Cauleen Smith on the Making and Restoration of Drylongso
March 10, 2023

Cauleen Smith at the 60th New York Film Festival premiere of Drylongso. Photography by Sean DiSerio.
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This week on the Film at Lincoln Center podcast, we’re featuring a special Q&A from the 60th New York Film Festival with Drylongso (opening March 17) director Cauleen Smith, moderated by Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Jacqueline Stewart.
Cauleen Smith’s 1998 feature debut, a landmark in American independent cinema, follows Pica (Toby Smith), a woman in a photography class in Oakland, as she begins photographing the young Black men of her neighborhood, having witnessed so many of them fall victim to senseless murder and fearing the possibility of their becoming extinct altogether. This project serves as a point of departure for Smith to explore Pica’s relationship with her family, as well as her relationship with a friend (April Barnett) who becomes the victim of an enigmatic and elusive serial killer lurking in the background. An enduringly rich work of DIY filmmaking, Drylongso remains a resonant and visionary examination of violence (and its reverberations), friendship, and gender. An NYFF60 Revivals selection. The NYFF60 Revivals presentation of Drylongso was sponsored by Turner Classic Movies.
The new 4K restoration of Drylongso opens next Friday, March 17, in our theaters with a filmmaker Q&A with Smith on opening night. On the occasion of the theatrical release of the NYFF60 selection, we are also showing two programs (Shorts Program I and Shorts Program II) of Smith’s short films.
See Drylongso, Cauleen Smith’s Shorts Program I, and Shorts Program II and save! Discount package of $20 for GP and $15 for FLC Members will automatically be applied in cart when all three are added.
Watch/listen to the discussions below and don’t forget to subscribe here for more filmmaker conversations.
Watch Cauleen Smith’s Amos Vogel Lecture from the 60th New York Film Festival below.





