User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Jennifer Hodge da Silva

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Jennifer Hodge de Silva was an African-Canadian filmmaker. Her film, Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, revealed tensions between and police and residents of the Jane and Finch neighbourhood of Toronto. The residents were mainly immigrants from Jamaica and Africa.

Dieppe 1942 (1979)
Hodge was associate producer of CBC-TV's Dieppe 1942, two 90-minute films about "one of the most tragic events of the Second World War", shot on location in Dieppe in 1979 with Canadian, British and German veterans produced by Macartney-Filgate. She facilitated directly involved German participants in the film by inviting veterans of the German Infantry Division to share their experiences. two 90-minute films by CBC-TV on one of the most tragic events of the Second World War.

Veterans from opposite sides (Canadian, British and German) who had fought at Dieppe, were involved in Dieppe 1942 and the film was shot on the beaches where the raids had actually taken place. As associate producer, Jennifer was responsible for organizing the German involvement in the film. In 1979, in one of her few published interviews, she described her experience with the project:

Reviews
"Hodge de Silva directed a number of films during the 1980s that established the dominant mode in African Canadian film culture. Working exclusively in the documentary and often on sponsored films, she staked out a set of concerns and a mode of production that might be termed black liberalism."

- Cameron Bailey 1990 "A Cinema of Duty: The Films of Jennifer Hodge de Silva" CineAction

Cameron Bailey, a Canadian film critic and artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival, acknowledged her work in his 1990 article later published in a film anthology. Bailey "honoured the work of black filmmakers like Jennifer Hodge de Silva who worked in 'marginalized' forms of production, sometimes making sponsored films for organizations like the John Howard Society or the Toronto Board of Education".

Selected filmography

 * Home Feeling: A Struggle for Community (1983)

Jennifer Hodge de Silva was a "pioneering filmmaker of African-Canadian filmmaker of the 1970s and 1980s. Her "landmark" film, Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community revealed tensions between and police and residents of Jane and Finch, who were mainly immigrants from Jamaica and Africa.

Career
"Hodge de Silva directed a number of films during the 1980s that established the dominant mode in African Canadian film culture. Working exclusively in the documentary and often on sponsored films, she staked out a set of concerns and a mode of production that might be termed black liberalism."

- Cameron Bailey 1990 "A Cinema of Duty: The Films of Jennifer Hodge de Silva" CineAction

Cameron Bailey, a Canadian film critic and artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival honoured her work in his 1990 article later published in a film anthology. Bailey "honoured the work of black filmmakers like Jennifer Hodge de Silva who worked in "marginalized" forms of production, sometimes making sponsored films for organizations like the John Howard Society or the Toronto Board of Education.

Further reference



 * "Black Images." Montreal Gazette. (February 15, 1993), p. C3.


 * Black on Screen: Images of Black Canadians, 1950's-1990's. Montréal: National Film Board of Canada, 1992.


 * Brand, Dionne. "Jane/Finch Occupation." Fuse: The Cultural Newsmagazine. Vol. 7, no. 3 (September/October 1983), p. 112-114.


 * Dale, Stephen. "Hodge Probes Corridor Struggle." NOW: Toronto's Weekly News and Entertainment Voice. Vol. 2, no. 46 (July 28-Aug. 3, 1983), p. 7 and 14.


 * Flynn-Burhoe, Maureen. "Positive Presence of Absence: A History of the African Canadian Community through Works in the Permanent Collection of the National Gallery of Canada." [Ottawa, Ontario: Carleton University, 2003]. www.carleton.ca/~mflynnbu/PositivePresenceAbsence/ (accessed February 10, 2004).


 * Hezekiah, Gabrielle. "Don't Go to Dat Place and Fool Around Like Rich Girls: Black Canadian Women Filmmakers and Video Artists." CineAction: Radical Film Criticism and Theory. No. 32 (Fall 1993), p. 68-76.


 * Jackson Lord, Marva. "Black Canadian Film: The Hidden Story." Originally published in Black Filmmaker Magazine. London, United Kingdom: 2001. www.griots.net/archives/focus/bcfilm.html (accessed February 10, 2004).


 * "Jennifer Hodge de Silva." In Some Black Women: Profiles of Black Women in Canada. Edited by Rella Brathwaite and Tessa Benn-Ireland. [Toronto]: Sister Vision, ©1993, p. 24.




 * "Jennifer Hodge: She Contacted German Vets for CBC Film." Telegraph-Journal, "Showtime." Saint John, New Brunswick. (November 3, 1979), p. 6.


 * "Quest for Visibility Loses a Champion: Black Film-Maker Dies." The Spectrum: Making Minorities Visible. Vol. 6, no. 5. (May 15, 1989), p. 1.

Selected filmography

 * Home Feeling: A Struggle for Community (1983)