VAN PEEBLES

I joined Dr. Carlos Moore - an acclaimed writer on activism and race - during an interview with Melvin Van Peebles. Dr. Moore needed information about Paris in the 1960s from Melvin's perspective, a time when Carlos was there exiled from Cuba, the same time Melvin Van Peebles was showing his feature films, working as an actor as well as crime reporting for Nouvelle Observatoire in Paris. In 1960, when Van Peebles first arrived in Paris, he didn't speak the language or have a place to land. "When I got some bread, I had a leather coat made. Long and loose fitting so you could stuff newspaper in it for insulation for the cold at 3am."Van Peebles expanded into the world of Paris and in 1970 began the work that would lead to his most famous filmSweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which spawned an era of African American films.Carlos and Melvin met in 1964 and hadn't seen each other for over thirty years. These images reflect a most intimate encounter between two uncompromising spirits, artists and dear friends.