Ganja and Hess

Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and horror, Bill Gunn’s revolutionary independent film Ganja & Hess is a highly stylized and utterly original treatise on sex, religion, and African American identity. Duane Jones stars as anthropologist Hess Green, who is stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger by his unstable assistant, bestowing upon him the blessing of immortality… and the curse of an unquenchable thirst for blood. When the assistant’s beautiful and outspoken wife Ganja comes searching for her missing husband, she and Hess form an unexpected partnership.

(Bill Gunn, USA, English, 113 min, 1973, Digital)

Cosponsored by Sociocultural Programming