The Symbol of the Unconquered + Illusions

Oscar Micheaux’s bold 1920 rebuttal to the infamous The Birth of a Nation screens alongside Julie Dash’s subversive short about a female, white-passing Hollywood executive.
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The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)
Dir. Oscar Micheaux
59min, DCP
With Iris Hall, Walker Thompson, Lawrence Chenault

The Symbol of the Unconquered is a response of sorts to D.W. Griffith’s infamous The Birth of a Nation. Micheaux’s story follows Jefferson Driscoll (Chenault), the white-passing owner of the Driscoll Hotel, who makes any visibly African American patrons sleep in the barn. In a chilling depiction of the Klan’s terror, Driscoll conspires with the Klan to force a Black homesteader off valuable oil land. This investigation of complex issues of race, identity, and self-regard stands as one of Michaeux’s finest films.

Illusions (1982)
Dir. Julie Dash
34min, DCP
With Lonette McKee, Roseann Katon, Ned Bellamy

The breakthrough short film by the legendary Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust) is presented in the theatrical premiere of a new 4K restoration by Indiecollect. Illusions depicts the experiences of Mignon Dupre (McKee), a Black female Hollywood studio executive in the 40s who passes for white. Selected in 2020 for preservation in the National Film Registry, this subversive short spotlights the pervasive problem of racism within Hollywood, an industry uniquely positioned to broadcast skewed versions of America and its freedoms.

Join us following the screening for a Q&A with Eva Yuma, colorist for the restoration of Illusions! Co-presented with Creatively Speaking.