Maya Angelou
Poet, artist, and cultural philosopher Maya Angelou (1928 - ) was born in St. Louis, Missouri as "Marguerite Johnson". She began her prolific career playing the role of "Ruby" in the 1954 European Tour of "Porgy and Bess". Since that time, she has performed both as a stage and film actress, working on such high-profile projects as Brecht's "Mother Courage" (Mother Courage), "Roots" (Nyo Boto - her performance was nominated for the 1977 Emmy for Best Supporting Actress), and "Medea's Family Reunion" (Aunt May). However, she is best known for her poetry, autobiographies, and racial activism. Today, she holds Honorary Degrees from over 30 American universities and was the proud recipient of the 2000 Presidential Medal of Arts - not to mention hundreds (literally) of other awards and recognitions.
Despite a life embedded in the arts, Angelou has only two film directoral credits: the 1976 episode "The Tapestry/Circles" of the dramatic television series "Visions", and the 1998 Miramax film "Down in the Delta". "Visions" had a brief run and, if today's lack of information is anything to gauge by, didn't make that much of a splash in its heyday. However, the premise of "Visions" was episodic, so Angelou's episode was all her own (as opposed to a small story within a season-long arc) - that's pretty neat.
Today, the "Visions" series seems forgotten, and "Down in the Delta" might be headed for the same fate.
From the back of the "Down in the Delta" DVD case...
"In a desperate attempt to change her life, Loretta (Alfre Woodard) -- a troubled single mother from a tough Chicago neighborhood -- is sent to spend a summer in her family's ancestral home in rural Mississippi. In "The Delta," with the support and widsom of her hardworking Uncle Earl, Loretta finally begins to see a way to provide for her young children and reverse the downward slide of her life. A heartwarming, critically acclaimed motion picture also starring Wesley Snipes and Loretta Devine -- share in this remarkable journey to discover the strength of a family's roots and the power of unconditional love!"
The narrative of "Delta" definitely falls in line with Angelou's literary work - namely, the push for African-Americans to shove off a White iconography and to create for themselves (both as a race and individually) a culture and social vocabulary they can call their own and be proud of, and only from that vantage point can we all find true racial harmony. However, prolific artist or no, I cannot find any clips from the movie online.
I first found Maya Angelou (as a filmmaker) on sistersincinema.com. I was then able to easily reference her work on imdb.com. Again though, Angelou the poet is much easier to find than Angelou the filmmaker.
Although "Delta" won the 1999 Prism award and the Chicago International Film Festival's Audience Choice award, the fact that "Down on the Delta" yields NOTHING on youtube.com is a little disheartening. And as you research the film on the internet, you soon realize that people are just recycling and summarizing the same snippit above.
It's my opinion that a lifetime as a poet and philosopher is what finally turned the heads at Miramax to give Angelou the director's helm of "Delta" - or they could've exploited her name for box office leverage. Either way, popular opinion remained stubborn and even today, Angelou enthusiasts aren't ready to accept the poet as a filmmaker.
RESOURCES
http://www.sistersincinema.com
http://www.mayaangelou.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.amazon.com