Presented in partnership with Lightbox Film Center May 5th @ 7PM

$10 General, $8 Student/Senior, and Free for Scribe and Lightbox members, UArt Students and Faculty/Staff

Camille Billops and James Hatch “say it like it is!”--creating daring, autobiographical and complex works that challenge the documentary form. Join us in the screenings of six newly restored films which fearlessly explore the topics of motherhood, older sexuality, domestic violence, race and gender roles. This is the first theatrical retrospective of filmmaker, artist, sculptor, historian, and archivist Camille Billops (1933-2019) and her creative and life partner James V. Hatch (1928-2020), filmmaker, historian and writer.

Please note: Screenings will be held between Lightbox Film Center and Scribe Video Center.

Friday, May 5, 7:00 PM @ Lightbox Film Center, University of the Arts, 401 S Broad St, Phila, PA

Suzanne, Suzanne (1982. USA, 25 min)

bell hooks called this one of the “most powerful documentaries of domestic life”. The film is a profile of Billops’ niece, Suzanne Browning, as she confronts a legacy of physical abuse and its role in her descent into substance abuse. After years of silence, Suzanne and her mother are finally able to share their painful experiences with each other in an intensely moving moment of truth.

Finding Christa (1991, USA, 59 min)

This startingly personal documentary presents a moving yet unsentimental view of motherhood and adoption. It follows the reunion of filmmaker Camille Billops with her own daughter following the twenty years after she gave her up for adoption. The result is an original and daring work that challenges social biases about adoption and offers new insight into mother-daughter relationships. The 55-minute film won the 1992 Grand Jury Prize in the documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival.