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In the process of researching images for The Other Madisons, I came across this extraordinary vision of a "contraband soldier". I couldn't resist and purchased the right use this image. Unfortunately the photo didn’t make it to the final cut of The Other Madisons, but I still feel compelled to share it because it still moves me to see the young man smiling in front of camera, hardly anything to wear, but what he could afford. Still proud, still with a friendly smile because perhaps he knew that I would be looking for him. I could have just taken a scree shot, but that would't have been right. Regardless, it was a bargain at ten pounds for this precious portraits of he who fought for Freedom on the side of righteousness. Contraband was a term commonly used in the United States military during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain escaped slaves or those who affiliated with Union forces. The Army (and the United States Congress) determined that the US would not return escaped slaves who went to Union lines and classified them as contraband. They used many as laborers to support Union efforts and soon began to pay them wages. The former slaves set up camps near Union forces, and the Army helped support and educate both adults and children among the refugees. Thousands of men from these camps enlisted in the United States Colored Troops when recruitment started in 1863. At war's end, more than 100 contraband camps existed in the South. No photographer credited, circa 1862-65.

Se me ocurre que ya va siendo tiempo de compartir algunas novedades en castellano. Dicen que la distancia es el olvido, pero no, lo que si representa en todo caso son apremios, y uno se ve empujado cada vez más a comunicarse en inglés para que el alcance sea mayor y sobrevivir; y si, en gran medida hay mucho de eso, pero también es cierto que uno se pierde de muchas cosas cuando las cuenta en el idioma de otro. Por lo pronto, en una entrevista reciente con Coco Blaustein por Radio Nacional, me vengo a desayunar que mi última película fue hace veinte años, cuando en realidad las últimas dos décadas estuvieron marcadas por mi producción documental más intensa. De esa producción, poco y nada se conoce en el barrio. La idea de estas charlas como la que se ve en el video que acompaña estas líneas, pasa por ahí, por dar a conocer lo que estoy haciendo en tiempo real, y también por recuperar ese diálogo perdido. De modo que aquí los dejo en compañía de mi mismo, hablando sobre el tercer documental de este año, lo cual no es poco ni mucho, es lo que es y es lo que pasa cuando uno se queda encerrado por el COVID en el medio de la nada.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The Other Madisons, by Eduardo Montes-Bradley, makes a strong, perhaps essential, complement to Bettye Kearse's book because it enables the viewer to appreciate how the “other Madison” family and Montpelier are bound up inextricably with each other, how the preservation of Montpelier makes it possible for the “other Madison” family to find its home and how the “other Madison” family narratives enable the Montpelier organization to come closer to its social responsibility to provide an historically accurate representation of Montpelier. There is no substitute for seeing the big house, the fields, the kitchen restoration, and the enslaved descendants personally recovering their past, and there is no substitute for hearing the voices of the Montpelier staff registering the impact of Betty’s stories and of the enslaved descendants on the Montpelier organization. In a way the film dramatizes the impact that the stories of the “other Madisons” griotte should have on all of us. And Betty’s closing words, that she and her generation have reconciled the contradiction of descending from “African slaves” and a “president” should stimulate each one of us to go forth, acknowledge our part in social contradictions that have their origin in racial discrimination, make our own reconciliation, and turn to the hard work of helping achieve a more just community wherever we live. It is interesting that, as we move past the original hagiographic purpose of reclaiming these homes of our founding fathers, we see that it is the descendants of enslaved persons—and not the descendants of those founding fathers—emerge not only as the stewards, and thus sources, of important information otherwise lost, but as the individuals who have the strongest emotional ties to those places. That information so long kept alive, yet secret, by oral tradition is now generously shared. Where is the white Madison griotte? Where are the president’s descendants and their private narratives? It is a paradox, to be sure, that the present humanization, so to speak, of Montpelier comes from Betty and the other descendants of the enslaved. In that homecoming, the return of the enslaved to the beginning of their stories, we will find a new story with the potential to liberate us all—and Montpelier can take on a new role in helping us divine the relation of crafting the Constitution to achieving reconciliation of all that the Constitution left unsaid. — Jeffrey Plank

