The Resume

(February 3, 1957-April 5, 1994)
Born in Fort Worth, Texas
Directed the documentaries 'Ethnic Notions' (1987), 'Tongues Untied' (1989), 'Color Adjustment' (1992), and 'Black Is... Black Ain't' (1995)
Died of AIDS at age 37
Subject of the documentary 'I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs' (1996)

Why he might be annoying:

Like Michael Moore, he had no qualms with putting himself front and center in his films.
Because 'Tongues Untied' indirectly received $5,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, he was drawn into Jesse Helms' efforts to defund the NEA.
Pat Buchanan ran a campaign ad with clips from 'Tongues Untied' attacking the administration of George H.W. Bush for 'investing our tax dollars in pornographic and blasphemous art.'

Why he might not be annoying:

His films examine how race and sexuality are depicted in the US.
He forced the Buchanan campaign to withdraw its ad by using for copyright infringement.
He noted that the censorship campaign against 'Tongues Untied' brought the film more publicity than it otherwise would have ever received.
He received the American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award for independent filmmakers (1992).
He won a Peabody Award for 'Color Adjustment.'
He posthumously won the Filmmakers' Award for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival (1995).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Allegedly Gay Men
• Artsy/Fartsy Directors
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 85]
• Documentarians
• I Attended Harvard
• I Attended University of California, Berkeley
• I Died in 1994 (Ranked: 37)
• I Died in My 30s (Ranked: 37)
• I Have AIDS/HIV
• IDs Ending in 00 (Ranked: 53400)
• Look at Me, I've Got a Camera Too
• Profiles 53251-53500 (Ranked: 53400)
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 19940405)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 513 Votes: 65.50% Annoying