DRYLONGSO Cinema's Legacy

Forthright and plucky Pica Sullivan (Toby Smith) is an art school student growing up in Oakland, CA, who is determined to document “America’s most endangered species”: the African-American male. While photographing men in the neighborhood out of fear they will soon be extinct, Pica meets Tobi (April Barnett), a woman disguised as a man to avoid her abusive boyfriend. As Pica grapples with her turbulent home life and navigates a budding romance with local street vendor Malik (Will Power), a serial killer starts picking off many of those who appear smiling in Pica’s Polaroids. Confronting urgent and prevalent issues of race and gender, Cauleen Smith’s vibrant and rarely-seen coming-of-age drama is as vital and sobering today as it was twenty years ago. Presented in a new 16mm print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive. – Jesse Knight