The Blood of Jesus

The prolific screen actor Spencer Williams also wrote, produced, and directed a series of independent films, shot in and around Dallas, with all-Black casts. The Blood of Jesus is the first of these—a religious allegory about a woman (Cathryn Caviness) who is trapped on the crossroads of the hereafter after being accidentally shot by her husband (Williams). A low-budget stylist, Williams’s rustic passion play, set in the contemporary world of juke joints, was one of the first Black-directed films named to the National Film Registry.

Hell-Bound Train

A recent major discovery, Hell-Bound Train was made by self-taught 16mm filmmakers James and Eloyce Gist, African American evangelists who employed cinema as a tool for their traveling ministry. Their unique visual allegories were screened in churches and meeting halls, accompanied by a sermon and the passing of a collection plate. Decades before Snowpiercer (2013), the Gists use the cars of a doomed convoy as social metaphors—here the sins of the Jazz Age such as gambling, jazz, alcohol, and skipping church are staged in different train cars, all presided over by an eerily masked devil. Now featuring a newly created score by Dr. Samuel Waymon, best known to cineastes as having provided the moody music (and portrayed the minister/chauffeur) in Bill Gunn’s influential 1973 film Ganja & Hess.

Make It Dinner and a Movie

Fanny's Restaurant & Café

All guests who present a ticket for a film screening, Tuesday through Saturday (and the first Sunday of every month), receive 10% off all food and non-alcoholic beverages at Fanny's. Discount only applicable on the same day as the screening and cannot be redeemed for another screening or date. Dinner reservations can be made on OpenTable or Resy.