Cinema

In new book, SFSU professor revisits African American comedy of the 1980s and 1990s

Matt Itelson — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

In new book, SFSU professor revisits African American comedy of the 1980s and 1990s

Author: Matt Itelson

July 7, 2025

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Artel Great

‘The Black Pack,’ by Artel Great of the School of Cinema, explores legacy of five influential comedians

The most popular African American-helmed comedies of the 1980s and 1990s made millions of people laugh, but San Francisco State University Associate Professor Artel Great has discovered a greater purpose in them. His new book, “The Black Pack: Comedy, Race and Resistance,” offers groundbreaking scholarly analysis on five influential artists of the era: Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Arsenio Hall, Robert Townsend and Paul Mooney.

These five men joined forces as a comedic collective known as “The Black Pack” and became household names as actors, writers, producers, directors and collaborators. In “The Black Pack” (Rutgers University Press), Great cites 24 productions between 1987 and 1994 that defined a generation, both splitting sides and testing boundaries. In a review of “The Black Pack,” the Library Journal praises the book as “an entertaining and essential read.”

“I call it ‘laugh-tivism.’ The book is a tribute to generations of Black American comedians and how they used their voices to challenge corrupt authority, to confront the racial condition in America and to say very serious things,” Great said. “The book speaks to this notion of revolutionary laughter, but it also speaks to the need for a creative space for laughter as catharsis and the need to create space for Black joy — and to do so through brotherhood and solidarity.”

Great is a scholar, filmmaker, actor and former standup comedian who holds SFSU’s George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in African American Cinema Studies. He appeared in films such as “Light It Up” and “Save the Last Dance” and landed an Independent Spirit Award nomination for “Dahmer” before earning his doctorate at New York University and later directing two feature films.

From age 9, Great spent countless nights at his grandmother’s house in Chicago watching classics like Hall’s talk show, Townsend’s “Hollywood Shuffle” and Wayans’ “In Living Color.” It wasn’t until years later that he noticed how the rebellious, pro-Black themes spoke to sociopolitical issues that persist between generations.

Great traces the lineage of Black American comedy from slavery and vaudeville. In the late 19th century, a biracial man named Charley Case established the contemporary style of standup comedy. He would take command at center stage and speak directly to the audience, sometimes with minstrelsy makeup on his face, Great writes in “The Black Pack.”

Great plans to use “The Black Pack” in his SFSU School of Cinema courses, accompanied by viewings. He’s excited to observe how students react. Eddie Murphy films like “Boomerang” and “Coming to America” still make him laugh and give him feelings of nostalgia but may be new to them. More importantly, Great hopes students will be inspired to bring brightness to the world, with humor or without: “My ultimate goal is to always make our students more active and practical citizens.”

Learn more about the SFSU School of Cinema.

Courtesy of Rutgers University Press

SFSU students, alumni contribute to animated opera

Matt Itelson — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 16:00:02 +0000

SFSU students, alumni contribute to animated opera

Author: Matt Itelson

December 5, 2024

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Pocket Opera

Pocket Opera collaboration brings Animation students into new film adaptation of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’

The COVID-19 quarantines of 2020 forced educators and artists alike to work in new and creative ways. One such collaboration involving San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema just recently enjoyed its debut. “A Pocket Magic Flute” is an animated film adaptation of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” produced by the Pocket Opera company of San Francisco. It is a finalist for the Digital Excellence in Opera Award from Opera America.

Nicolas A. Garcia, artistic director of the San Francisco Pocket Opera, conceived the film project and garnered funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Opera America. He contacted SFSU Cinema Professor Martha Gorzycki to get students involved. Gorzycki (MFA, ’02), the director of the University’s Animation Program, mentored five student interns who worked on pre-production and production: Estrella Torres, Jacqueline “Rosie” Nares, Alex Wood, Madeline Ko and Jessie Plascencia.

“It really helped me understand how the pipeline of production works in animation,” said Nares (B.A., ’22), now a library media assistant at an elementary school in Stockton. “I already had a bit of an idea just because I’m a huge animation fan. But being firsthand, I got to try a little bit of everything. Working in background, character and prop design, I was able to figure out where I fit in the pipeline, too, because it is my dream is to work in the industry.”

