Exposure: Ganja & Hess (1973)

​​When Dr. Hess Green is stabbed with an ancient dagger, he develops an unquenchable thirst for blood. He soon begins a relationship with Ganja, the widow of the man who “infected” him, and what begins as an intense affair fueled by desire and obsession spirals into a haunting meditation on addiction, desire, and the struggle for redemption and liberation.

At the time of its release, Bill Gunn’s original cut was dismissed by critics and industry insiders, seen as too obscure and unmarketable. The film was sold to a new distributor, recut without his consent, and released in a version he quickly disowned. Years after, a print of Gunn’s version was later donated to the Museum of Modern Art, and in the 2010's, MoMA, in partnership with The Film Foundation, restored the film to its original form.

Gunn passed away in 1989 at the age of 54, before he could see his fully-realized film released, restored, and embraced. Today, it’s widely considered a masterpiece of Black independent cinema, one that radically reimagines the vampire film as impressionistic, poetic, spiritually charged, and uncompromising

​Content Warning: nudity, violence, self-harm

​​About Exposure

​​This screening is presented by Exposure, a traveling cinema and podcast created by Brandon Shillingford. Through engaging programming and conversation, Exposure is dedicated to celebrating overlooked films, cinematic history, and building community around the emotional, political, and cultural dimensions of cinema with creativity, thoughtfulness, and care.

Follow along at @exposure.cinema on Instagram and at exposurecinema.org for more information.