Filmography
Featuring well-known L.A. Rebellion works alongside rarely seen student films, this body of work represents not only the originality of the individuals whose names are on them, but a collective vision as well. Across the two decades during which they made their presence felt at UCLA, and in the decades since, individual L.A. Rebellion artists have focused on diverse topics and responded to evolving political and artistic thought through their work. Explorations of class, considerations of historical legacies, stories attentive to concerns of local communities and appreciations of other Black arts are only some of the areas of exploration. The films also display a diversity of forms, from irreverent reconfigurations of well-worn genre types, to groundbreaking experiments with cinematic language. Certain works, long out of circulation, represent rediscoveries and will certainly lead to much future scholarship.
Learn more about the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s ongoing “L.A. Rebellion” inititiative.
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification In collaboration with performer Yolanda Vidato, Barbara McCullough presents a Black woman’s attempt to expel the putrefaction she has absorbed from her blighted urban environment, while symbolically cleansing the environment itself. |
1979 |
 |
"The Wedding" Charles Burnett directed this Oprah Winfrey-produced television miniseries based on the novel by Dorothy West. As the rebellious daughter of old-monry Black parents prepares to wed a working class white musician, her attention is captured by nouveau riche Black suitor.
|
1998 |
 |
Welcome Home, Brother Charles Marketed as a Blaxploitation film, Welcome Home, Brother Charles subversively co-opts genre conventions to examine plantation-born racial myths surrounding Black male sexuality and white fears. On its surface a revenge tale of an African American man framed by the white establishment, the film reveals unexpected levels of surrealism and social commentary thanks to Jamaa Fanaka’s use of symbolism and subtext. |
1975 |
 |
When It Rains In Charles Burnett's New Year’s Day drama, a man tries to help a woman pay her rent and learns a lesson in connecting with others in a community. |
1995 |
 |
Your Children Come Back to You Alile Sharon Larkin's film looks at a mother, a child, a better life on the horizon, and a bond that cannot be broken. |
1979 |
