ARRAY presents “Black Arc: Bending Memory + Vision,” a daylong program offering the freedom to dream through the lens of women and non-binary filmmakers who bend time, memory and genre to create bold visions on screen. Our 12PM showtime features:

THE CHANGING SAME (2001, 10m) | Directed by Cauleen Smith

Exploring Black alienation and outsiderhood via the story of two aliens stationed on Earth, searching for kinship and a sense of purpose.

ODDS AND ENDS (1993, 28m) | Directed by Michelle Parkerson

In the year 2096, Black women warriors wage a vigilant battle against racial and gender annihilation. In this devastated universe, a fable unravels between interplanetary frontlines.

TREE SHADE (1998, 29mins) | Directed by Lisa Collins

Shame and embarrassment propel a gifted high school student, Savannah, to embark on a journey through space and time to witness the prison convictions of her great-grandmother Etta Mae, her grand-aunt Olive, and her aunt Denise.

Please note: These three films will screen back-to-back. Other showtimes in the day’s program require a separate ticketed entry. Guests must RSVP and possess a ticket for each screening time to attend each of the screenings.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Cauleen Smith is an acclaimed American filmmaker, widely exhibited multimedia artist, and UCLA professor known for experimental works exploring Black identity, diaspora, sci-fi, and culture. Blending film, textiles, and installations, she gained prominence with the 1998 feature DRYLONGSO and uses her art to reflect on memory, utopias, and social liberation.

Michelle Parkerson is a pioneering American independent filmmaker, academic, and author renowned for documenting the lives of Black women and LGBTQ+ icons. Based in Washington, D.C., she has been a central figure in “New Black Cinema” since the 1980s, focusing her work on feminist, political, and social activism.

Lisa Collins is a writer, director, and producer whose work blends sharp comedy with layered explorations of race, identity, and community. She wrote, directed and executive produced two shorts: MISS RUBY’S HOUSE, a mockumentary; and TREE SHADE a surreal black comedy that garnered the Gold Medal for Best Alternative Film at the Student Academy Awards, and was invited to festivals including: Sundance, Atlanta, Seattle, Newport, Avignon and Cannes. Coming-of-age in a conflicted, racially diverse Brooklyn and being a first-generation American of Jamaican/Cuban parents serves as a source of endless inspiration, humor and raw material.