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Short Films - Program Three

  • Black Art, Black Artists

    Directed by Elyseo J. Taylor.
    US, 1971, digital video, color, 16 min.
    Copy source: UCLA

This introduction to 20th century African American art is accompanied by jazz and blues and by a conversation between director Elyseo Taylor and printmaker Dan Slater that outlines the specific pressures on Black artists: the difficulties of asserting aesthetic authority, the desire to reflect politically on race in the US and the necessity to suit white and middle-class Black tastes.

  • Four Women

    Directed by Julie Dash .
    With Linda Martina Young .
    US, 1975, 16mm, color, 7 min.
    Print source: UCLA

Julie Dash’s first work as a director is this dance film set to Nina Simone’s performance of the title song.

  • DEFINE

    Directed by O.Funmilayo Makarah .
    US, 1988, digital video, color, 5 min.
    Copy source: UCLA

O.Funmilayo Makarah's oblique meditation on the semiotics of ethnic female identity accompanies a cynical narration about how to “win an invitation to the dominant culture.”

  • Bellydancing: A History and an Art

    Directed by Alicia Dhanifu .
    US, 1979, digital video, color, 22 min.
    Copy source: UCLA

Filmmaker Alicia Dhanifu constructs a rigorous and beautifully rendered history of belly dancing –  its roots and history, forms and meanings. The filmmaker performs this art as well, alone and with other dancers.

  • Festival of Mask

    Directed by Don Amis .
    US, 1982, digital video, color, 25 min.
    Copy source: UCLA

L.A.’s diverse racial and ethnic communities (African, Asian, Latin American) express themselves through a wide variety of masks, which come together in the annual festival documented by this film.

Part of film series

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L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema

Current and upcoming film series

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Harvard Undergraduate Cinematheque

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Albert Serra, or Cinematic Time Regained

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Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy

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The Shochiku Centennial Collection

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Planet at 50

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The Yugoslav Junction Continues!

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Theo Anthony, Subject to Review

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The Ideal Cinematheque of the Outskirts of the World

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From the collection – Satyajit Ray