Martin co-edits book on black film
Michael Martin, professor and director of the Black Film Center/Archive, is co-editor of The Politics & Poetics of Black Film: Nothing But a Man, a new book published Oct. 13 by Indiana University Press.
Martin worked with David Wall of the Department of Visual Studies at Utah State University to edit the book, which looks at the 1964 film Nothing But a Man directed by Michael Roemer.
The film is about a drifter, Duff Anderson, with a young son whom he leaves behind when he moves to work in a mill. Set in the Deep South, the movie has themes of racial tensions and civil rights. Anderson is eventually forced to quit at the mill and ends up unemployed.
The Library of Congress selected Nothing But a Man for the National Film Registry in 1993.
In their book, Martin and Wall compiled resources about the film, including the original screenplay, essays on the film, interviews with the producer and director, quotes from filmmakers and more. The Politics & Poetics of Black Film: Nothing But a Man puts the film in the context of black film studies.