During Festival Appearance Mario Van Peebles Remembers Late Father Melvin Van Peebles in Touching Speech

During Festival Appearance Mario Van Peebles Remembers Late Father Melvin Van Peebles in Touching Speech

Mario Van Peebles, the son of historic filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, honored his late father at the New York Film Festival with a 4k screening of his notable film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. At the now-outdoor event in Damrosch Park, the Panther director opened the screening with a touching tribute to his father.

“This film was made at a time when you didn’t see Black people onscreen with facial hair, let alone some of the crazy s–– my dad does in this movie,” he said, per Indie Wire. “White folks saw the peace and freedom movement reflected a little bit from films like Easy Rider, but we didn’t have that,” Mario said. “So he makes Sweetback and puts Black power on the screen for the first time. Audiences at first didn’t know what the heck it was.”

Melvin Van Peebles passed away in Manhattan on September 22. He was 89 years of age. On social media, the film community mourned the passing of the Black cinema giant and shared parts of his legacy that had a profound impact on them and their craft. Van Peebles was the film’s title character. He played an orphan raised in a brothel and eventually rose to fight racism in Los Angeles using his lessons as a child. The movie was added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 2013. During Festival Appearance Mario Van Peebles Remembers Late Father Melvin Van Peebles in Touching Speech

“You saw a lot of flicks with us being the servant class,” Mario said of the era whenSweetback was made in 1971. “The world is changing, and the way we’re reflected onscreen has been colored, or as I call it, the ‘mo’ tea Suh?’ tribe. … This was a film about a sex worker who goes from a ‘we’ mentality to a ‘me’ mentality.” Mario continued: “On Watermelon Man, the film crew was all white men. He was steadfast that he wanted the film crew that looked like America.”

Mario added that he went to his father often for advice. “When I was about to have kids, I asked my dad a bunch of questions. I had a list of s––, all the stuff I wanted to ask him about,” He said. “I asked him if he’d do this film the same way. He said, ‘Yes, son, I had to have WOM factor.’ WOM was ‘word of mouth.’ The movie had to be outrageous enough that with no budget, he could get it out there. Whether you loved this movie or hated it, you would talk about it.”

Latest News

Related Articles