THE EXILES
1961. 72 min. Directed by Kent Mackenzie.
Tickets here: https://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-exiles-2/
Multidisciplinary artist Jeffrey Gibson presents THE EXILES, a 1960s anti-social documentary about a group of young urban native Americans who have left reservation life to live in Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. Shot in black and white, the film fluctuates between social and solitude as we follow the characters in and out of the noisy, bustling city with pit stops to quieter domestic spaces. Vignettes of daily life and nighttime gallivanting are punctured by interior monologues of each character reflecting on their intertwined lives. Using the form of a fiction film, and writing collaboratively with the performers who play themselves on screen, dir. Kent Mackenzie wanted to challenge conventional documentary to capture a more complex depiction.
Jeffrey Gibson’s multimedia practice synthesizes the cultural and artistic traditions of his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage with the visual languages of Modernism and themes from contemporary popular and queer culture. His work is a vibrant call for queer and Indigenous empowerment, envisioning a celebration of strength and joy within these communities. Gibson’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; Denver Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.; National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR; among many others. Gibson is a recipient of numerous awards, notably a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2019); Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Award (2015); and Creative Capital Foundation Grant (2005). You can learn more at Gibson’s website.
Queer|Art|Film is supported by HBO and presented in partnership with IFC.