On Africa, co-directed with Joey Gibbs, emerged out of a trip Norman took to West Africa in the late 1960s. Contrasting footage of the German metropole – notably the site of the 1884 conference that divided the African continent among European powers – with archival colonial photography and details of its brutality, it later incorporates striking still photographs Norman captured in his travels. His grounds-eye view is paired with a voice-over detailing the operation of neocolonial banking structures, mining and other means of continued exploitation. Initially produced as one film, before being separated for distribution. Washington D.C. November 1970 and Black Man’s Volunteer Army of Liberation take stock of the nation’s capital early in a new decade, the former contrasting a compendium of notable Black and abolitionist figures and American wars with speakers outside a Black Panther Party registration centre, the latter an examination of a mutual aid network established in D.C. to support drug users, while deconstructing the issue’s root cause.

On Africa
Dirs. Joey Gibbs & Skip Norman, West Germany 1970, 35 min., German

Washington D.C. November 1970
Dir. Skip Norman, USA 1970, 18 min., English

Black Man’s Volunteer Army of Liberation
Dir. Skip Norman, USA 1970, 43 min., English

Total runtime: 96 min.