Naked Acts (1996)

​Cicely has just begun her journey as a professional actor, navigating this major step in her career under the shadow of her estranged mother, a former Blaxploitation star whose legacy is complicated by a string of nude scenes and a history of exploitation. Their fractured relationship has left Cicely deeply unsettled, forcing her to confront her own relationship to her body, her trauma, and her mother’s choices. That tension comes to a head when Cicely lands her first role in a low-budget indie film - with one major catch: the part requires her to appear nude. As the production unfolds, so does a deeper journey, one that reckons with generational wounds, personal autonomy, and the politics of representation.

​Naked Acts was a film ahead of its time, it's a funny, raw, and intimate portrait of a young Black woman trying to reclaim her image on her own terms.

​Content Warning: discussion of sexual abuse, body image, nudity

​About Exposure

​This screening is presented by Exposure, a traveling cinema and podcast created by Brandon Shillingford. Through engaging programming and conversation, Exposure is dedicated to celebrating overlooked films, cinematic history, and building community around the emotional, political, and cultural dimensions of cinema with creativity, thoughtfulness, and care.

Follow along at @exposure.cinema on Instagram and at exposurecinema.org for more information.