Oh Dem Watermelons

US 1965. D: Robert Nelson. M: Steve Reich - Stephen Foster (1826-1864) song montage. 16mm, colour, sound, 12 min. Print: Österreichisches Filmmuseum. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 29 March 2008. Absurd social commentary of U.S. racial attitudes in the 1960s. Watermelons as comic bombs: cosmic, sexual, scatological, political. Steve Reich deconstructs the Stephen Foster blackface minstrel culture, starting with an early-cinema sing-a-long bouncing ball for lyrics. (There is no Stephen Foster song with the title of this film.)