Ganja & Hess

An Ottawa Classic Premiere on June 20th, encore screening on June 21st!

Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and the horror cinema, 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 (Night of the Living Dead) stars as anthropologist Hess Green, who is stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger by his unstable assistant (director Bill Gunn), endowing him with the blessing of immortality, and the curse of an unquenchable thirst for blood. When the assistant’s beautiful and outspoken wife Ganja (Marlene Clark) comes searching for her vanished husband, she and Hess form an unexpected partnership. Together, they explore just how much power there is in the blood. Later recut and released in an inferior version, this edition represents the original release, restored by The Museum of Modern Art with support from The Film Foundation, and mastered in HD from a 35mm negative.

“Almost the before the credits have finished their cryptic roll in Bill Gunn’s fascinating and disturbing Ganja & Hess, you know you’re watching an extraordinary film.” (The Village Voice)

“A forgotten masterpiece.” (Ozus’ World Movie Reviews)