Co-Presented by Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. In connection with their ongoing exhibition Isaac Julien: I Dream a World (April 12 - July 13, 2025 at the de Young Museum).
About the Film
Isaac Julien’s classic YOUNG SOUL REBELS has been restored to its original director’s cut in a stunning 4K version overseen by Julien and the film DP, Nina Kelgren. Set in the late 1970’s, the film revolves around race clashes and examines the inter- action between youth cultural movements — namely skinheads, punks, and soulboys — along with the social, political, and cultural tensions between them. The film won the Critic’s Prize at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and has won international acclaim since its release. The film features a soundtrack with music by Parliament Funkadelic, The O’Jays, War and many others. (STRAND RELEASING)
About the Exhibit
Over the last 25 years, pioneering artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien (b. 1960, London) has created immersive, multichannel video installations. Celebrated for his poetic visual narratives, Julien explores power, politics, and personal experience through the lens of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Featuring 10 major video installations made between 1999 and 2022, alongside select early single-channel films including his iconic Looking for Langston (1989), this exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of Julien’s work in a museum setting and his first retrospective in the United States. The works’ themes range from global migration to the collection and appropriation of African artists and art by Western museums to the celebration of cultural figures who overcame racial oppression. Shot across Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, and Asia, Julien’s works untangle the complex web of post-colonial conditions that has shaped the lives of individuals and societies across the globe. (FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO)