Past Film/Video | Classics

Drylongso

(Cauleen Smith, 1998)

New Restoration

Tobi (April Barnett), a young Black woman wearing a denim outfit, stands on the side of a Jeep talking to two Black men seated inside the vehicle.

A lost treasure of 1990s DIY filmmaking returns to the big screen with the rerelease of this early work by past Artist Residency Award recipient Cauleen Smith.

Pica, a young Oakland photography student played by Toby Smith, begins taking Polaroids of the young Black men in her neighborhood because she fears for their extinction after so many senseless murders. This project deepens Pica’s friendship with a gender-nonconforming friend (April Barnett) and then draws her into the search for a serial killer in the neighborhood.

Shifting genres from buddy movie to murder mystery to romance, Drylongso offers a cinematic celebration of Black female creativity and a poignant elegy for a generation of lost African American men. A past Wex guest, Smith also contributed a short film to the Wexner Center’s Artist Residency Award–supported Cinetracts ’20 project, viewable for free on our site. (86 mins., DCP)

IMAGE CAPTION 
Drylongso, courtesy of Janus Films.

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SUPPORT FOR FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation 

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
National Endowment for the Arts
Ohio Arts Council
L Brands Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Nationwide Foundation
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane
Axium Packaging
CampusParc
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
President Kristina M. Johnson and Mrs. Veronica Meinhard
Nancy Kramer
Larry and Donna James
Lisa Barton
Johanna DeStefano
Jones Day
Alex and Renée Shumate

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Past Film/Video

Drylongso