For Ethan Edwards, a confederate Civil War veteran portrayed by John Wayne, peace is fleeting, and he soon has a new mission: to rescue his niece from the Comanche. Vengeful, racist, and unrelenting, Edwards has no home but the contested landscapes he traverses along his quest. The Searchers crafts an essential reflection of white settlement and masculinity, frontierism, and representation, and serves as a record for examining the myths of the American West and prejudices that still need to be overcome today. The film, presented in a new 4K restoration, remains a pinnacle example of the Western genre and simultaneously exists as a troubling document of the genre director John Ford helped define. 1956, US, DCP, 119 min.
Artist, writer, and series curator Leila Weefur will introduce the film.
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Bios
John Ford is regarded by many as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. His career spanned more than 50 years, during which he directed 142 theatrical films and won four Academy Awards, more than any other director. Many of Ford’s films are considered classics, including Stagecoach (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), They Were Expendable (1945), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962). Ford helped to launch and promote the careers of leading actors, including Harry Carey, John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Maureen O’Hara.
Leila Weefur is a Liberian American artist, writer, and curator whose work engages with film, architecture, and the archive to examine systems of belonging. Their research, across disciplines, explores environmental geographies, transnationalism, religion, and queer world-making. Weefur has worked with institutions including Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, ICASF, the California College of the Arts’ Wattis Institute, SLASH Gallery, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Museum of the African Diaspora, and The Kitchen. Weefur was awarded a MacDowell Fellowship in 2024 and completed a residency with the Bemis Center for the Arts. Their writing has been published in SEEN by BlackStar Productions, Sming Sming Books, Baest Journal, and more. Weefur is an assistant professor of photo/media at the University of Washington and a member of curatorial film collective the Black Aesthetic.
Accessibility, Content, and Sensory Notes
Due to an issue with the file, we are not able to show this film with captions.
Content note: This film includes racism, violence, gunfire, murder, and references to sexual assault.
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For questions about accessibility, or to request additional accommodations, call 612-375-7564, or email access@walkerart.org.
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