The documentary focuses on Joséphine Baker's life and work from a black perspective and presents the artist both as a mirror of European colonial fantasies and as a symbol of the worldwide black consciousness movement of the 20th century.
Pioneers of black dance, such as Geoffrey Holder, > Arthur Mitchell, Carmen de Lavallade, Maurice Hines and Elsa Wolliaston, recall their stage appearances and encounters with Baker; biographers and historians comment on well-known and unknown footage and photographies. Clichés that have persisted to this day are decontructed and the underlying facts are set in a new historical context.
Joséphine Baker was the first black diva who thought and acted in global dimensions. She became a star in Europe and a world-wide symbol of peace and a better understanding among nations and different cultures.
Trailers online
> Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White Man’s World,
Trailer - ArtMattan Films
> Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White Man's World – Trailer
> Rezension: Qualität im Verzicht, PDF
Filmfest zum 100. Geburtstag von Joséphine Baker
Golden Gate Award 2007, San Francisco
in der Kategorie TV documentary short
Eröffnungsfilm auf dem Londoner Dance on Screen Festival, 2007
Begleitprogramm zur Ausstellung Black Paris
im Iwalewa Haus Bayreuth, 2006
Further reading
Phyllis Rose:
Jazz Cleopatra. Josephine Baker in Her Time
Doubleday, New York
ISBN: 0-385-24891-1