Around Town: A night of film and funk

One recent afternoon at Hotel Yasmin, I slid in across a café table from an ashen-faced Scott Sanders - the writer/director behind Black Dynamite, an outrageous new cinematic send-up of the blaxploitation films of the 1970s - and popped the question foremost in my mind: "So, how late were you up last night?"

"Oh," he replied, with a touch of uncertainty, "sometime around 4:30 a.m."

Sanders (aka "DJ Suckapunch") had done his part the previous evening - and, needless to say, well into the morning - to raise the bar of expectation for film premieres in Prague by DJing a film-promotion-cum-dance-party to beat all.

Such affairs tend to be more or less sedate in this city, running the gamut from sparsely attended, private screenings at 10 a.m. on a weekday morning to stodgy, stately soirees complete with espresso and chocolates at Kino Lucerna or some similarly posh setting. Not so for Black Dynamite. In an inspired move, the folks at Aerofilms took over a former casino on Pařížská street across from the Hotel InterContinental and spruced up the already spectacular surroundings - mosaic mirrors, a disco ball-shaped bar on the dance floor - adding flat screens showing montages from the film and a considerable helping of period-specific attire. Oh, yeah, and music. Sanders and Co. kept the funk - and a smattering of other selections - coming all night long, illustrating one of the stronger components of the film's appeal: its soundtrack.

As satirical as his film is, Sanders claims his artistic motives were more mirthful than political. "Willie Dynamite has a council of pimps," he explained, referencing the 1974 genre classic. "I just thought that was a funny idea. So I included a council of pimps."

When asked what had sparked his and co-writer and star Michael Jai White's collaboration, Sanders explained that White posed for a photo, unprompted, featuring the same outfit (accessorized with pistol and nunchucks) that the actor would eventually wear in the final scenes of the film. It was enough to get the director involved, and the pair was off and running.

After an initially disappointing U.S. release following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Sanders' film generated some buzz on the festival and art-house circuits leading up to its journey across the pond. Similar genre spoofs, such as 2007's double feature, Grindhouse, had greater box-office success in Europe. If Black Dynamite enjoys a similar fate, it will be due at least in part to Sanders' tireless efforts (perhaps "exploits" is more apt) on the promotional trail. Add to one very late night another nearly as long (Sanders is also in town as a member of the jury at this year's Prague Short Film Festival) and a German premiere that will doubtless be just as rowdy, and Sanders comes off as a promotional pied piper, albeit one with a touch of the pimp.

Your faithful reporter made it home considerably earlier than Sanders, but not without incident. In response to the director's fatigue the following afternoon, I raised a hand to reveal a bandage-swaddled pinky finger that I'd cut on one of the disco-bar's sharper edges the previous evening, prompting one faux-afro-topped reveler to exclaim, "Blood on the dance floor, you dig?" Suffice it to say, we do what we can.

James Walling can be reached at
jwalling@praguepost.com