Press Release - March 17th, 2009

Full Frame Announces Career Award Programming Honoring St. Clair Bourne
Six films selected by guest curator Sam Pollard

Durham, N.C., - March 17, 2009 – The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has announced its lineup of films around the 2009 Full Frame Career Award honoring St. Clair Bourne. Sam Pollard has selected six titles for the tribute, incorporating films that Bourne appreciated along with older and more recent titles from Bourne’s own body of work.

“We are very proud of the work Sam Pollard has programmed for this tribute. The fact that he has incorporated films that St. Clair Bourne talked and wrote about seems especially meaningful given Bourne’s role not only as a filmmaker but also as an avid filmgoer, someone who truly valued screening and discussing the films of others,” stated director of programming, Sadie Tillery. “In my own experience with St. Clair, he did not shy away from difficult issues, and I can only hope that if he were still with us he would be satisfied with the work we are screening in his honor.”

Friends and colleagues of St. Clair Bourne will come together to discuss his significant role inthe filmmaking community, his immense body of work, and his legacy in the Career Award Ceremony on Saturday, April 4 at 5:00pm. The Ceremony will involve colleagues who Bourne both worked with and mentored over the years.

"Saint was a mentor to many of us young producers who were trying to establish our careers," said Sam Pollard. "He was always available to look at our films at any stage and always there with fresh insights into how we could make our work better. He will be terribly missed."

Guests for the Career Award Ceremony will be announced in the coming days. A list of the six films is included below.

Black Journal
Produced by St. Clair Bourne. Executive Producer William Greaves.
Excerpts from Bourne's work as a producer at Black Journal, the first monthly public affairs program on public television by, for, and about African Americans.
In Motion: Amiri Baraka
Directed by St. Clair Bourne
This 1983 film follows Amiri Baraka in the weeks leading up to his sentencing trial for "resisting arrest."
John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk
Directed by St. Clair Bourne
This film brings to life the visionary scholarship of Africanist John Henrik Clarke.
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Directed by St. Clair Bourne
A political coming-of-age story about African American actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson and the nation that both adored and persecuted him.
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song
Directed by Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles's infamous film in which he stars as a man on the run from the law after murdering two white cops who brutally beat an innocent black man.
A Time for Burning
Directed by Bill Jersey, Barbara Connell.
An earnest glimpse at race relations during the civil rights era, this film chronicles a Midwestern pastor's attempts to engage his all-white congregation in conversation with members of an African American sister church.

Contact Information:
Lauren Whaley, Jennings, 919-929-0225, lwhaley@jenningsco.com
Nancy Novell, Full Frame, 919 433 9803, nancy.novell@fullframefest.org

About Full Frame
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema. Each spring Full Frame welcomes filmmakers and film lovers from around the world to historic downtown Durham, N.C., for a four-day, morning to midnight array of over 100 films as well as discussions, panels, and southern hospitality. Set within a single city block, the intimate festival landscape fosters community and conversation between filmmakers, film professionals and the general public.

The festival is produced by Doc Arts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and receives support from corporate sponsors, private foundations and individual donors whose generosity provides the foundation that makes the event possible. To learn more on the mission of Full Frame or for information on membership or sponsorship opportunities, scheduled films or festival passes visit www.fullframefest.org.