Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs, The

By: Amos Lassen

"THE SIGNIFYIN' WORKS OF MARLON RIGGS"
A Singular Filmmaker
Amos Lassen
In June, 2021 Criterion is bringing us "The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs" in which we see that there has
never been a filmmaker like Marlon Riggs (1957-1994). Riggs was an unapologetic gay black man who went against a culture of silence and shame to speak his truth with conviction and joy. Early on he used video technology with a deep understanding of the power of words and images to effect change combining documentary performance, poetry, music and experimental techniques with which he faced the issues that most of Reagan-era America refused to acknowledge. These included the devastating legacy of racist stereotypes to the impact of the AIDS crisis on his own queer African American community and the definition of what it means to be Black.
Here are Riggs's complete works - including "Tongues Untied" and "Black Is . . . Black Ain't. "The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs" follows the artistic and political evolution of a transformative filmmaker whose work is a call for liberation and an invaluable historical document. This amazing new boxed set from The Criterion Collection also includes "Ethnic Notions", "Affirmations", "Anthem", "Color Adjustment" and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien".
Special features include: New high-definition digital masters of all seven films, with uncompressed stereo soundtracks on the Blu-rays; Four new programs featuring editor Christiane Badgley, performers Brian Freeman, Reginald T. Jackson and Bill T. Jones, filmmakers Cheryl Dunye and Rodney Evans, poet Jericho Brown, film and media scholar Racquel Gates and sociologist Herman Gray; Long Train Running: The Story of the Oakland Blues (1981), Riggs's graduate thesis film; An introduction to Riggs, recorded in 2020 and featuring filmmakers Vivian Kleiman and Shikeith, and Ashley Clark, curatorial director of the Criterion Collection; The documentary I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs (1996); Plus an essay by film critic K. Austin Collins.