Jamaa Fanaka (born Walter Gordon; September 6, 1942 – April 1, 2012) was an American

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

. He is best known for his 1979 film, ''

Penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state, usually ...

'', and was one of the leading directors of the L.A. Rebellion film movement.

Early life and education

Fanaka was born Walter Gordon to Robert L. and Beatrice Gordon in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

. In 1971, Fanaka was accepted into the film school at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. His first film, ''A Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment Plan'', was a

morality tale The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...

shot in

8mm film 8 mm film is a Cine film, motion picture film format in which the film strip is wide. It exists in two main versions – the original standard 8 mm film, also known as regular 8 mm, and Super 8 film, Super 8. Although both s ...

about a heroin addict. The film stars Fanaka (credited as Walt Gordon) in the title role. It is the only narrative short he ever made. Jan-Christopher Horak of the UCLA Film Archives, when comparing the movie with the 1972

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

film, '' Super Fly'', released the same year, observed, "unlike Priest's elegant cocaine consumption in ''Super Fly'', Willie's arm gushes blood as he injects heroin." Ntongela Masilela states that while "a fundamental tenet of the Los Angeles school was an opposition to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

," Fanaka was a notable exception. He describes Fanaka as "very much fascinated by Hollywood and averse to the contentious ideological and artistic discussions that were fundamental to the formation of the school." While a student at UCLA, he went to see a film called, '' Cooley High.'' Impressed with the film and its depiction of African American culture, he took note of the director,

Michael Schultz Michael Schultz (born November 10, 1938) is an American director and producer of theater, film and television. Life and career Schultz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of an African-American mother Katherine Frances Leslie (1917–199 ...

, and assumed he was Jewish. He was later surprised to learn that Schultz was in fact African American. He decided then to change his name so that anyone seeing his films would know he is black. He contacted one of the professors in the African Studies department at UCLA, who showed him a Swahili dictionary, which is how he came up with the name Jamaa Fanaka, which loosely means "through togetherness we will find success."

Career

During film school, Fanaka wrote, produced and directed '' Emma Mae'' (1976). The film focuses on a young woman who arrives in Los Angeles from

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

to live with her mother's sister and her family after her mother dies, and survives the

culture shock Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration ...

that accompanies the move; ''

Welcome Home Brother Charles ''Welcome Home Brother Charles'' (also known as ''Soul Vengeance'') is a 1975 American blaxploitation film written and directed by Jamaa Fanaka. The film stars Marlo Monte as a wrongfully imprisoned man who seeks vengeance upon his transgressors ...

'' (1975), about the ravages and dire consequences of racism; and ''

'' (1979), the story of a young man wrongly sent to prison, who, through his

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

talents, is able to win his freedom. Fanaka completed ''Street Wars'' in 1992. He was in extended production and

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

on ''Hip Hop Hope'', a documentary feature film on the underground

Hip Hop culture Hip-hop culture is an art movement that emerged in New York City, in the borough of The Bronx; Primarily within the black community. Hip Hop as an art form and culture has been heavily influenced by both male and female artists. It is charac ...

Filmography

* ''A Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment Plan"'' (short, 1972) * ''

'' (1975) * '' Emma Mae'' (1976) * ''

'' (1979) * '' Penitentiary II'' (1982) * '' Penitentiary III'' (1987) * ''Street Wars'' (1992)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanaka, Jamaa 1942 births 2012 deaths Artists from Jackson, Mississippi English-language film directors L.A. Rebellion UCLA Film School alumni Film directors from Mississippi 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people