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Ornette: Made in America

Ornette: Made in America (English)
Location
Main screening room
Date
March 6th, 2026
Duration
77 min
Cycle
Black Power: The Poetry of Struggle

Cinema that chronicles the Black liberation movement of the 1970s, in the wake of the civil rights movement, provides a fertile ground for expression. Wildly creative in form, the films in this program never lose sight of the social significance of their subject matter. A few titles from before and after that period complete the picture. Guest programmer: eunice bélidor.

Ornette: Made in America
Directed by
Shirley Clarke
Language
English
Origins
USA
Year
1985
Duration
77 min
Genre
Documentary, music
Format
Digital
Synopsis

Returning in 1983 to his home in Fort Worth, Texas, documentary footage and dramatic scenes recall legendary performer and composer Ornette Coleman's rise from oppressed youth to cultural pioneer. Raised in segregated Texas before traveling the world from Morocco to New York, his subsequent emergence as a world-class earned Ornette praise from the lines of icon William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Buckminster Fuller, Don Cherry, Yoko Ono, Charlie Haden, Robert Palmer and more – all contributors to this film.

Ornette: Made in America

Shirley Clarke

Shirley Clarke was a leading figure in American avant-garde cinema. A trained dancer and choreographer, she made her first films about dance (Dance in the Sun, 1953). Close to New York intellectual circles and the Living Theatre, she later moved into experimental filmmaking, bringing a deeply personal vision of America and cinema to her work. In the early 1960s, she co-founded The Film-Makers' Cooperative in New York with Jonas Mekas. Her film Skyscraper was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1960. Her first feature, The Connection, opened the Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival in 1961, a screening that earned her international acclaim. From the 1970s onwards, she dedicated herself to video experimentation within the Teepee Video Space Troupe collective. In 1985, she directed her last film, Ornette: Made in America, a documentary on jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman.

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Black Power : la poésie d’une lutte

La programmatrice invitée eunice bélidor nous présente le cycle Black Power : la poésie d'une lutte, présenté jusqu'au 31 mars.

« Je souhaitais utiliser le cinéma comme moyen de montrer la beauté et la poésie qui émergent des situations les plus difficiles. »

About Shirley Clarke
Filmography
Open