TAKE YOUR BAGS and THE KKK BOUTIQUE AIN'T JUST REDNECKS

Friday, July 28, 6:00 p.m. | TAKE YOUR BAGS (1998, USA, 11 min. In English / Format: Digital) explores the legacy of slavery and the theft of cultural memory. In the film, Billops shares her take on slavery, saying “when the Africans boarded the ships bound for America, they carried in their bags all their memories of home. When they arrived in the New World, their bags had been switched. Many generations later, the children of these Africans toured the Museum of Modern Art to see the sculptures and art of Picasso, Braque, and Matisse. Lo! There were the beautiful icons of their ancestors, the images that had been stolen from their bags.” This film was commissioned by the National Black Arts Festival and filmmaker Louis Massiah, the founder and director of Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia.

With THE KKK BOUTIQUE AIN’T JUST REDNECKS: A DOCU/FANTASY ABOUT EVERYBODY’S RACISM (1994, USA, 59 min. In English and German with English subtitles / Format: Digital), Billops and Hatch trace the ways in which Americans have tried to ignore, deny, suppress, contain, tolerate, legislate, mock, and exploit racial discrimination within the United States. Like a modern-day Virgil and Dante, they drive, cajole, and lead their cast through a tour of the contemporary landscape of racism. 

Followed by a discussion with Lakshmi Padmanabhan, Assistant Professor of Global Media Studies in the Department of Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern University. Tickets include a post-screening reception and a complimentary glass of wine.

A String of Pearls: The Films of Camille Billops & James Hatch: The Film Center is proud to be the home of Chicago’s first-ever complete retrospective of the films of Camille Billops and James Hatch. Black cultural life and storytelling are centered on screen in these six autobiographical works that innovated the documentary form and artfully weave together personal histories and social issues. View full series.