Ganja & Hess

Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and the horror cinema, Bill Gunn's revolutionary independent film GANJA & HESS is a highly stylized and utterly original treatise on sex, religion, and African American identity.

Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead) stars as anthropologist Hess Green, who is stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger by his unstable assistant, endowing him with the blessing of immortality, and the curse of an unquenchable thirst for blood. When the assistant's beautiful and outspoken wife Ganja (Marlene Clark) comes searching for her vanished husband, she and Hess form an unexpected partnership. Together, they explore just how much power there is in the blood.

This edition represents the original release, restored by The Museum of Modern Art with support from The Film Foundation.

Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

"A sensual, scholarly, magic-realist exploration of black history and black desire." - A. O. Scott, The New York Times