Steve McQueen Erases Al Jolson’s Blackface in New Film at L.A.’s Newly Opened Marian Goodman Gallery
Long-time New York and Paris gallery Marian Goodman has opened in Los Angeles with a show of director and artist Steve McQueen’s short film, Sunshine State. Shown on two back-to-back screens in a capacious room, the work finds McQueen training his artistic vision on the history of blackface in Hollywood. The 30-minute piece includes footage of the late actor Al Jolson in blackface in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer, considered the first feature-length movie with synchronized dialogue and the winner of an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.
McQueen included the scenes from The Jazz Singer in Sunshine State after the movie’s copyright expired on Jan. 1, 2023. “It’s been about 20 years that I’ve wanted to work with this material,” McQueen told AnOther Magazine at International Film Festival Rotterdam where Sunshine State premiered in January. “I wanted to work with it because I wanted to erase Al Jolson.
McQueen included the scenes from The Jazz Singer in Sunshine State after the movie’s copyright expired on Jan. 1, 2023. “It’s been about 20 years that I’ve wanted to work with this material,” McQueen told AnOther Magazine at International Film Festival Rotterdam where Sunshine State premiered in January. “I wanted to work with it because I wanted to erase Al Jolson.
- 10/28/2023
- by Degen Pener
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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