HarlemLive -alphanewsbeat*

Artist in Influence 2001
presents
Bill Miles Filmmaker / Producer

On Sunday afternoon April 22, 2001, the Hatch-Billops Collection a New York art collection and publishing company presented an interview with one of America's unrecognized national treasures: Bill Miles. The interview was conducted by Juanita Howard of Baruch College who has also worked on a number of projects with Miles. We might ask: why is Miles an unrecognized national treasure? The reason is because he is one of Americas' eminent award-winning film documentarians of African American history and personalities and has received very little recognition on a national or even local scale.

The pursuit of Miles' work is always focused on preserving the history of events and individuals in African American life. For at least 40 years, Bill Miles has masterfully researched story after story to create documentaries such as "Men of Bronze," the story of the 369th infantry regiment of African American soldiers that fought under the French Flag in World War I; "The Black Cowboys;" "Black Stars in Orbit," a film about the black astronauts; "Champions," a portrayal ofAfrican-American heroes as role models; and "I remember Harlem"--just to name a few.

As Juanita asked Miles questions about his experiences in the process of what it took for him to make his films, he regaled the audience of some thirty people with one story after another . Miles, being an excellent raconteur, cited a situation when he was working for New York's channel 13 public television station and how the experience shows what one has to do to maintain the integrity of purpose to keep a project real and on track. The executive branch of the station felt that the title of "Black Stars in Orbit" should be changed. They didn't have a recommendation at the time but suggested that Miles try to come up with another title. So Miles ruminated for a few days wrestling in his mind to come up with what might be suitable for the film other than what he already chose. When he met again with the executives to talk about the new choice, he admitted that he had not come up with anything that he felt was suitable. However, they continued to press him on the subject. Then, in the heat of the moment, exasperation set in but in a creative sort of way, and Miles responded " How about --From Slave Ship to Space Ship." The executive backed off, and the project went through with its original name. The presentation had a very successful response, but the funding seemed to slow down for later projects from that television station.

Nevertheless, in spite of all of the obstacles when trying to develop projects, the main part of which always centers around access to capital, Miles continues to persevere. Two projects now in the works include: a story on how the Martin Luther King National Holiday took shape and a documentary profile of Augusta Savage, who was a turn of the century African American artist and who was also a civil rights activist and feminist before those issues became popular. Work is also being done to preserve the works and archives of Bill Miles.

* The HarlemLive-alphanewsbeat is a periodical news coverage of events written byAlfie Wade Jr. /Advisor to HarlemLive