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For decades, the work of Kathleen Collins languished in obscurity. She was a writer, filmmaker, and professor who is considered one of the first black women to direct a feature-length film. That film is ‘Losing Ground,’ an extraordinary portrait of a marriage in turmoil and a complex representation of a deeply intellectual woman in search of ecstasy and magic. In this episode, I explore Collins’s life, discuss the barriers that have made it difficult for black women to make films both in the past and today, and I provide an in-depth analysis of ‘Losing Ground.’
Full show notes:
- Listen to more episodes from my debut feature films by women directors series: Unrelated and A Brand New Life
- Watch ‘Losing Ground’ on Filmstruck until July 2018
- Listen to my episode on Barbara Loden’s ‘Wanda’
- Listen to my episode about Larisa Shepitko
- Read Sight and Sound magazine’s article on ‘Losing Ground’
- Read Nina Collins’s essay in Vogue Magazine
- DVD of ‘Losing Ground’ on the Milestone Films website
- Flicker Alley’s Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology
- More information about Lincoln Center’s “Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968 – 1986“
- Kathleen Collins’s short story collection, Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?
- Jeff Nichols’s 2016 film, ‘Loving‘
- Nancy Buirski’s 2011 documentary, ‘The Loving Story’
- More information on Alice Guy-Blache
- More on Lois Weber
- More on Frances Marion
- Article on women who hand-tinted silent films
- Watch ‘Birth of a Movement’ on Netflix
- Listen to my episode on Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Taste of Cherry’
- Listen to my episode on Barry Jenkins’s ‘Moonlight’
- Listen to my episode on Jennie Livingston’s ‘Paris is Burning‘
- Diego Echeverria’s 1984 documentary, ‘Los Sures’
- Read Angelica Jade Bastien’s review of ‘Losing Ground’
- Read Richard Brody’s review of ‘Losing Ground‘
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