamaica's ambassador to the U.S.; Rebecca Schleifer of Human Rights Watch; Jamaican gay activist Larry Chang; and others. Schleifer was asked to address and defend points in her recent report issued by HRW in which she found that widespread homophobia in Jamaica endangers the welfare not only of those at high risk for HIV/AIDS, but also of HIV/AIDS outreach health care workers. Three days later, Amnesty International's OUTfront! program and New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center hosted a panel discussion at LGBT's Manhattan headquarters with representatives from the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), as part of J-FLAG's campaign for support in holding Jamaican authorities accountable for failing to protect the human rights of their LGBT citizens. While dancehall homophobia has been fodder for international headlines lately, "at the Forum, J-FLAG made clear that reggae dancehall's homophobia merely fuels Jamaica's widespread cultural bias against homosexuality and bisexuality," says Alisa Wellek, of the LGBT center.

Following widespread cancellations of dancehall concerts, Sizzla was banned in November from entering the U.K., while he and seven other dancehall artists—Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Vybz Kartel, T.O.K., Capleton, and Bounty Killer—were investigated by Scotland Yard after gay activists asserted that their homophobic song lyrics constitute incitement to actual murder. In the U.S., where free speech is less restricted, "Stop Murder Music" had shut down only 30 or so Beenie Man and Capleton dates this past summer and fall, mostly on the West Coast. Meanwhile, U.K. gay activist group OutRage! shifted its "Stop Murder Music" campaign higher up reggae's food chain to retail outlets and record labels like NYC-based reggae indie VP Records. After months of negotiations, gay activist groups, the labels, and promoters announced early this month that they'd reached an agreement, and that the "Stop Murder Music" campaign had been suspended.

Elena Oumano is widely viewed as a leading international journalist writing on Jamaican music, past and present.

In Film Comment, the late documentary filmmaker Emile de Antonio wrote that Oumano “has sprung the catch” in the “revolving door” of the interview format, creating a new genre of nonfiction. In chapters titled “The Frame,” “Sound,” etc., prefaced by her own insights, Oumano allows the world’s greatest filmmakers to reveal the details their creative process, as if they were all gathered together at a film fan's dream round table. Received enthusiastic reviews, including from The New York Times Sunday Book Review.

(co-authored with Dr. Jeff Gardere, Fireside, December, 2002)
Packed with intriguing anecdotal material and hard-hitting truths, this title guides readers back to supportive, loving relationships and strong family ties. At the same time, the book tracks many of the issues plaguing African-American relationships to their root cause in Post Traumatic Slavery Disorder, a legacy of the most shameful episode in America’s history.