Personal Problems

Personal Problems is a 1980 film described as a "meta soap opera" directed by Bill Gunn and written by Ishmael Reed that depicts the life and personal relationships of an African American nurse (played by Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor) living in Harlem. The film was originally intended to be broadcast on television, but the public television network PBS and others did not pick up the soap opera. It was shown across the United States at smaller screenings throughout the 1980s until it found renewed popularity after a screening in the late 2000s at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The film was restored in 2018 by Kino Lorber and re-released at the Metrograph theater in New York City.

The original soundtrack by composer Carman Moore was released for the first time in 2020 by Reading Group.