“En 1962, durante mi último año en la Escuela de Cine de La Plata sostuve una correspondencia con el fotógrafo Ansel Adams, la que se extendió durante varios años. En 1970 tuve la oportunidad de visitar su flamante casa en Carmel, California con espectacular vista al Océano Pacífico y compartir una cena con su esposa Virginia, así como su increíble laboratorio fotográfico. En mi segunda carta le comenté detalles de la Escuela, su origen, equipamiento, materias y profesores que las dictaban. Entre ellos señalé a Tabernero y su predilección por el fotómetro que el propio Adams recomendaba en su libro “The Negative” (Basic Photo Book 2, página 63), literatura técnica que dio origen al contacto inicial. La respuesta de Adams del 18.10.1962 en su tercer párrafo, hace mención a mi comentario y lo refuerza con sus propias palabras. De estos intercambios me permito insertarle los correspondientes escaneos que tienen su propio valor histórico y desde ya está autorizado para darles el destino que desee. Saludos porteños.” -- Eduardo Comesaña La primera vez que escuché hablar sobre la relación entre los sistemas de zonas de Ansel Adams y la variante de playas de Pablo Tabernero, fue durante una de las charlas que sostuve con Ricardo Aronovich durante mi visita a su enclave normando. Aronovich estimaba que aquella relación era fortuita, y que ambas concepciones eran contemporáneas. Así consta en Buscando a Tabernero, documental que cuenta con don Ricardo como uno de los primeros discípulos de Pablo Tabernero con quien tuve oportunidad de hablar. Al parecer, tanto Adams como Tabernero, habían llegado una conclusión de que la medida de la luz debía ser más precisa que las posibilidades que brindaba a la lectura incidental. Ambos coincidían entonces que lo más apropiado para esa lectura de luz detallada era el uso del fotómetro S.E.I (Salford Electrical Instruments, Ltd.). Esta lectura detallada permitía explorar puntillosamente las diferencias dentro en negros y blancos absolutos estableciendo aquello que Adams llamaba zonas, mientras que Tabernero se refería a lo mismo hablando de playas. Adams estaba aplicando su teoría no sólo a la exposición en el registro del negativo, sino al posterior uso del negativo en su ampliación. Simultáneamente, Tabernero elaboraba el desarrollo de su técnica al registro de película en movimiento y tratamiento posterior del negativo en la producción de copias para su distribución en cines. El primero en los Estados Unidos, y el segundo en Argentina, fueron ambos precursores de una pasión por el justo, sino perfecto registro de un negativo, fijo con secuencial, impreso o copiado. Esta relación de la que hablaba Ricardo Aronovich, continuó decantando en mi esfuerzo por entender la relación entre Tabernero y sus discípulos. Pero no fue sino hasta después de la conferencia de prensa previa al estreno de mi documental, que gracias a la intervención del eximio Eduardo Comesaña, que pude verificar no sólo del hecho de que ademas hubiera tomado conocimiento acerca de la labor de Tabernero en la Escuela de Cine de La Plata, sino que esa verificación hubiera podido darse gracias a la intervención de uno de sus alumnos con lo cuál vuelve a ponerse en evidencia aquella fluidez en la trasferencia pedagógica a la que me referí en escritos anteriores. Cabe señalar, que Comesaña fue alumno de Tabernero en 1962 y que en años posteriores habría de convertirse en uno de los referentes más notables de la fotografía por sus aportes al retrato y el periodismo. NdA, Los documentos que ilustran, se reproducen en el contexto de la relación Adams-Tabernero con expreso consentimiento del señor Eduardo Comesaña.

Independent filmmakers spend more time crafting the opening credit sequences than most people would usually guess. At least, I do. The reason behind it, which may require a greater lever of complexity or unusual simplicity as in the case of The Other Madisons, has to do with the fact that title sequence do often set the mood for the first reel, or the first ten minutes of the film. They provide us with a feeling for what the rest of the movie would deliver. It’s not all that rare that the preceding title sequence would be so elaborate and sophisticated that when comes immediately after turns out to be somewhat of a disappointment. I’ve been there. I’ve fallen in love with certain effects and introduction gimmicks. But the truth is that moving forward I have been more inclined to resolve such preambles in the most discrete and accurate way. In the documentary film experience, the title sequence should convey the must, the names of the principal collaborators, the editor, the director. It should never be a battleground for egos at stake, or a way of compensating those who were not able to be compensated justly. Simplicity is where I find myself more confortable nowadays. And I feel confortable by sharing today, the simple, yet honest title sequence for The Other Madisons, my latest documentary experience.

