Filmmaker, musician, and actor Melvin Van Peebles, whose career on the big screen and in music made him an influential voice and trailblazer in black cinema, has passed away. News of his death comes from a variety of sources with The Criterion Collection (who will premiere an all-new box set of his movies soon) expressing their sympathies about his passing. Melvin’s son, filmmaker Mario Van Peebles, also released a statement, writing: “Dad knew that Black images matter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see, thus we need to see ourselves being free. True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer’s mentality. It meant appreciating the power, beauty and interconnectivity of all people.”
We are saddened to announce the passing of a giant of American cinema, Melvin Van Peebles, who died last night, at home with family, at the age of 89. In an unparalleled career, Van Peebles made an indelible mark on the international cultural landscape. He will be deeply missed. pic.twitter.com/HpciXXVoYo