Torres (B.A., ’21) helped create storyboards and design characters and props. She says working on “A Pocket Magic Flute” was a pivotal moment for her.

“It gave me my first real opportunity to step into the animation world and feel confident in my skills,” Torres said. “When Martha reached out to me specifically because of my talents, it was such an honor. It gave me the encouragement I needed to believe in myself and my abilities as an artist. The class she created was small, with only five students, and I felt so fortunate to be one of them.

“The experience not only helped me grow as an artist, but also reinforced my love for animation as a medium for storytelling,” added Torres, now an instructional aide for middle-school students with disabilities in Brentwood. “I’m truly excited to see how it resonates with audiences and how it might inspire others.”

Shawneé Gibbs (B.A., ’02) and Shawnelle Gibbs (B.A., ’02) are the lead producers, screenwriters and animation directors on “A Pocket Magic Flute.” The siblings comprise a powerhouse team, writing scripts for cartoons for many of the major studios and networks. Miriam Lewis (MFA, ’12) is the lead costumer. They all attended the world-premiere screening, held in the August Coppola Theatre at SFSU on Sept. 25.

“A Pocket Magic Flute” has brought together numerous arts organizations, including the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Oakland Youth Symphony, Sacramento Youth Symphony and Sirnare Animation Studio in Kenya.

“A Pocket Magic Flute” is now traveling to classrooms of fourth to eighth graders, accompanied by a curriculum and appearances by the artists in person.

“This was a local and international collaboration of diverse teams of scholars and artists coming together remotely to produce a 20-minute animated film,” Gorzycki said. “One of the primary goals of this project is to educate youth and especially BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and People of Color] youth on collaborative and creative career possibilities in the performing arts, fine arts and media arts.”

Learn more about the SFSU School of Cinema.

SF State-produced documentaries tell stories of the first Black Marines

Matt Itelson — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 16:00:00 +0000

SF State-produced documentaries tell stories of the first Black Marines

Author: Matt Itelson

February 12, 2024

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Veteran Documentary Corps

The Montford Point Marines were 20,000 African Americans trained in the 1940s

To commemorate Black History Month, a San Francisco State University documentary team will debut four shorts about the first Black servicemembers in the U.S. Marine Corps. Each of the short films will be available on YouTube.

The films are oral histories with surviving members of the Montford Point Marines, 20,000 African Americans trained between 1942 and 1949 in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The first recruits began one year after U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt outlawed racial discrimination in war industries, allowing Black men and women, although only in a segregated fashion.

San Francisco State History Professor Trevor Getz, who produced the films along with Cinema Professor Daniel L. Bernardi, emphasizes the lasting legacy of the Montford Point Marines and the lessons that can be learned from them.

“They fought the Second World War and the war against racism together. And then they went on to serve the country and their communities for decades after,” Getz said. “They want to pass on messages that are of great value to us today. The team of filmmakers led by Bernardi managed to capture those messages authentically. The results are powerful.”

The Veteran Documentary Corps (VDC), an institute based in SF State’s College of Liberal & Creative Arts, created the films as part of its ongoing mission to tell authentic stories of the American veteran experience. Bernardi, VDC’s director, directed three of them, with Eliciana Nascimiento helming the other. Many other Cinema alumni and students also participated, including Andrés Gallegos, Hannah Anderson, Robert Barbarino, Joshua Cardenas, Jian Giannini and Jesse Sutterley.

“The series in honor of African American contribution to the ideals of American freedom and civil rights was 95% SFSU: from faculty producers, faculty directors, faculty sound designer, alumni director of photograph, editor and animator to a crew of Cinema graduate and undergraduate students,” said Bernardi, who is a veteran of the Iraq war and a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves.

Later this year, Oxford University Press will publish a related nonfiction comic book, “The First Black Marines,” by Getz and SF State History student Robert Willis.

Watch the documentaries on YouTube.