Introduced by Ayanna Dozier, in person
Centering Black cultural life and storytelling on screen, Camille Billops and James Hatch expanded the documentary form and artfully wove together personal histories and social issues in their work. In The KKK Boutique Ain’t Just Rednecks, they trace the ways in which Americans have tried to ignore, deny, suppress, contain, tolerate, legislate, mock, and exploit racial discrimination in the United States (1994, 16mm to DCP, 77 minutes).
The short Take Your Bags explores the legacy of slavery and the theft of cultural memory (1998, 16mm to digital, 10 minutes).
Older Women and Love approaches the taboo of multigenerational romantic relationships between women and younger men through interviews with some very open and honest subjects (1987, 16mm to digital, 27 minutes).
Ayanna Dozier is a Brooklyn-based artist and writer focused on surrealist, conceptual, and feminist practices. She is currently working on the manuscript of the life and work of Camille Billops.
The retrospective is organized by Third World Newsreel.
Part of the Summer of 16mm: Celebrating 100 Years of Film series.