Film Screening: “Regeneration: Spotlight on Dorothy Dandridge”

In conjunction with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971, the Carsey-Wolf Center is delighted to present an evening of screenings and discussion focused on the work of actor Dorothy Dandridge. On view through July 16, 2023, Regeneration explores the achievements and challenges of Black filmmakers in the US in both independent production and the studio system—in front of the camera and behind it—from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s to the early 1970s.

This exciting event will open with the 1942 short musical film (aka “soundie”) Cow-Cow Boogie, followed by director Otto Preminger’s 1954 Carmen Jones, a musical adaptation of Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, featuring an all-Black cast. Dorothy Dandridge was cast as the fiery, vivacious Carmen Jones in the film after a much-publicized talent search.  Her star turn was a huge success, making Dandridge the first Black woman nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Doris Berger (vice president of curatorial affairs and co-curator of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971) will join Peter Bloom (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion of the Regeneration exhibition and Dorothy Dandridge’s legacy.