Finding Christa
Mommy Issues
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55m
Directed by Camille Billops and James Hatch | 55 mins | 1991
An affecting yet unsentimental portrait of motherhood, Camille Billops’s collaboration with husband James Hatch captures her reunion with the daughter she was forced to give up for adoption in 1961, combining candid interviews and archival footage with musical interludes, unexpected comedy, and elements of scripted reality to interrogate both the social biases she faced as a Black woman and her own complicated emotions. At once deeply personal and formally audacious, it was awarded the Grand Jury Prize documentary at Sundance in 1992.
Up Next in Mommy Issues
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Signature Move
Directed by Jennifer Reeder | 80 mins | 2017
In writing this zesty but tender rom-com, Fawzia Mirza—also the film’s star—mined her life experience as a Muslim Pakistani lesbian living in Chicago. Zaynab (Mirza) finds herself falling for the effusive Alma (Sari Sanchez), but isn’t ready to come ou... -
The Body Beautiful
Directed by Ngozi Onwurah | 24 mins | 1991
A tale of two women, a mother and a daughter, divided not just by age but by race and conventions of sexual desirability too, with the elder woman having undergone a double mastectomy and the teenager stepping into modeling. Ngozi Onwurah’s boldly styliz... -
Blue Black Permanent
Directed by Margaret Tait | 86 mins | 1992
While making "Aftersun" (2022), Charlotte Wells discovered a kindred spirit in her compatriot Margaret Tait: the sole feature by the medical doctor turned poet and filmmaker, "Blue Black Permanent"—in fact the first by a Scotswoman, made towards the end ...
