Film: The Black Art: In the Absence of Light

With the screening of Sam Pollard’s documentary The Black Art: In the Absence of Light, the U.S. Embassy is partnering with the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje and with support from the American Film Showcase to celebrate art as a platform for social justice during Black History Month. 

Samuel D. Pollard is an American film director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. His films have garnered numerous awards such as Peabodys, Emmys, and an Academy Award nomination. In 2020, the International Documentary Association gave him a career achievement award. Spike Lee, whose films Pollard has edited and produced, described him as being “a master filmmaker.” Henry Louis Gates Jr. characterizes his work in this way: “When I think about his documentaries, they add up to a corpus — a way of telling African-American history in its various dimensions.

The Black Art: In the Absence of Light (85 minutes) follows various Black American artists and their contributions to the art world.

Directed by Sam Pollard; Producers Sam Pollard and Daphne McWilliams; Cinematographer Henry Adebonjo; Editor Steve Wecsler; Music Kathryn Bostic; Released on February 9, 2021, by HBO.