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The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library Presents: The 33rd Annual Black Film Festival!
Join us at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library for The 33rd Annual Black Film Festival! We present a selection of great Black Films and short documentaries before each film, to celebrate and showcase Black art and life in America.
We will be screening films each Tuesday in March showcasing different aspects of the Black experience! Movies will be shown in the Auditorium.
Tuesday, Mar. 1- Judas and the Black Messiah & Documentary: The Murder of Fred Hampton
Rated R Runtime 2h 6m (2021)
FBI informant William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) infiltrates the Illinois Black Panther Party and is tasked with keeping tabs on their charismatic leader, Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). A career thief, O’Neal revels in the danger of manipulating both his comrades and his handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). Hampton’s political prowess grows just as he’s falling in love with fellow revolutionary Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback). Meanwhile, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul. Will he align with the forces of good? Or subdue Hampton and The Panthers by any means, as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) commands?
Rated R Runtime 1h 8m (1971)
A 1971 American documentary film about the short life and death of Fred Hampton, a young African-American civil rights activist in Chicago and leader of the Illinois Black Panther Party. During the film's production, Hampton was fatally shot on December 4, 1969 in a pre-dawn raid at his apartment by the Chicago Police Department. The raid was revealed to have been organized in cooperation with the FBI.
Tuesday, Mar. 8- Candyman (2021) & Documentary: Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
Candyman (2021)
Rated R Runtime 2h 15m
Anthony McCoy is a visual artist who moves into a luxurious condo in Cabrini-Green with Brianna, his partner and a gallery director. Just as Anthony feels like his career is stagnating, he meets William, an old resident of Cabrini-Green, who tells him of the terrifying tale of Candyman. Desperate to cling on to his relevance in the art world, Anthony decides to utilize the grisly details of this tragedy to inspire his works, unknowingly setting into motion another deadly cycle of violence.
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
Runtime 1h 23m
Documentary on Bayard Rustin, best-remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
Tuesday, Mar. 15- Last Black Man in San Francisco & Documentary: The Strange Demise of Jim Crow
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Rated R Runtime 2h 1m
A black man who lives with his best friend and works in an elderly care facility dreams of living in the grand Victorian house his grandfather built in the Fillmore District. Now a white, affluent area, he is totally priced out of the neighborhood, but it doesn't stop him from dreaming in this drama about place, identity and race.
The Strange Demise of Jim Crow
Runtime 56m
The film reveals how many Southern cities were desegregated in a quieter, almost stealthy fashion with behind-the-scenes negotiations, secret deals and controversial news blackouts.
Tuesday, Mar. 22 - Soul & Documentaries: Last Breeze of Summer
Rated R Runtime 1h 40m
Gardner is an average guy teaching music in middle school whose real dream is to be a jazz musician. When he finally earns the chance to perform onstage, he has an accident that leaves him in a near-death state. As his soul is scheduled to proceed to the afterlife, he discovers that his body is still not dead. He escapes to a before-life place where he tries to negotiate a deal so he could return to Earth—before it's too late.
This is a coming of age story about a young black girl. Lizzy Davis, a school Principal, reminisces about her adolescence in Ranford, Texas in 1957. As a result of the Supreme Court desegregation order, Ranford is about to integrate their schools. Her mother does not want her to participate because of the protests and violence which erupted in Little Rock, Arkansas . Lizzy is smart, ambitious, bright, outgoing and wants to make a difference. Her first day in class shoves her into the hostilities of those not yet ready to integrate. Although difficult, Lizzy decides to return to the angry world which can fulfill her ambitions -- a world where she must stand on her own.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Film | Black History Month |
