This film screened on Tuesday 17th January 2017.

John Cassavetes’s directorial debut is also a landmark of American independent cinema, one of the first to be produced outside of the Hollywood system.

Starring Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni and Hugh Hurd as three African American siblings living in Manhattan, the film – shot twice – was originally almost entirely improvised, allowing for the story of an interracial romance to naturally evolve from the characters’ actions.

This month’s Bigger Picture will be introduced by Dr Zélie Asava, Programme Director of Video and Film at Dundalk IT and author of The Black Irish Onscreen: Representing Black and Mixed-Race Irish Identities on Film and TV.

(Notes by Alice Butler.)