Symposium on Kathleen Collins and Bill Gunn
January 19, 2024
A Symposium on the Filmic and Theatrical Work of Kathleen Collins and Bill Gunn
Friday, January 19, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
This afternoon symposium explored the work of Kathleen Collins ("Losing Ground"), Bill Gunn ("Ganja and Hess"), and their collaborators in and around Nyack, NY. Collins and Gunn were groundbreaking writers, filmmakers, and theater practitioners in the 1970s and 80s. The 2015 restoration and reissue of Collins' brilliant independent film "Losing Ground," which stars Gunn, has inspired artists, audiences, and critics to (re)discover both artists. Classix, the NYC-based theater collective in residence in Duke's Department of Theater Studies, is leading this renaissance. Members of Classix - Brittany Bradford, Arminda Thomas and Awoye Timpo - along with Gunn biographer, Nicholas Forster, and Duke professor Franklin Cason (AAHVS), were at Duke to discuss these brilliant pioneers of American film and theater.