In one scene in Italian Dreams, we see a close-cropped view of Weems’s face juxtaposed with the visages of two young black women. She caresses their faces gently; a haunting melodic sound track plays. In another sequence, Weems— again dressed in black, but now in combat boots—walks through Rome’s Cinecittà. There, she meets a white man wearing a suit. He talks; she listens closely, then enfolds him in an embrace and engages in a slow, semi-erotic grind. But he is dull and stiff in her arms. It is clear Weems holds the power in this exchange; she shifts the paradigm of the seducer from male to female. From this scene she moves on, ascending staircases and wandering through corridors.

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