We are saddened to relay the news that Phyllis R. Klotman, founder of the Black Film Center/ Archive and professor emerita in the department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, died on March 30th at her home in Manhattan. Phyllis's achievement in establishing the BFC/A at Indiana University and investing it with her vision and leadership through its first eighteen years remains an inspiration to all of us here.



"She was one of the first to preserve black independent films, and in doing that, she encouraged us," Charles Burnett remarked in his interview with the New York Times following Klotman's passing. The Times' obituary recounts many of Klotman's contributions to the study and preservation of black cinema during her tenure at Indiana University, including: the establishment of the BFC/A, the founding of the Black Camera newsletter (now Black Camera: An International Film Journal), and the publication of Frame by Frame: A Black Filmography (1979).



Professor Klotman also conducted interviews with filmmakers Larry Clark, Kathleen Collins, Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, Marlon Riggs, and Zeinabu irene Davis, just to name a few. Collecting interviews with filmmakers continues to be part of the Black Film Center/ Archive's mission, and Klotman's transcripts and audio recordings are available on site, where they remain uniquely valuable to researchers. In 2012, following celebrations of her legacy on the 30th anniversary of the BFC/A's founding, a classroom and screening venue at the new BFC/A facility was named "The Phyllis Klotman Room" in her honor.



We invite you to remember Professor Klotman and her joyful smile with a gallery of photographs from our collection, selected by BFC/A graduate student Noelle Griffis :
[gallery of photographs]