Suzanne Suzanne

Camille Billops / United States / 1977 / 25 min.

synopsis

An intimate portrait of a young Black American woman dealing with a drug addiction and long-term physical and mental abuse from her father. Only after her tyrant's death can she and her whole family face the consequences of living under pressure, which has become a never-ending story for them. This heavily personal documentary – personal even for the director herself, who is Suzanne's aunt – evokes the aesthetics of home video. Conversations carried in the middle of everyday activities form an image of an intentionally unreflected social pathology right at the moment of beginning treatment and restoring both a mutual and personal trust.

„I called it that because when she was telling me about her experiences, I kept saying, ‚Oh Suzanne! Suzanne!‘“ C. Billops

biography

Camille Billops (1933–2019) was an Black American artist and filmmaker. She often thematized herself and her family in her work. She gained fame as a documentary filmmaker for the African diaspora. Together with theatre scientist James Hatch, she put together the Hatch and Billops collection, which contains thousands of books and printed materials, 1200 interviews, and 1000 plays related to Black American culture.