Chronicles of a Lying Spirit (by Kelly Gabron) Cauleen Smith, 1992

Chronicles of a Lying Spirit (by Kelly Gabron)is less a depiction of reality than an exploration of the implications of the mediation of Black history by film, television, magazines, and newspapers. Using her alter ego, Kelly Gabron, Smith fabricates a personal history of her emergence as an artist from whitemaledominated American history (and American film history). Smith collages images and bits of text from a scrapbook by Kelly Gabron that had been completed before the film was begun, and provides female narration by Kelly Gabron that, slowly but surely, makes itself felt over the male narration about Kelly Gabron (Chris Brown is the male voice). The film s barrage of image, text, and voice is repeated twice, and is followed by a coda. That most viewers see the second presentation of the imagery differently from the original presentation demonstrates one problem with trusting any media representation. Scott MacDonald