Personal Problems Pt. 1
Classic Cinema
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1h 32m
Leaving November 1
Directed by Bill Gunn | 165 mins | 1980
Bill Gunn, actor, screenwriter, novelist, and the director of art-horror classic Ganja & Hess (1973), teamed with writer Ishmael Reed and producer Steve Cannon to produce what Reed has called a “meta-soap opera,” an exceptional, rough-edged ensemble piece exploring Black working-class lives in New York City with candor and emotional intensity, featuring a who’s who of major artists including Walter Cotton, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, Jim Wright, and Sam Waymon, with music by Carman Moore, and cinematography by Robert Polidori. Rarely shown and, when screened, seen in a mutilated cut hampered by the poor quality of available materials, it appears for the first time in a full-length version which is nothing short of a revelation.
Up Next in Classic Cinema
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Personal Problems Pt. 2
Leaving November 1
Directed by Bill Gunn | 72 mins | 1980
Bill Gunn, actor, screenwriter, novelist, and director, teamed with writer Ishmael Reed and producer Steve Cannon to produce what Reed has called a “meta-soap opera,” an exceptional, rough-edged ensemble piece exploring Black working-clas... -
Poison
Leaving November 1
Directed by Todd Haynes | 85 mins | 1991
With his first feature, Haynes took his influence from the patron saint of all queer outlaw art, the French writer and director Jean Genet. The result, a landmark of New Queer Cinema, was a trio of intercut, stylistically distinct stori... -
Portrait of Jason
Directed by Shirley Clarke | 107 mins | 1967
A distillation of a single 12-hour interview in a room at the Chelsea Hotel with the charismatic Jason Holliday (“real” name Aaron Payne), a gay, African American cabaret dancer, part-time hustler, and full-time raconteur, Portrait of Jason grows from ...
