The L.A. Rebellion film movement was born in the late 20th century when a wave of Black students came through the UCLA Film School. The films this movement produced – largely inspired by the French New Wave, Italian neo-realism, and emerging African cinemas – act as an alternative to the Hollywood idea of American filmmaking.
Despite their wide variety of topics and styles, the films of the L.A. Rebellion, at once highly political and intimately personal, pushed the boundaries of what stories are told, and by whom. Across four Sundays this October (Black History Month), you can catch these classic and under-screened films from directors Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry, and Zeinabu irene Davis.
Set in 1902, Dash’s singular film Daughters of the Dust (12A) follows three generations of Gullah women on South Carolina’s Sea Islands, as they prepare to leave their ancestral home for the American mainland. A luminous meditation on memory, migration and cultural inheritance, the film celebrates the enduring legacy of West African traditions. The first widely released feature by an African American woman director, it remains a towering influence on cinema and visual culture. Screens Sunday 4 October at 2.15pm.
Charles Burnett’s second feature, My Brother’s Wedding (12A), the follow-up to Killer of Sheep is a revelation: funny, heartbreaking, and now ripe for rediscovery in a brand-new restoration. Set in 80s LA, it centres on the young and proudly working-class Pierce Mundy (Everett Silas), who works his folks’ South Central dry cleaners, with limited future prospects. Showing Sunday 11 October at 2.30pm.
A key masterpiece of the L.A. Rebellion, Bless Their Little Hearts (CTBA) distils the social concerns and aesthetics of that trailblazing movement in African American cinema. Billy Woodberry’s film showcases his attentive eye, sensitivity to the nuances of community and family, and the power of the blues. See it Sunday 18 October at 2.30pm.
At the heart of this devastatingly beautiful film is the couple’s agonising confrontation – shot in one continuous ten-minute take – that ranks as “one of the great domestic cataclysms of modern movies.” (Richard Brody, The New Yorker).
We finish on Sunday 25 October at 2.30pm with Zeinabu irene Davis’ ambitious feature debut, Compensation (18*). The story links the African American present of the 1980s to the Black modernism of the early 20th century by juxtaposing two love stories, one from each era and starring the same actors. In each case, the lovers must negotiate racism, illness and socioeconomic differences.
Explore the full L.A. Rebellion programme: https://showroomcinema.org.uk/festivals/the-la-rebellion
By Sam Howe, Marketing and Programming Coordinator
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