
Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification
Made in collaboration with performer Yolanda Vidato, Water Ritual #1 examines Black women’s ongoing struggle for spiritual and psychological space through improvisational, symbolic acts. Shot in 16mm black-and-white, the film was made in an area of Watts that had been cleared to make way for the I-105 freeway, but ultimately abandoned. Though the film is set in contemporary L.A., at first sight, Milanda and her environs (burnt-out houses overgrown with weeds) might seem to be located in Africa or the Caribbean, or at some time in the past. Structured as an Africanist ritual for Barbara McCullough’s “participant-viewers,” the film addresses how conditions of poverty, exploitation and anger render the Los Angeles landscape not as the fabled promised land for Black migrants, but as both cause and emblem of Black desolation. (Jacqueline Stewart)
TMDB
3.8/10
4 votes
IMDb
Not rated yet
View on IMDb
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- —
- Box office
- —
- Language
- English
- woman director
Top billed cast
Behind the camera
Director
Produced in
United States of America
Videos
No extra videos are listed for this title yet.
Release dates
United StatesUS
- Theatrical1 Jan 1979
Frequently asked questions
Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification was released on 1 January 1979.
Member reviews
Sign in to rate and review. Browsing stays free and open.
Sign inMember comments
0Sign in to post a comment. Browsing stays free and open.
Sign in











