White Darkness

United Kingdom

2002

52 Min

Color

Haitian, English

Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
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PROD Atif Ghani, Richard Stanley

Directed by Richard Stanley, The White Darkness is a journey through Vodoo with their practitioners as guides. Stanley interviews real followers of the Vodoo faith and lets them do the explanations on what their religion is and what isn’t. Unlike other documentaries, there is no narration here, and it’s basically the images and the interviews who do the talking, allowing a real, objective and unbiased point of view about the religion. The documentary focuses on the modern Vodou religion, its ties to its African past, and its importance in modern Haiti. Finally, the relations of Vodou practitioners with other religions are explored, as well as the negative views that Christian missionaries have about the native Haitian faith, and the political impact this views played during the island occupation by foreign (mainly U.S.) peacekeeping forces. —IMDb

Director

Richard Stanley

Richard Stanley (born 22 November 1966) is a film director and screenwriter born in South Africa. Stanley currently works and lives in London, England.

He has worked on music videos for bands like Fields of the Nephilim, as well as directing a 50-minute length video for Marillion’s concept album, Brave, which has since been released on DVD. In April 2006, it was announced he is to direct a new music video for Fields of the Nephilim’s latest studio album, Mourning Sun.

He has directed two feature films: Hardware in 1990 and Dust Devil in 1993.

Hardware was the subject of controversy when it was revealed that Stanley used the story “Shok!” (published in comic magazine 2000 AD) created by Kevin O’Neill and Steve MacManus for a basis of his screenplay. Only after a court case, which Stanley lost, were the two given writing credits on the film. Hardware is now considered the first 2000 AD story to be adapted into film.

Stanley contributed to the screenplay for… read more

Richard Stanley (born 22 November 1966) is a film director and screenwriter born in South Africa. Stanley currently works and lives in London, England.

He has worked on music videos for bands like Fields of the Nephilim, as well as directing a 50-minute length video for Marillion’s concept album, Brave, which has since been released on DVD. In April 2006, it was announced he is to direct a new music video for Fields of the Nephilim’s latest studio album, Mourning Sun.

He has directed two feature films: Hardware in 1990 and Dust Devil in 1993.

Hardware was the subject of controversy when it was revealed that Stanley used the story “Shok!” (published in comic magazine 2000 AD) created by Kevin O’Neill and Steve MacManus for a basis of his screenplay. Only after a court case, which Stanley lost, were the two given writing credits on the film. Hardware is now considered the first 2000 AD story to be adapted into film.

Stanley contributed to the screenplay for the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau but was fired as director at Val Kilmer’s insistence and replaced by John Frankenheimer; the film was nominated for the 1996 Golden Raspberry Awards in several categories, including “worst picture” and “worst screenplay”, albeit the final script drastically differed from the original Stanley version.During this period he also turned down the director’s chair for Judge Dredd (1995) and Spiceworld (1997) which both earned a number of Razzie nominations and one win.

He has since completed two documentary films, The Secret Glory in 2001, examining SS officer Otto Rahn’s search for the Holy Grail and The White Darkness in 2002 which examines voodoo practices in Haiti. Following several festival screenings worldwide, both documentaries appeared in the Dust Devil DVD box-set, released by Subversive Cinema in September 2006.

His most recent efforts include a number of short films released online. The science fiction story The Sea of Perdition premiered in October 2006 at the Festival de Cine de Sitges, and has since been made available through the director’s MySpace page. This stars Maggie Moor who co-wrote and stars in another short film by Stanley, Black Tulips, which is available on YouTube. —wikipedia

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