Super Fly

Josiah Howard writes on film and popular culture and is the author of several best-selling books including “Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide” (10th printing), “Cher: Strong Enough,” and “Donna Summer: Her Life & Music.” A veteran of entertainment television and radio, Mr. Howard lectures on cinema at universities and film festivals around the world. His writing credits include more than fifty DVD, Blu-ray and CD booklets, concert programs and articles for the American Library of Congress, The Hollywood Reporter, Reader’s Digest and The New York Times.

Ale Duckenfield-López is a first-year PhD student at the University of Michigan’s Film, Television, and Media Studies Department. They grew up in Coral Gables and learned a lot of what they know about film from their time as an intern at the Coral Gables Art Cinema. They are interested in the role popular films and music play in the construction of Black identity. Their undergraduate thesis was about Rudy Ray Moore’s Blaxploitation films, Moore’s influence on 1990s Gangsta Rap, and how they both shaped the image of Black men in the American popular imagination. They are currently working on a project about techno’s roots in Detroit and how the Black creators of the genre defined themselves in opposition to Hip Hop’s controversial representation of Black identity.