A trunk, forgotten films and my mother’s pioneering legacy

Available for over a year

Nina Collins’ mother Kathleen is a giant of African American cinema, as one of the first female black American directors her work, in particular her film Losing Ground, is essential viewing for any student of the genre. However it wasn’t always like this, for years her films, plays and short stories languished in obscurity. It was only when her daughter Nina, poured her own money into publishing, restoring and showing her mother’s works that their significance was appreciated more widely. Nina had a fraught relationship with her mother, a childhood marked by divorce, mental illness and violence. And Nina’s unsettled life in many ways mirrored her mother’s. After her death Nina kept her mother’s papers locked away, it wasn’t until nearly 20 years later that she started to look through them, began to understand her mother better and build her legacy. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Julian Siddle Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: Kathleen Collins and Ronald Gray on the set of Losing Ground. Credit: Courtesy of Milestone Films and Gary Bolling)