African Film Archive

Losing Ground

1982 — Kathleen Collins — United States

feature · comedy, drama · flourishing

Kathleen Collins's only feature follows Sara Rogers, a Black philosophy professor investigating the meaning of ecstasy while her painter husband pursues his own reckoning, and is one of the first features directed by an African American woman.

Fun fact: The film never received a theatrical release in Collins's lifetime; her daughter Nina Collins restored the original negative in 2015, over 30 years after it was made, giving it its first wide audience.

Notes: Collins died at 46; this remains her only completed feature film.

Verification: verified · Sources: [1] [2] [3]

Poster source: Criterion Channel