Bill Gunn, 1980, 165 min.

Sidewalk Cinema is an opportunity for the community to gather for a socially-distant and masked viewing of a film on Fridays at sunset, approximately 8PM EDT, in front of Maysles Documentary Center.

Presented with Artists Space and screening as part of “Made In Harlem: (Re)Considering Harlem Legacies & Futures,” streaming in our Virtual Cinema June 11–18. Curated by Andrea Battleground.

Personal Problems is a "meta soap opera" that follows the complicated life and relationships of a Harlem nurse.

This entirely African American-conceived and produced ensemble drama is the result of a collaboration of a pair of pioneering Black artists: writer Ishmael Reed and filmmaker Bill Gunn, who wrote and directed the underground classic Ganja & Hess and wrote the screenplay for Hal Ashby's The Landlord. Originally intended to air on public television in 1980, it went unseen for many years; the original tapes have been carefully restored by Kino Lorber and the film is now available in its full-length version for the first time in decades!