Ackland Film Forum: “Eve’s Bayou” (Kasi Lemmons, 1997)

Eve’s Bayou
Dir. Kasi Lemmons, 1997

Introduced by new faculty member Prof. Daelena Tinnin-Gadson, English & Comparative Literature

A Southern Gothic thriller/coming-of-age drama set in 1960s Louisiana, Kasi Lemmons’ first feature film follows a young girl (Jurnee Smollett) as she grapples with new knowledge of her charismatic father’s (Samuel L. Jackson) philandering. With its layered performances from a predominantly Black cast, the film offers a portrait of a family unraveling internally, within an environment marked by Creole folklore. In a decade that saw the renaissance of Black popular cinema, Eve’s Bayou, as an independent feature, undertakes a subtler, quieter exploration of African American subjectivity and memory through the eyes of a child whose sense of reality is thrown into crisis. Despite its modest budget, the film found favor with both critics and audiences, and was the most commercially successful independent film of 1997. Its reputation has only improved with age. 

This Fall’s Ackland Film Forum series, Nineties Flashback, is presented by the Ackland Art Museum and the UNC Film Studies Program, part of the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of English and Comparative Literature.

All Ackland Film Forum screenings are part of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Campus Life Experience program. Scan the QR code at the event for CLE credit.