Author Special Episode 1-Mia Mask

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It's a first for The Oscar Project, an interview with an author who writes about movies. Today's guest is Mia Mask, a professor at Vassar College where she teaches African American cinema, Documentary History, and seminars on topics including horror film and auteurs like Spike Lee, Charles Burnett and Ava DuVernay. She also teaches feminist film theory, African national cinemas, and other genre courses. Her commentary can be heard on NPR and her first book Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film was published in 2009. Today she joins me to talk about her new book Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western.

Listen to hear about Mia's work with Criterion, including getting to speak with actor Sidney Poitier, what three of her favorite westerns are, and much more.

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Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Western in the Global South by MaryEllen Higgins, Rita Keresztesi, and Dayna Oscherwitz
• Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts in the Cinematic Frontier by Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper
• Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present by Robin R. Means Coleman
• Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• The Learning Tree directed by Gordon Parks
• Buck and the Preacher directed by Sidney Poitier
• Thomasine and Bushrod directed by Gordon Parks Jr.
• Queen & Slim directed by Melina Matsoukas
• Bonnie & Clyde directed by Arthur Penn
• Django Unchained directed by Quentin Tarantino
• The Harder They Come directed by Perry Henzell
• Five Fingers for Marseilles directed by Michael Matthews
• The Homesteader directed by Oscar Micheaux and Jerry Mills
• Swingtime directed by George Stevens
• A Raisin in the Sun directed by Daniel Petrie
• Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror directed by Robin Givens, Kimani Ray Smith, Rob J. Greenlea, Director X., Zandashé Brown, and Joe West

Check out Wikipedia for more information about the Lobo Comics mentioned in the interview.

And check out this article from Collider featuring "10 Actors Who Were Pioneers of the Western Genre."

A Brief Intro to Black Westerns with Mia Mask