Sonic Textures, Shattered Scenes

A selection of landmark films by Black artists working in independent cinema in the 1970s-90s.

This season showcases truly groundbreaking cinema by artists and thinkers that expanded the ways the Black American experience could be represented, examined, and cherished. These are experimental, personal, and radical films by academics, musicians, poets, writers, actors, photographers, and visual artists who changed cinema forever. In turns thrilling, cerebral, and sensuous, this diverse programme of films spanning various genres are united by invoking the richness of the lives we live. In recent years many of these previously-overlooked films have been restored, and even re-cut, enabling new generations to see these films as they were originally intended.

Please note that many of the films in this season reflect historical attitudes that audiences may find outdated and offensive.

The season title is taken from the article Cosmic Freeze Frames: A Poetics of Bill Gunn by Carlos Valladares on gagosian.com (Spring 2021)

Film

6.30pm £6 (or £30 for season ticket)

A young man, Pierce, works at his family dry cleaners in LA. Amidst the malaise of the day-to-day running of the business, his brother asks him to be his best man. Pierce resents his brother, a lawyer, for his bourgeois ambitions, and his wife-to-be for her upper-middle-class background. Set in a South Central Black neighborhood with southern roots, Burnett’s semi-autobiographical film explores tensions and resentments within family and community. Accompanied by a bluesy soul soundtrack by Johnny Ace, My Brother’s Wedding is a wise and searingly funny depiction of humanity with poetry, rage, and humour coursing through its veins.

Burnett is one of the most important filmmakers working in American cinema. His practice has spanned directing, producing, writing, editing, acting, photography, cinematography, and activism. Along with other filmmakers like Julie Dash he was part of the LA Rebellion, a group of Black creatives who sought new ways to articulate the Black experience onscreen.

Burnett had not finished editing My Brother’s Wedding when its producers rushed through its premiere in 1983. The film received mixed reviews and was not widely distributed. Decades later, the Pacific Film Archive restored the film and Milestone Films released a new version, re-edited by the director.

Access

This event is inclusive for wheelchair users; our building is wheelchair accessible with lift access to all floors. If you require a wheelchair space, please email info@nottinghamcontemporary.org or phone 0115 948 9750 so we can ensure a space is set up for you.

If you require a free ticket for a carer, please contact us using the details above to arrange this.

This event will take place in The Space. Find information about getting here, our building access and facilities by clicking here.

If you have any questions around access or have specific access requirements we can accommodate, please get in touch with us by emailing info@nottinghamcontemporary.org or phoning 0115 948 9750.