A String of Pearls: The Films of Camille Billops and James Hatch, part 2

James Hatch and Camille Billops

UCLA Film & Television Archive and Los Angeles Filmforum present

A String of Pearls: The Films of Camille Billops and James Hatch, part 2

Friday, October 13, 2023, 7:30 pm (doors open 7:00 pm)

At the Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

Full information at https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2023/string-of-pearls-camille-billops-james-hatch

Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

Camille Billops and James Hatch were partners in life and work. Together, they created inventive, playful and expansive ways to tell personal and provocative stories about race, gender, class and the human experience and much of their work has been difficult to access. 

This two-night program will feature their complete body of work — shorts, mid-lengths and a feature film — as beautiful new restorations. Billops appears in many of the films, often having the camera on herself or walking into the frame as she navigates conversations and spaces with her family and friends, bringing viewers closely into her life to talk about larger systemic issues in society.

The second night uses more playful techniques, wherein the feature The KKK Boutique Ain't Just Rednecks is a “docufantasy about the ways that racism changes our soul,” and Take Your Bags and Older Women and Love approaches the subjects of slavery and romantic relationships between older women and younger men with humor and honesty. While the work is rooted in personal history, what is remarkable is how Billops and Hatch employ a variety of techniques to open up each film to a broader, more universal appeal. By showing how breaking the rules of how non-fiction should be, they are creating a space for what it can be: deeply thoughtful, creative and transcendent. 

Hyperallergic story on the films: https://hyperallergic.com/794425/autobiographical-films-camille-billops-james-hatch-brooklyn-academy-music/