Cinéma Nova, Rue d’Arenberg 3, 1000 Bruxelles
Hip-hop is fifty-something. Cinema rarely made room for it: the culture told its own story in music videos, on TV, then on streaming platforms.
When Da Bluefunk District, through Cris Prolific, suggested building this retrospective with Nova, one thing was clear: Brussels had never seen an overview like this on the big screen. From the first attempts to stage the culture in late-70s New York to recent films, with an exhibition, concerts and talks to spark what comes next.
The Bronx and Downtown: graffiti, b-boys, DJs and MCs, filmed by people who were part of it.
A still-tagging Jean-Michel Basquiat drifts through 1981 New York: an arty tale shot at the time and finished twenty years later with Saul Williams’ voice. No wave meets early hip-hop.
The founding film that brings it all together: graffiti, MCing, DJing and dance, shot in the early-80s Bronx with the people inventing them. Score by Fab 5 Freddy and Chris Stein.
The landmark documentary on New York writers painting subway trains against City Hall’s will, with the breakdance pioneers and the first MCs.
The studios smell money: Beat Street, Breakin’, Krush Groove. And Los Angeles has pioneers of its own.
The Los Angeles documentary that inspired Breakin’: the Radio-Tron club, popping, locking, and Ice-T before gangsta rap.
Hollywood’s first big hip-hop feature, co-produced by Harry Belafonte, with Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Jazzy Jay and the Rock Steady Crew in the club scenes.
Cannon’s cash-in after Flashdance, saved by Boogaloo Shrimp, Shaba Doo and a very young Ice-T. Pure 80s Hollywood, stunning dancing.
The birth of Def Jam, Warner-style: Run-D.M.C., the Fat Boys, Sheila E., the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and Kurtis Blow on screen.
Sidney on French TV, a Dutch crew in New York, music videos, and Pascal Garnier rewinding forty years of rap.
On 14 January 1984 France discovered hip-hop on a Sunday afternoon on TF1, thanks to Sidney. He comes to talk about it with Solo of the Paris City Breakers.
September 1986: a Dutch TV crew lands in New York and films, in eight days, a culture Europe hasn’t seen yet. Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, Schoolly D, the Last Poets.
Thirty-five years after Big Fun in the Big Town, Belgian filmmaker Pascal Garnier returns to New York to meet the same artists, with Bill Adler and Def Jam’s archives.
Three nights of music videos on the big screen: proto hip-hop and the first US old-school clips, the golden age and newer gems, then the Belgian and French scene.
Brooklyn dances, jazz meets rap against AIDS, Slam at Cannes, and the Good Life Cafe in South Central.
Two PBS films: the Red Hot + Cool project (Herbie Hancock, Guru, MC Solaar, Me’Shell Ndegeocello) against AIDS, then 90s New York dance with the Mop Top Crew.
Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Cannes Caméra d’Or: Saul Williams as a young Washington man whose words become his shield. Made with almost nothing, still hits hard.
Ava DuVernay’s first film, on South Central’s Good Life Café, where Freestyle Fellowship and Jurassic 5 met while gangsta rap conquered the world.
From The Last Poets to New Orleans, and Brussels on stage and on the walls to open and close the season.
The Last Poets’ story, chanted poetry over drums since the late 60s, told by both factions of the group. An introduction to Sharrif Simmons’ concert.
The sons of Juvenile, B.G. and Soulja Slim, New Orleans rap legends, form a group of their own: three young men growing up in their fathers’ shadow.
Three photographers open their archives for Nova’s bar and corridors: 90s New York, 2000s Brussels and today’s scene, in black and white, alongside work by David Bruce, Mode 2, Sozy and Dema.
Brussels turntablist Grazzhoppa (DJ Bigband, Greedy-Fingers, Black Lives) scratches the opening night, with Myk, rapper and writing-workshop host, who opened for Black Milk at VK.
A lecture-performance by Mississippi Records’ founder: clips, archives and projections on how popular music resisted authoritarian regimes.
Poet, musician and a member of the Last Poets since 2023, Sharrif Simmons blends spoken word, jazz and social critique in the line of Gil Scott-Heron.
Belgian-Syrian rapper and singer Nephtys (Roots, Mistress of The House) and Etterbeek rapper Jayy (Jaytape 3) close the season.