Cauleen Smith portrays two vital Black urban cultures, Chicago and New Orleans, through several short fantasy and documentary films that are largely imbued with local music and that focus on creative personalities and locations vital to these great cities. Chicago is represented through selections from Smith’s The Way Out Is the Way Two (2012), a cycle of fourteen musical and philosophical pieces, including the astonishing interventionist Space Is the Place (A March for Sun Ra) (2011). Smith’s little-known, richly imaginative short feature The Fullness of Time (2008) is a poignant evocation of New Orleans during the time following Hurricane Katrina; it blends science fiction fantasy with musical street activism. The program begins with Smith’s newest completed film, My Caldera (2022).

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