Losing Ground (Blu-ray)
Written and directed by renowned playwright, author, and filmmaker Kathleen Collins, Losing Ground is a brilliant portrait of a marriage at a crossroads. Just as philosophy professor Sara Rogers (Seret Scott, Pretty Baby) embarks on an intellectual quest for "ecstasy," her artist husband Victor (Bill Gunn, Ganja & Hess) sets off on more earthly explorations of joy. When the couple rents a country house upstate, their summer idyll becomes complicated by Victor's involvement with a young model. One of the first feature films by an African-American woman, Losing Ground was undistributed for decades before it premiered theatrically in 2015. Added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2020, it is now heralded as a canonical work of American independent cinema. The new 4K restoration of reveals the beauty and saturated colors of Ronald K. Gray’s lush cinematography.
DISC 1:
• Losing Ground Audio Commentary by Professors LaMonda Horton-Stallings and Terri Francis
• The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (1980, 50 minutes), a 2K restoration of Kathleen Collins’ first film
• In Search of Marcus Garvey (1981, 29 minutes, written by Kathleen Collins)
• Archival Audio Commentary for The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy by Kathleen Collins • Theatrical Trailer
DISC 2:
• Transmagnifican Dambamuality (1976, 7 minutes), Ronald Gray’s student film
• Interviews with producer/cinematographer Ronald K. Gray (46 minutes), star Seret Scott (40 minutes) and Kathleen Collin’s daughter Nina Lorez Collins (26 minutes)
• Interview with Kathleen Collins by Phyllis R. Klotman (22 minutes)
• Masterclass with Kathleen Collins at Howard University (1984, 119 minutes)
- Kathleen Collins - Director
- Seret Scott - Actor
- Bill Gunn - Actor
- Duane Jones - Actor
Reviews
"Revelatory. A Black film unlike any other in its time."
"Passionate, buoyant, alive. There are moments in Losing Ground... that are so rich in mood, texture, and longing I can’t catch my breath."
"Delightfully irreverent. Exemplifies how Black women on both sides of the camera experiment with possibility, complexity, and ambiguity to challenge the frame."
“More than just a cinematic feast; it’s a revelation… A nearly lost masterwork.”
"Beautifully restored by the indispensable Milestone Films… Collins’s movie ranks as one of the best about a marriage between two ambitious members of the creative class defined by a nimble élan and piercing wit.”
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