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Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts

Directed by Jeffrey Wolf

Release: 2018
Runtime: 76
Country: U.S.
Language: English
Director: Jeffrey Wolf
Producer: Fred Barron, Daphne McWilliams, Jeany Nisenholz-Wolf, Jeffrey Wolf
Executive Producer: Sam Pollard

This illuminating documentary explores the life of a unique American artist, a man with a remarkable and unlikely biography. Bill Traylor was born into slavery in 1853 on a cotton plantation in rural Alabama. After the Civil War, Traylor continued to farm the land as a sharecropper until the late 1920s. Aging and alone, he moved to Montgomery and worked odd jobs in the thriving segregated black neighborhood. A decade later, in his late 80s, Traylor became homeless and started to draw and paint, both memories from plantation days and scenes of a radically changing urban culture.

Having witnessed profound social and political change during a life spanning slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, and the Great Migration, Traylor devised his own visual language to translate an oral culture into something original, powerful, and culturally rooted. He made well over a thousand drawings and paintings between 1939-1942. This colorful, strikingly modernist work eventually led him to be recognized as one of America’s greatest self-taught artists and the subject of a Smithsonian retrospective.

Using historical and cultural context, Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts brings the spirit and mystery of Traylor’s incomparable art to life. Making dramatic and surprising use of tap dance and evocative period music, the film balances archival photographs and footage, insightful perspectives from his descendents, and Traylor’s striking drawings and paintings to reveal one of America’s most prominent artists to a wide audience.

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Technical Info

  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Color: Color

playdates

Venue City Date
ACME Screening Room Lambertville 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
Acoustic Java Providence 1622174400May 28 - July 16, 2021
Aetna Theater at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Hartford 1621224000May 17 - July 1, 2021
AFI Silver Silver Spring 1618200000April 12 - June 23, 2021
All Saints Cinema / Tallahassee Film Society Tallahassee 1617249600April 1 - June 23, 2021
Ambler Theater Ambler 1619582400April 28 - June 23, 2021
American Folk Art Museum New York 1624939200June 29 - September 30, 2021
Amherst Cinema Amherst 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks Bethlehem 1619668800April 29 - June 23, 2021
Athena Cinema Athens 1617768000April 7 - June 23, 2021
Athens Ciné Athens 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
Bozeman Film Society Bozeman 1618891200April 20 - June 23, 2021
Brattle Theatre Cambridge 1618977600April 21 - June 23, 2021
Bryn Mawr Film Institute Bryn Mawr 1619668800April 29 - June 23, 2021
Burns Court Cinemas Sarasota 1618200000April 12 - June 23, 2021
Chelsea Theater Chapel Hill 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Cinema 21 Portland 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Cinema Lamont Oak Park 1616990400March 29 - June 23, 2021
Cleveland Cinemas Cleveland 1616385600March 22 - June 16, 2021
Cleveland Cinematheque Cleveland 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
Colonial Theatre Keene 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
County Theater Doylestown 1619582400April 28 - June 23, 2021
Crandell Theatre Chatham 1620187200May 5 - June 25, 2021
Darkside Cinema Corvallis 1617249600April 1 - May 21, 2021
Denver Film / Sie FilmCenter Denver 1617249600April 1 - June 23, 2021
Detroit Institute of Arts Detroit 1619755200April 30 - June 23, 2021
Downing Film Center Newburgh 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
Drexel Theatre Columbus 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Enzian Theatre Maitland 1619668800April 29 - June 23, 2021
Facets Chicago 1616990400March 29 - June 23, 2021
Film Forum New York 1617163200March 31 - June 23, 2021
Film Streams Omaha 1618977600April 21 - June 23, 2021
Fine Arts Theatres Overland Park 1617249600April 1 - June 23, 2021
Flicks Theatre Boise 1620014400May 3 - June 23, 2021
Gold Coast Film Great Neck 1617768000April 7 - June 23, 2021
Guild Cinema Albuquerque 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
Harris Theater Pittsburgh 1620878400May 13 - June 15, 2021
Hayesville Opera House Hayesville 1619496000April 27 - June 23, 2021
Hiway Theater Jenkintown 1619582400April 28 - June 23, 2021
Jane Pickens Theatre Newport 1620878400May 13 - June 24, 2021
Laemmle Theatres Los Angeles 1617163200March 31 - June 17, 2021
Lightbox Film Center Philadelphia 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Lumiere Cinema Los Angeles 1618545600April 16 - June 18, 2021
Milwaukee Film Milwaukee 1618977600April 21 - June 23, 2021
Montclair Film Festival Montclair 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Houston 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
Music Box Theatre Chicago 1618372800April 14 - June 23, 2021
North Park Theatre Buffalo 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
O Cinema Miami Beach 1618891200April 20 - June 23, 2021
Park City Film Park City 1618891200April 20 - June 23, 2021
Pickford Film Center Bellingham 1617249600April 1 - June 23, 2021
Pickford Film Center Bellingham 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Portland Museum of Art Portland 1617595200April 5 - June 23, 2021
Princeton Garden Theatre Princeton 1619582400April 28 - June 23, 2021
Red River Theatres Concord 1619064000April 22 - June 23, 2021
Rehoboth Beach Film Society Rehoboth Beach 1616990400March 29 - June 23, 2021
Rivertown Film Society Nyack 1619496000April 27 - June 23, 2021
Rose Theatre Port Townsend 1616990400March 29 - April 12, 2021
Roxie Theater San Francisco 1617249600April 1 - June 23, 2021
Sag Harbor Cinema Sag Harbor 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Salem Cinema Salem 1619582400April 28 - June 23, 2021
Salina Art Center Salina 1619755200April 30 - June 23, 2021
Salt Lake Film Society Salt Lake City 1618372800April 14 - June 23, 2021
Smith Rafael Film Center San Rafael 1617249600April 1 - June 23, 2021
Symphony Space New York 1621915200May 25 - June 25, 2021
Tampa Theatre Tampa 1617768000April 7 - June 16, 2021
The Frida Cinema Santa Ana 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
The Loft Cinema Tucson 1617249600April 1 - June 23, 2021
The Miracle Theatre Washington 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
The Neon Dayton 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
The Nightlight Cinema Akron 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
The Ryder Film Series Bloomington 1616385600March 22 - July 31, 2021
The Screening Room Newburyport 1618459200April 15 - June 23, 2021
Time & Space Limited Hudson 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021
Tivoli at the Nelson-Atkins Kansas City 1616990400March 29 - June 23, 2021
United Theatre Westerly 1618977600April 21 - June 23, 2021
Varsity Theatre Davis 1618286400April 13 - June 23, 2021
Wellfleet Preservation Hall Wellfleet 1616385600March 22 - June 23, 2021