Who is Jamaa Fanaka?
Black Sister’s Revenge came in this week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was: a low budget, truly independent film made at the tail end of the blaxploitation era. Many of the actors were in his or her only film role, most likely amateurs found by the director and taught the necessary acting skills for the role.
The film was made by Jamaa Fanaka, the producer, director, and writer of such films as: Street Wars, Penetentiary 1, 2, and 3. I’ve seen Street Wars and the first two Penetentiary films. They’re brutal, fun, and most importantly, have a real sense of personal style. Fanaka is a ’70s auteur akin to John Waters, but using ghetto archetypes where Waters used his menagerie of weirdos.
There are always scenes that surprise me. Street Wars features crack dealers in Ultralites doing fly-by shootings. In other films Mr. T shows up, as does Tony Cox, best known as the black little person in Bad Santa. Fanaka has his unique touches I don’t see even imitated in other films; who else would dare?
I wanted to write a comprehensive column about this director, but I could find nothing on the internet but reviews of the films and lists of the films he has made. How is it possible that information that I need is not on the internet? There’s nothing of real value on all those pages of nerdly knowledge.
Some years ago, I read an article about him in a magazine, and that’s how I found out about his work. It was something like Mass Appeal or While You Were Sleeping or Vice. I can’t remember which, and the library doesn’t keep copies of those mags anyway. I don’t know the approximate month or anything that which would narrow my search.
