This week on the podcast Film Comment editors, Devika Girish and Clinton Krute went to school with two learned FC veterans: Nellie Killian, curator and FC contributing editor, and Ina Archer, artist, critic, and media preservationist at the National Museum of African-American History & Culture. Each of them assigned the group a movie to watch. We’re calling this episode “homework,” but fear not, their selections were far from a chore!
Ina selected Murder at the Vanities (1934), Mitchell Leisen’s madcap Pre-Code caper, while Nellie suggested Honey Moccasin, a 1998 experimental gem by Indigenous filmmaker Shelley Niro. Both selections were zany, incredibly inventive, and very much of their times. They made for a great double feature. We learned a lot from the conversation and hope you will, too. Pop quiz coming up soon!
Links & Things:
Close to Home: How to Make a Movie Without Leaving the House, curated for Criterion Channel by Nellie Killian and C. Mason Wells
Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women’s Stories, curated by Nellie Killian
Ina Archer on African-American home movies for World Records Journal
Murder at the Vanities (Mitchell Leisen, 1934)
A supercut of Kitty Carlisle’s entrances on the show “To Tell the Truth,” showcasing her fantastic outfits
Honey Moccasin (Shelly Niro, 1998), screening for free until June 15 at the San Francisco Cinematheque as part of the “Cousin and Kin” program curated by the Cousin Collective. There’s also a virtual live talk with Niro on June 15.
The works of Jeffrey Gibson, a Mississippi Choctaw-Cherokee painter and sculptor
Smoke Signals (Chris Eyre, 1998)
The Chicago Film Society’s “Leader Ladies Project”
The Sitter (1977), When a Stranger Calls (1979), April Fool’s Day (1986), and When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) by Fred Walton
Flashpoint (William Tannen, 1984)
Homes Apart: Korea (JT Takagi and Christine Choy, 1991)
