Vaginal Davis' New Series: Rising Stars, Falling Stars – We Must Have Music!

Vaginal Davis has spoilt her audiences with silent movies and live music over 40 times. Now she asks: "Is there a new way of seeing music in film?" and launches into a new Arsenal series about film and music. Once a month, the "curatorial mother" will personally present a film and then invite the audience to drinks and music after the screening. Although her selection comprises all periods and genres, they are all from the Arsenal collection – Vaginal Davis is a participant in the "Living Archive" project (p.23). Her opening film is Otto Preminger's PORGY AND BESS (USA 1959), a film version of the eponymous opera by George Gershwin, starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters and Diahann Carroll. (22.4.)