{{Short description|Zimbabwean writer and filmmaker}} {{Infobox person |image=Charles Mudede - Pop Conference 2016 - 02 (cropped).jpg |caption= Charles Mudede in 2016 |name=Charles Mudede |birth_name=Charles Tonderai Mudede |birth_date={{birth date and age|1969|2|8}} |birth_place=Que Que, Rhodesia |occupation=Writer, filmmaker, journalist, editor, critic }}
'''Charles Tonderai Mudede''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ʊ|ˈ|d|ɛ|d|ɛ}};<ref>{{cite web|title=Charles Mudede|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAp4KjxQbKs|website=YouTube|accessdate=2 April 2018|date=27 July 2007}}</ref> born February 8, 1969) is a Zimbabwean-American writer, filmmaker,<ref name="O'Brien film">Patricia O'Brien (a.k.a. OlallieLake), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAp4KjxQbKs Charles Mudede], short documentary film. Uploaded to YouTube 2007-07-27. Accessed 2012-12-20.</ref> and leftwing cultural critic.<ref>http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/kshama-sawant-return-of-the-alternative/Content?oid=18085005 Essay on Kshama Sawant</ref> Though born in Kwekwe (then called Que Que, Rhodesia),<ref name="O'Brien film"/><ref name="stranger-bio"/> he spent much of his childhood in the United States, and returned to Zimbabwe shortly after independence.<ref name="Our Wars">Charles Mudede, [http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/our-wars/Content?oid=4735071 Our Wars: Three Vignettes from Thirty Years Ago in Africa], ''The Stranger'', 2010-08-16. Accessed 2012-12-20.</ref> Between 1982 and 1988, his mother, Tracy Mudede, was a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, and his father, Ebenezer Mudede, was an economist for the Zimbabwe government. Between 1990 and 2001, his father worked as an economist for the Botswana government<ref name="Our Wars" /> and his mother lectured at the University of Botswana. In 1989, he moved to the US to study literature, art history, and political philosophy.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} <!-- previously cited to http://www.facebook.com/charles.mudede. The publicly visible version of that page, at least, provides no such information. --> His parents moved to the US from Botswana in 2002 for medical reasons. The Mudedes are Manicas and were once close to Bishop Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa, the prime minister of the short-lived coalition government called Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979–1980).
Mudede is currently Associate Editor for the Seattle-based weekly ''The Stranger'', as well as a lecturer at Cornish College of the Arts.<ref name="stranger-bio">{{cite web |last=Mudede |first=Charles |date=2019 |title=Instructor of Film Charles Mudede |url=https://www.cornish.edu/staff/charles-mudede/ |accessdate=December 4, 2022 |work=Cornish College |location=Seattle, Washington}}</ref> His ''Police Beat'' column was turned into a film of the same name in 2004. The movie was selected for competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinematical.com/2005/06/15/siff-police-beat-interview/|title=SIFF: Police Beat Interview|last=Voynar|first=Kim|date=June 15, 2005|work=cinematical.com|publisher=Weblogs|accessdate=7 April 2010}}</ref> In 2003, Mudede published a short book called ''Last Seen'' with Diana George. Mudede was also a member of the now defunct Seattle Research Institute, a Marxist circle inspired by the Frankfurt School and the work of Hardt and Negri. SRI published two books, ''Politics Without The State'' and ''Experimental Theology.'' (Mudede and George edited the former.) Mudede has also published essays and articles with Nic Veroli, a French-American Marxist philosopher, and is on the editorial board for ''Arcade'', an architectural journal. Mudede's work has appeared in ''The New York Times'', ''The Village Voice'', ''LA Weekly'', and ''CTheory,'' which published one of his most popular pieces of writing, "The Turntable," a theory of the hip hop practice of scratching and sampling.
In addition to his journalistic career, Mudede is also a filmmaker and screenwriter. In 2019, he directed and co-wrote the feature film ''Thin Skin'', about a jazz trumpeter in Seattle whose estranged Nigerian father re-enters his life.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thinskinmovie.com/the-film|website=Thin Skin|title=About the film...|accessdate=June 11, 2021}}</ref> He has also co-written three independent films with director Robinson Devor. ''Police Beat'' (2005), adapted from Mudede's weekly column for The Stranger, follows a Muslim-American police officer on his bicycle patrol around Seattle.<ref>{{cite news |last=Macaulay |first=Scott |url= https://filmmakermagazine.com/2309-if-youre-in-new-york-go-see-this-movie/#.X17bAWhKjIU |title=If You're in New York, Go See This Movie! |work=Filmmaker |date=April 28, 2006 |accessdate=September 13, 2020}}</ref> ''Zoo'' is a movie about the late Kenneth Pinyan and the Enumclaw stallion incident.<ref name="zoo">{{cite news|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/313815_zoo01.html|title=Film tracks sex lives of those who see beauty in the beast|last=Chansanchai|first=Athima|date=May 1, 2007|work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|publisher=Hearst Seattle Media|accessdate=7 April 2010}}</ref> Mudede also co-wrote Devor's film ''You Can't Win'', starring Michael Pitt, based on a 1926 hobo memoir.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://collider.com/you-cant-win-michael-pitt/ |title=Michael Pitt to Write, Produce, and Star in Adaptation of YOU CAN'T WIN |work=collider.com |author=Adam Chitwood |date=April 18, 2012 |access-date=January 23, 2015}}</ref> The movie was filmed in 2012 but has yet to be released.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1402593/reference|website=IMDb|title=You Can't Win|accessdate=June 11, 2021}}</ref> As an actor, Mudede played a priest in ''The Naked Proof'', released in 2003.
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote}} {{Portal|Biography}} * [https://www.thestranger.com/authors/237/charles-mudede Articles by Charles Mudede] in ''The Stranger''. * {{IMDb name|id=1399936|name=Charles Mudede}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAp4KjxQbKs Verve Feature on Mudede] Charles Mudede in ''YouTube''. * [http://www.myspace.com/mudede Charles Mudede's page on ''Myspace''].
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudede, Charles}} Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:American columnists Category:American literary critics Category:American male screenwriters Category:American male journalists Category:American Marxists Category:American newspaper editors Category:American non-fiction writers Category:American writers of African descent Category:The Stranger (newspaper) people Category:Writers from Seattle Category:Zimbabwean writers Category:Zimbabwean emigrants to the United States Category:American writers of Zimbabwean descent