The Films of Aarin Burch: Spin Cycle and Dreams of Passion

Spin Cycle “There’s always been a woman that’s an object of my desire,” opens Aarin Burch’s autobiographical short. Spinning through a stream of consciousness voiceover, Burch reflects on her creative process, romantic desires, fears, and sexuality. With “Spin Cycle,” Burch’s mirror to herself opens up a new cinematic language for Black queerness to the world. (Aarin Burch, 1991, 5 min, 16mm) Dreams of Passion Through her groundbreaking cinematic lens, Bay Area-based filmmaker Aarin Burch explores Black lesbian artistic expression and desire. With “Dreams of Passion” Burch, a trained dancer, uses the intimacy of a dance studio as a playground to explore the nuances of movement, touch, and affection between contemporary dancers Matima Hadi and Debra Floyd. Burch’s tender eye depicts the earliest same-sex kiss between Black women on screen. (Aarin Burch, 1989, 5 min, 16mm) Both films restored with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation and the University of Chicago Film Studies Center.