Self-narration in New York City: Just Another Girl on the I.R.T / Parting Glances
This program is presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Part of the screening series Archive Treasures: UCLA AMIA Student Chapter Takeover!
Directors Leslie Harris and Bill Sherwood amplify New York City’s marginalized voices in each of their first, and only, feature films. With narratives inspired by the filmmakers’ own lives, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. and Parting Glances are key moments in Black independent filmmaking of the 1990s and New Queer Cinema, respectively. These parallel movements in film history enabled queer and Black communities in New York City to reclaim the cinematic medium and to center the validity of their own stories.
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992)
An unabashedly frank, challenging and humorous story of a young Black woman growing into herself. Featuring Ariyan A. Johnson’s astonishing screen debut as Chantel, a Brooklyn teenager so filled with life and opinions she often breaks the fourth wall to directly address her audience. While dealing with her day-to-day reality, Chantel dreams of the day when she can leave for college. When Chantel discovers that she is pregnant, she must reconcile the possibilities for her future.
DCP, color, 92 min. Director: Leslie Harris. Screenwriter: Leslie Harris. With: Ariyan A. Johnson, Kevin Thigpen, Ebony Jerido.
Parting Glances (1986)
Over the course of 24 hours, lovers Michael (Richard Ganoung) and Robert (John Bolger) emotionally joust as Robert prepares to leave for a work assignment overseas. Michael confronts his separation anxiety with ironic fortitude as he faces Robert’s departure, the illness of his ex-lover and best friend, Nick (Steve Buscemi), and eccentric artists at a going away party. Bill Sherwood’s film explores the complexities in each of these relationships against the backdrop of the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1980s New York.
35mm, color, 90 min. Director: Bill Sherwood. Screenwriter: Bill Sherwood. With: Richard Ganoung, John Bolger, Steve Buscemi.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
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