Catalunya Calling

Melvin Van Peebles

New York City

No obstacle is too high for the Van who can. When Melvin gets an idea in his head, it's doesn't just become an artistic endeavour - it becomes a statement about social politics and enterprise, crowbarring some slack for the voices of the minority. We could all learn something from Melvin's fearless approach to film-making: "I didn't know a thing about shooting a film sixteen to one or ten to one or none of that shit. Then I forgot you had to develop film. And I didn't know you needed a work print. All I can say is that after I did one thing he would say, 'Well, aren't you gonna put sound on it?' and I would go, 'Oh shit!' That's all I could say." After making some short films that got some short shrift from Hollywood, Melvin was embraced by the French school of cinema, and so, like any aspiring film-maker, Melvin learned the language, and began writing plays in French. By developing a style of talking over the songs, Melvin's album 'Brer Soul' from 1969 is a strong contender for original hip hop blueprint. With some European cred to his name, Melvin returned to Hollywood and dropped his film 'Watermelon Man', a surreal fantasy about race and fickle friendships. His most acclaimed film 'Sweet Sweetback's Badasss Song' - for which he pretty much broke all the rules, and wrote, produced, scored, directed and starred in - laid several huge footprints that an eager Hollywood quickly jumped in, turning the brother man into an American national icon, and inspiring artists like Spike Lee, Gil Scott Heron, and The Last Poets.