“Puede ser que pueda ser, puede ser que no pueda ser. Pero es mejor si puede que sea”. Así decía mi abuelo con su acento de Europa oriental, y sonaba mucho mejor, claro. En este caso pudo, y fue. Cynthia Sabat, a cargo de la prensa y difusión del film “Buscando a Tabernero”, reunió en conferencia de prensa-zoom, es decir logró zumar, a una cantidad respetable de maestros del cine en un cónclave para recordar. Allí estuvieron presentes dos, sino tres, generaciones de directores de fotografía y tono fue infinitamente cálido, una celebración con la que se busco convocar el espíritu curioso de la tabernidad al palo. La pasé muy bien, por un rato fui feliz, y estoy sumamente agradecido. Del resto se pueden enterar escuchando lo que se dice en esta grabación subida a YouTube. No teman, no soy el único que disgrega. Hay otros, y a ellos vale la pena escucharles.

Charlottesville – Nov. 13. Another day went by sorting music and images to conform a sequence based on Bettye Kearse’s “The Other Madisons”, a biographical tell which can also be read as a window into one of the most painful chapters of American history. The edit begins with two images from the post-civil war era, and Betty on camera telling us of how the family motto finally crystalized to frame the story as a product of the relationship between a president of the United States and Coreen, one of his enslaved women. Always remember, you are a Madison. You come from African slaves and a President. What follows is our tribute to the land where Coreen and her mother Mandy, are presumed to be buried. In the process we are assisted by two good friends and knowledgeable experts, in one hand Lynn Rainville who has spent a lifetime researching and unpacking the history of African American graveyards in America, and in the other Matthew Reeves, archeologist at James Madisons Montpelier where Mandy and Coreen remains enslaved to the end. If all is well, and there’s no reason to believe otherwise at this point, “The Other Madisons” will be ready for release in mid-February to help us mitigate the somberness of this never-ending social distancing, this captivity of sorts, this new plague we must endure.

As we move along, down the path of descendants from James Madison and the African enslaved woman named Mandy, we come to Jim, Mandy’s grandchild who was sold by the Madisons to the deep south in order -most likely- to raise funds to maintain the plantation afloat, or perhaps to pay for Madison’s step son’s gambling debts. The fact remains that Jim was sold away and that his mother Coreen, and grandmother Mandy were left behind at James Madison’s Montpelier to mourn his absence. The transaction serves as pivotal hinge in a documentary that looks to transcend beyond the unfortunate fate of the enslaved at Montpelier in an attempt to figure out a path to success in the generations to come. Jim could very signal the crossroads between the colonial past and the reshaping of the American demographics. And if we learned something from the recent DNA test results, is that the rape of black enslaved woman, perpetrated by white landowners and overseers was institutionalized. To learn more, see the included segment from “The Other Madisons” a film by Eduardo Montes-Brdley, a work in progress. Music: "Decadel" with Gary Green and Calie Garrett, Live at The Paramount in Charlottesville, Va.

With "The Birth of a Nation", originally called "The Clansman" (1915) by D. W. Griffith, the American audience was introduced to the binomial fallacy in which two non-existent and opposing forces confronted each other. The good was represented by The Clansman which -inspired by Griffith's film, went on to become a powerful force behind the rise of the KKK. Evil, on the other hand, was represented by militias of African American's acting as spearheads for the advancement of the cause of the Union. Although the KKK went on to terrorize the south victimizing thousands of innocent men and women, the feared militias never amounted to anything. The made-up conspiracy theory reminds us today of the roles played by the right-wing militias and the BLM and Antifa. While the former remains an essential concern to our intelligence services, the latter has been used by the Trumpian conspiratorial apparatus and the dark-web echo chamber to spread fear amongst the white-rural middle-middle and working class. PS. From the editing room of "The Other Madisons", a work in progress.

By SANDY HAUSMAN The Virginia Film Festival is presenting fifty movies this year – among them, more than a dozen documentaries.  Most were made by a group -- people who do research, write, interview, compose music, create graphics, shoot and edit, but one award-winning documentarian does it all. Listen to the NPR On Point Interview