Water Ritual 1: An Urban Rite of Purification

Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification is a 1979 short experimental film directed, produced, written, and edited by Barbara McCullough. It is McCullough's first film and is generally considered a pioneering experimental film by an African-American woman.[1] The title card is: "In West African societies, a story-teller charged with maintaining legacies, histories, knowledge and traditions in oral form."

Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification
Directed byBarbara McCullough
Produced byBarbara McCullough
Written byBarbara McCullough
StarringYolanda Vidato
Music byDon Cherry
CinematographyBen Caldwell
Peter Blue
Roho
Edited byBarbara McCullough
Release date
1979, 2013 (restoration)
Running time
6 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Premise

Milanda (Yolanda Vidato) prepares for and partakes in a purification ritual.[2][3]

Themes

The primary theme of the film is about African-American women within the African Diaspora. The use of surreal lighting and unclear narrative convey the confusion and displacement experienced by African-Americans.[4] Milanda walks through a desolate wasteland with a confident detachment, representing African-American women's resilience despite harsh racial inequalities and a bleak outlook. The titular ritual augments this trope: Milanda's expulsion of clothing, water, and waste invoke African diaspora cosmology.[2][5] David E. James wrote that the film is an "...inter-artistic work that combines collage, the avant-garde jazz of the Los Angeles native Don Cherry, and themes of history, folklore, magic, and the specificity of black feminism."[6] In an interview, McCullough explained that the film "is really about touching [an] ancestral past."[7]

Production

McCullough was inspired to make the film when her close friend had a mental breakdown.[8] The film was initially shot on black and white film. It was then colored to mimic an infrared color film strip.[9]

References
  1. "L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema - Harvard Film Archive". Harvard Film Archive. 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  2. Steward, Jacqueline. "Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification". UCLA Film & Television Archive. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  3. "Water Ritual: An Urban Rite of Purification (1980) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  4. Field, Allyson (2015). L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema. Univ of California Press. ISBN 9780520960435.
  5. Dozier, Ayanna (September 2015). ""Affect and the 'Fluidity' of the Black Gendered Body in Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification and Cycles"". Liquid Blackness. 2 (5): 52–63.
  6. James, David E.; Hyman, Adam (2015). Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780861969098.
  7. Gaehtgens, Thomas W.; Zelljadt, Katja (2009). Getty Research Journal. Getty Publications. ISBN 9780892369706.
  8. "Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification". Third World Newsreel. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  9. "Claiming Space: Collage in Cinema". LA Filmforum. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
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