Search Museum of the Moving Image

EVENT, SCREENING

Bush Mama

Ongoing

With director Haile Gerima in person

Part of the series Changing the Picture, sponsored by Time Warner Inc.

Dir. Haile Gerima. 1975/1979, 97 mins. 16mm. With Barbara-O, Johnny Weathers. After seeing a Black woman in Chicago evicted in winter, Gerima developed Bush Mama as his UCLA thesis film. Gerima blends narrative fiction, documentary, surrealism, and political modernism in his unflinching story about a pregnant welfare recipient in Watts. Bush Mama follows Dorothy (the magnetic Barbara O. Jones) as she is subjected to the oppressive cacophony of state-sponsored terrorism against the poor in her daily dealings with the welfare office and social workers. Dorothy undergoes an ideological transformation, from apathy and passivity to empowered action.

Preceded by:

Daydream Therapy

Dir. Bernard Nicolas. 1977, 8 mins. Digital projection. With Marva Anderson, Keith Taylor, Gay Abel-Bey. Daydream Therapy, set to Nina Simone’s haunting rendition of “Pirate Jenny” and concluding with Archie Shepp’s “Things Have Got to Change,” Daydream Therapy poetically envisions the fantasy life of a hotel worker whose daydreams provide an escape from workplace indignities.

Free with Museum admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718 777 6800. For more information about becoming a Museum member and to join online, please click here.