Black Cinema House will screen Alile Sharon Larkin’s 1979 short film Your Children Come Back to You (16mm print courtesy of the Black Film Center/ Archive), followed by Julie Dash’s recently remastered Illusions (1982) this Friday, January 16, 7PM.
Still from Larkin’s Your Children Come Back to You
Both Larkin and Dash earned their MFA from UCLA’s School of Theater Film and Television (in 1982 and 1985 respectively), joining the first generation of Black filmmakers to graduate from the program, now collectively known as the L.A. Rebellion. The school’s “ethno communication” program was designed to be responsive to communities of color by providing access and training in media production. The remarkable roster of alumnae includes– in addition to Dash and Larkin– Haile Gerima, Zeinabu irene Davis, Larry Clark, and Charles Burnett.
Your Children Come Back to You presents a young girl’s perspective on social inequality as she is torn between her militant single mother, who struggles to make ends meet with welfare checks, and her assimilationist aunt, who wishes to provide bourgeois comforts for the girl. Larkin wrote, directed, and produced the striking, yet spare mediation, and Charles Burnett lent his visual skills as the film’s cinematographer and co-editor.
Note from Black Cinema House: This screening is presented in conjunction with BCH Advisory Committee Chair Jacqueline Stewart’s University of Chicago class titled “African American Cinema Since 1970.” Doors open at 6:30pm. Seating is limited, so we ask that attendees RSVP in advance. Event Webpage
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