‘Celebration of Newsreel’ at Melnitz Theater

The UCLA Film and Television Archives’ “In Celebration of Newsreel,” which marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the collective of socially conscious film makers, concludes Thursday in Melnitz Theater with two different programs, at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Christine Choy’s 55-minute “Namibia: Independence Now!” (1985) is a most appropriate final offering. A calm, forthright outline of chronic injustice and racism, “Namibia” does what members of both New York’s Third World Newsreel and California Newsreel do best: The film makers go into a specific region and let the inhabitants speak for themselves. Newsreel film makers understand that they need not impose any political doctrine, allowing the very choice of their subjects to reveal where their sympathies and concerns lie.

This film is particularly valuable and timely because it brings attention to the plight and the aspirations of the people of Namibia, which has the misfortune to be adjacent to South Africa. From exile settlements in Zambia and Angola, Namibians protest oppression from South Africa--and the United States’ role in it--and express their commitment to self-determination.

“Namibia” will be followed by Allan Siegel’s 50-minute “Chronicle of Hope: Nicaragua,” which follows a group of Americans to Nicaragua, where they attempt to provide humanitarian aid.

Launching the 7:30 p.m. program is Deborah May’s “You Have Struck a Rock!” (1985), a 28-minute film calling attention to the contribution of black South African women in opposing apartheid. It will be followed by a rarity for the Newsreels of either coast, a film that is fiction rather than documentary. Unfortunately, the 20-minute “Marriage Dinner,” made by the Third World Newsreel Workshop, is disappointing. It focuses on an ambitious Chicano college student who has accepted money to marry a young Salvadoran woman, an illegal alien. Highly didactic, the film chastises him for his lack of awareness about Latino culture and the situation in Central America. Frankly, it’s impossible to believe that someone portrayed as clearly intelligent would be so totally uninformed or insensitive.

Luckily, the last offering of this final program in the series is one of its best. Camille Billop’s and James Hatch’s 30-minute “Suzanne, Suzanne” (1982) is a veritable psychodrama in which a young, middle-class black woman and her mother confront each other. The mother is a Lena Horne look-alike, once a Mrs. America contestant, poised and beautiful, but dangerously passive. The daughter has overcome heroin addiction. At issue is their past at the hands of a physically abusive, alcoholic husband and father--now dead some 15 years. (213) 825-2581.

The UCLA Film and Television Archives’ glorious Festival of Preservation concludes this weekend, highlighted by such rarities as Roland West’s 65-millimeter “The Bat Whispers” (1930), Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Melnitz Theater, and Frank Tuttle’s “This Is the Night” (1932) at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Information: (213) 825-2581 for full schedule.