Film Series
A String of Pearls: The Films of Camille Billops & James Hatch
“Some people say our films have a tendency toward dirty laundry. The films say it like it is, rather than how people want it to be.”—Camille Billops
One of the great path-breaking documentarians in American cinema history, Camille Billops, is celebrated in this series featuring new restorations of her complete body of film work. Long difficult to access, these six films—made in collaboration with her creative and life partner James Hatch—are playful, searching, and daring in turns. From her masterpieces Finding Christa and Suzanne, Suzanne to rarely screened explorations of women’s sexuality, cultural theft, Black masculinity, and more, Billops shares a vision of the Black American experience that’s formally inventive and fearlessly personal.
Billops creates piercing family portraits of mothers and daughters in two celebrated works.
Two of Billops’ most thrillingly free-form works explore racism and cultural theft.
Billops’ family history unlocks explorations of sexuality, romance, and masculinity.