Film Series
One Way or Another: Black Women’s Cinema, 1970-1991
On the occasion of the recent restoration and re-release of Julie Dash’s 1991 masterpiece Daughters of the Dust, BAMcinématek celebrates the black women directors who blazed the trail for that landmark film. The filmmakers represented in this series all worked far outside the mainstream, often with limited resources, overcoming a historically hostile system in order to tell their stories on screen. Taken together, their work represents a rich history of long-undervalued independent filmmaking.
“One Way or Another” is co-programmed by BAMcinématek’s Nellie Killian and Michelle Materre; founder, host-producer, Creatively Speaking Film Series; Associate Professor of Media Studies and Film at The New School.
A ravishing restoration of Julie Dash’s celebration of 20th-century Gullah life and black womanhood.
Rediscovered, restored, and finally released to much acclaim in 2015, Losing Ground is an absolute must-see.
A documentary profile of black female comedians navigating the male-dominated world of standup.
A survey of Julie Dash’s (Daughters of the Dust) remarkable career, from the 1970s to the present.
A cross section of raw, heartrending documentary work by Camille Billops.
This shorts program spotlights several extraordinary black women artists.
Ruby Dee scripted and stars in this tribute to visionary writer Zora Neale Hurston.
Two films by pioneering directors Jackie Shearer and Jessie Maple.
A revealing portrait of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and black feminist icon.
Two shorts about black women grappling with identity, beauty, and societal norms.
Liz White’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, created by an entirely black cast and crew.
Two films by pioneering directors Jackie Shearer and Jessie Maple.
These heartrending portraits of black childhood tackle teen suicide and socioeconomic inequity.
Two shorts exploring the relationships of black women to their bodies.
This program mines the complicated relationship between black women and the workplace.
A program of films about black families, neighborhoods, and home life in the 1970s.
Pioneering filmmaker Sara Gómez’s radical critique of regressive machismo in Castro’s Cuba.
A program spotlighting black women’s contributions to the art of animation.
An essential record of women’s role in South-West African liberation.
A lost treasure by Losing Ground director Kathleen Collins.
Euzhan Palcy’s gorgeous vision of black life in French colonial Martinique.