Fragments of Barbara McCullough (includes Water Ritual 1 and And Other Bits)

director: Barbara McCullough

original title: Fragments of Barbara McCullough (includes Water Ritual 1 and And Other Bits)

year: 1980

running time: 11 min.

synopsis

Fragments of Barbara McCullough is a postscript to the study of various forms of rituals, which were performed by the creator in her feature-length documentary: Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space (1981). Specifically, the film is a juxtaposition of scenes from the 1981 film and never-before-used shots and deleted scenes. Here, Black American artists from the LA area relate verbally and performatively to a process of improvisation and a repeated symbolic act that unleashes the hidden forces of creativity and untaps the subconscious. All in all, it’s a psychedelic, surreal experience embodying the spirit of ritual into the very medium of film through film montage, graphic elements, and applied music.

„I like my films to reflect the diversity of my background as a Black person as well as the different influences that affect me. When I do something, I am trying to show the universality of the Black experience.“ B. McCullough

biography

Barbara McCullough (1945) is a director, trick specialist, and producer closely associated with the LA Rebellion movement: a group of Black American graduates from the University of California in Los Angeles who, for years, sought to create a Black alternative to classic Hollywood production. In her experimental work, she focuses on topics related to rituality, the African diaspora, and Black feminism.