Red and Black: Hollywood Left and the Blacklist

Red and Black: Hollywood Left and the Blacklist is the title and the theme of the upcoming retrospective I have curated for the 79th edition of Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.

The retrospective presents not only the key titles of the blacklist period but also traces the wartime origins of concern over communist infiltration in Hollywood and its international aftermath. The programme features nearly 50 titles, including feature films, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, and animation.

This retrospective differs from previous surveys of the same subject in three ways:

(a) It highlights lesser-seen films or works that were previously not considered within the context of the blacklist.

(b) Examines the blacklist and responses to it in other national cinemas, extending beyond Hollywood to adopt a truly international perspective.

(c) Explores blacklisted individuals outside Hollywood who were associated with the film industry, including figures such as writer Richard Wright and jazz musician Artie Shaw.

Red and Black showcases works by American filmmakers created in exile in Mexico, England, France, Spain, and Italy.  Particular attention is paid to the experiences of women – whether blacklisted themselves or affected by blacklisted partners and family members – and how they navigated the turbulent McCarthy era. The programme features works by Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, Faith Hubley, and Karen DeWolf.

Some of the finest prints of these films are included, such as the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s immaculate analogue restorations from the past two decades, alongside new digital restorations, including A King in New York.

The retrospective includes the world premieres of two new documentaries on blacklistees. More on that in near future.

Accompanying the retrospective is a book featuring 16 new essays – some by leading scholars in the field – examining various aspects and figures of the blacklist. The volume also includes previously unpublished documents, such as letters, as well as nearly 150 stills from the BFI National Archive collection.

Below, Locarno's official press release (26/3/26)

Retrospective 2026: Red & Black – Hollywood Left and the Blacklist

At the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on 26 March 2026, the Locarno Film Festival will present its Retrospettiva, an extensive programme focusing on the infamous Hollywood Blacklist, one of the most turbulent and politically charged periods in the history of American cinema. Curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht and produced in partnership with the Cinémathèque suisse and with the support of UCLA Film & Television Archive, Red & Black – Hollywood Left and the Blacklist paints a complex portrait of an era in which creatives were confronted by unprecedented abuse of state and industry power and which they met, courageously, with fierce artistic resistance.

As the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union swelled into a defining feature of world politics, right-wing voices in the American political system alleged communist infiltration of Hollywood. Hearings that more closely resembled prosecutions followed, instigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The industry responded in fear and enforced a blacklist that upended careers, forced artists to adopt pseudonyms, stifled free expression, and exiled creators overseas. Guilt by association tore families apart and films with left-wing ideas – real or imagined – were suppressed.

Red & Black – Hollywood Left and the Blacklist will re-examine this repressive yet defiantly creative era, which mirrors the political attacks on free speech and artistic freedom seen again today. The programme will highlight key films by directors, writers, and stars as diverse as John Garfield, Joseph Losey, Dalton Trumbo, Dorothy Parker, Richard Wright, and Charles Chaplin, and trace the Red Scare’s origins and aftermath across the United States, in Europe, and beyond.

Spanning fiction, documentaries, newsreels, and shorts from the U.S., Britain, Spain, Italy, France, Mexico, and Argentina, Red & Black will bring together digital restorations and archival prints for a unique examination of the films of the period and will be accompanied, as in previous years, by a comprehensive book featuring contributions from international film scholars and critics on the films of the Hollywood left and published by Les Éditions de l’Œil. For the first time, a podcast, written by Khoshbakht, will detail some of the history and context of the blacklist era.

Ehsan Khoshbakht, Retrospective Curator: “If you insist on calling classic Hollywood a ‘dream factory,’ you have also to see how that notion was hammered into pieces by some of the most politically progressive figures in the history of American cinema across the more than forty films brought together in this retrospective. It is the timeliest one I have worked on in my life. The imaginative ways of incorporating political consciousness into film, and the tragic consequences of that political determination, form the thrilling story of this programme, offering new angles on the witch-hunts of the McCarthy era.”

Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director: “This retrospective will be a unique critical and historical endeavour that sheds new light on a grim passage of Hollywood history. This programme will provide a new context to reframe the conflicts of the time through a wider lens, allowing audiences to grasp the impact of political persecution. This historical context is supported by a wide and compelling selection of films and, as a supplement, rarely seen documents. A pivotal moment in cinema history will thus be brought back to life all while celebrating some of the most daring, searing, and audacious films ever made in Hollywood.”