Directed by Naima Lowe
Temple University, USA
Birthmarks is an experimental nonfiction film by Naima Lowe featuring her father, Bill Lowe. The film tells the story of the series of small darks scars on Bill's back that he got when the Newark Police beat him up in 1967, and the ways that fathers and daughters create beauty out of trauma, and art out of living. Using film, video, still photography, archival footage, music, and original writing by Bill and Naima Lowe, Birthmarks takes a complex and layered approach to storytelling that honors the scars of the past and sheds light on a father/daughter relationship in the present and future.
Category: Documentary
Run-Time: 29:00
School: Temple University, USA
Year of production: 2007
Shooting location: Philadelphia, PA & Newark, NJ
Shooting format: 16mm, miniDV (NTSC), archival film/video
Screening format: BetaSP (NTSC)
People/Crew
Featuring Bill Lowe and Naima Lowe
Producer Naima Lowe, Sara Zia Ebrahimi
Director Naima Lowe
Cinematographer/DP Naima Lowe
Original Writing Naima Lowe
Assistant Camera Operators Alison Crouse, Ben Kalina, Sara Zia Ebrahimi
Picture Editor Naima Lowe
Sound Design Naima Lowe
Sound Mix John Avarese
Filmmaker Bio
Naima Lowe
I started this film officially in 2005, but in reality it's been 20 years in the making. I learned about the scars on my father's back and the fact that he had been beaten by the Newark Police in 1967, when I was just 6 years old. This realization was formative and moving. The story has morphed over the years, as we've both grown and changed. Sometimes I wonder if I can ever know the "true" story of the riots, but the truth of the trauma is apparent in the tiny innocuous looking scars on his back.
For me, this film has everything to do with what it means to be a working artist, to be a black person living in America, and with being the daughter of an amazingly complex person. It is less about the history and tragedy of the 1967 Newark Riots, though I hope that seeing the film will make people take in interest in those events.
I tried to make a film that honors our experience without being sentimental, and one that deals with harsh political realities without being didactic. I think that my background as a writer and performance artist helped immensely in creating something that is complex. Film is not my first and last creative passion, but I love how dense it can be, while allowing for a clear cut story to be told. I hope that the story is meaningful to lot's of people, but most especially to people dealing with father/daughter relationships, with trauma, and with how racism (past and present) affects their lives..
