Twice as Nice + Dreams of Passion

Wednesday, July 8 - Thursday, July 9, 2026

Thursday, June 9 at 9:00: Introduction by DREAMS OF PASSION director Aarin Burch

TWICE AS NICE
Pioneering Black director Jessie Maple made women basketball players — played by the NCAA stars and real-life twins Pamela & Paula McGee — the focus of her second movie. This is a wonderful comic portrait of competing to be the first draft pick in a women’s professional league (anticipating the future WNBA). With her keen eye for telling details honed through her documentary work, Maple explores questions of sisterhood, ambition, and what it means to succeed as a young Black woman in America. TWICE AS NICE was restored by the Black Film Center & Archive in collaboration with the Maple estate.

Screening with DREAMS OF PASSION (dir. Aarin Burch, 1989, 5 min)
Widely recognized for featuring one of the earliest on-screen kisses between two Black women, DREAMS OF PASSION challenged norms of representation in experimental film and opened doors for queer Black visibility in cinema. The film is an exploration of desire and features dancers Matima Hadi and Debra Floyd with original music by multi-instrumentalist Vicki Randle. Filmmaker Aarin Burch, herself a trained dancer, is adept at using the intimacy of the dance studio as a playground for movement, touch, and affection. DREAMS OF PASSION was re-mastered by the University of Chicago Film Studies Center in collaboration with Colorlab, with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation.



Screening as part of our series Declaration of Independents!

See more and save! Get an Independents Pack ($30 for IFC Center members and $45 for non-members). Ticket packs are good for any three screenings in the series.

  • Country USA
  • Year 1989
  • Running Time 70 minutes
  • Format DCP
  • Distributor IndieCollect
  • Director Jessie Maple
  • Cast Pamela McGee, Paula McGee, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke
  • Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.