Melvin Van Peebles talks about becoming an African American filmmaker (1967)

KPIX Eyewitness News report from October 21st 1967 by Jim Anderson in San Francisco, on the corner of California and Powell Streets. Features an interview with pioneering African American filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, who remembers his time as a grip man on a cable car (he wrote a book about it called 'The Big Heart') and goes on to recollect his early development as a film director in the USA and in Europe. He reflects that in Europe: "You don't have an iron mirror wall against negro talent there." Melvin was gracious enough to explain to the TV Archive (on 4/26/2011) that he was in San Francisco in October 1967 as a French delegate to the San Francisco International Film Festival. The festival was showing his film 'The Story of a Three Day Pass', which was released in 1968. Ends with silent views of people riding cable cars past the intersection. Opening graphic designed by Carrie Hawks.

Note: this 16mm film print was re-transferred in 4K (4096 x 2970) using a Lasergraphics ScanStation film scanner, in September 2021. Film shrinkage was measured in Sept. 2021 at 0.25%.