Film Forum

Filmmaker, scholar, preservationist, and collector Pearl Bowser was among the earliest proponents of reviving critical interest in the “race movies” of Oscar Micheaux and other early African American filmmakers, linking them to more contemporary work. This unique compilation inspired by Bowser’s collection (donated to the Smithsonian in 2012) includes short films by Julie Dash (Illusions), John W. Fletcher Jr. & Hortense “Tee” Beveridge (The Hands of Inge), Cheryl Dunye (She Don’t Fade, Untitled Portrait), Harry Gant (By Right of Birth (fragments)), American Negro Theater (A People’s Playhouse), Charles Hobson (Soul Food for Christmas from Like It Is (outtakes)), and Bowser herself (The Guest).

Ina Archer, who served as consultant to the festival, is a filmmaker, visual artist, programmer and writer whose multimedia works and films have been shown nationally. She is the former co-chair of New York Women in Film and Television’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund and former faculty at Parsons School of Design at The New School. Ina earned a BFA in Film/Video from RISD and a Master’s in Cinema Studies at NYU focusing on race, preservation, technology, and early sound film. Ms. Archer presented a compilation of vaudeville shorts featuring African American artists at Film Forum in 2019.