"Walter Benjamin suggests that film is comparable to surgery, the instrument allowing the operator to penetrate the body of the subject while, paradoxically, maintaining his or her distance." These words mark the appropriate beginning of Blu in You-a visual conversation that dissects historical and contemporary representations of the black female body. It takes the form of an essayist rumination mediated through the lens of a female observer (Melanie Smith), who watches staged conversations between a visual arts curator (Andrea Fatona) and a writer (Nalo Hopkinson). The two explore subjectivity and sexuality by looking at various thematics. Beginning with a cultural history of violence and spectacularization (embodied in the figure of "the Hottentot Venus") the gaze shifts to the present, with discussions of art, the representation of celebrated cultural icons (Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge, and the muse Jeanne Duval), and the contemporary, black, queer female erotic body and sexuality.

Year: 2008
Duration: 50 minutes
Country: Canada/Trinidad and Tobago
Language: English
Director: Michelle Mohabeer
Rating: 14+
Contact: thirdeyefilm@sympatico.ca