A shorts program of three important films made by artists influenced by and with a strong connection to the spirit and times of the Black Arts Movement. Included are:  

Julie Dash’s Four Women eruditely pairs the title by Nina Simone with film of dancer Linda Martina Young as she embodies characters from the song, using gesture and movement to trace gender stereotypes and identities (Julie Dash, 1975, 8 minutes);  

Water Ritual 1: An Urban Rite of Purification, an excerpt of which is installed in the exhibition, was made in collaboration with performer Yolanda Vidato and examines Black women’s ongoing struggle for spiritual and psychological space through improvisational, symbolic acts (Barbara McCullough, 1979, 6 minutes); and

The First World Festival of Negro Arts the official documentary of the festival held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966. Over 2,000 writers, artists, and performers from Africa and the African Diaspora participated in the event. The film features Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Alvin Ailey, Aimé Césaire, Leopold Senghor, and many other artists, performers, and dignitaries from 30 countries. (William Greaves, 1966, 40 minutes).

Total running time is approximately 60 minutes.

With thanks to independent curator, writer, lecturer, and translator Greg De Cuir Jr., and to Ina Archer of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Programmed in conjunction with the exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement: 1955-1985, open from September 21, 2025 to January 4, 2026. 

Image caption: Still from William Greaves’s The First World Festival of Negro Arts, courtesy of William Greaves Productions