Chocolate Babies
| Chocolate Babies | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Stephen Winter |
| Produced by | Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Chris Shaw |
| Edited by | Francisco Macias |
Production company | |
Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Chocolate Babies is a 1996 American film directed by Stephen Winter.[1] The film follows a group of queer activists of color in New York City that implemented actions against conservative politicians in response to the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s within African American communities.
Cast
[edit]- Dudley Findlay Jr. - Larva
- Bryan Webster - Councilman Melvin Freeman
- Gregg Ferguson - Jamela
- Michael Hyatt - Lauretta
- Claude E. Sloan - Max
- Jon Kit Lee - Sam
- Michael Lynch - Lady Marmalade
- Sean Barr - Red Haired Politician
- Jon Kit Lee
Release
[edit]
The film premiered on 21 July 1996 at Outfest in Los Angeles.[2] The film's world premiere was at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival in the section Panorama.[3][4] Despite receiving praise and critical acclaim at festivals, the film didn't receive a wide distribution. Winters commented on this: "Unless some company gave it some kind of credence and distribution and allowed it to be seen by people, beyond here and there, it wasn’t going to be seen."[5]
In September 2021, the film was taken up as a Criterion Classic by the Criterion Channel.[6][5]
Critical reception
[edit]The film received the Honorable Mention for Narrative Feature in 1997 at the SXSW Film Festival as well as the award for best feature at New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival 1997.[2] The film also received a Honorable Mention at Urbanworld Film Festival.[4]
Film historian Elizabeth Purchell included the film in a selection of "underseen (or just plain forgotten)" queer films.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Chocolate Babies (1996) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-08-14
- ^ a b Chocolate Babies, retrieved 2021-08-14
- ^ "Chocolate Babies". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ^ a b "Chocolate Babies". Stephen Winter. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ^ a b "Stephen Winter's audacious 'Chocolate Babies' and 'Jason and Shirley' join Criterion's classics". Metro Weekly. 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ^ "The Criterion Channel's September 2021 Lineup". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ^ "A Most Unusual Film List: 50 Years of Radical Queer Cinema". Talk Film Society. 12 June 2018. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
External links
[edit]
- 1996 films
- 1996 LGBTQ-related films
- American independent films
- LGBTQ African-American culture
- American LGBTQ-related films
- Films shot in New York City
- Historiography of LGBTQ in New York City
- HIV/AIDS in American films
- African-American LGBTQ-related films
- African-American films
- 1996 independent films
- 1990s English-language films
- 1990s American films
- English-language independent films