2017-2018 Tucker-Boatwright Festival

Film Series: The Fire This Time

The Fire This Time is a film and video series, held in conjunction with the 2017-2018 Tucker-Boatwright Festival – The Personal is Political/The Political is Personal. The program (which references James Baldwin’s book The Fire Next Time), explores systemic racism, and the resistance of social movements in the United States from both historical and contemporary perspectives. This program, curated by Jeremy Drummond, Professor, Art & Art History and Molly Fair, Cinematic Arts Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library. These screenings are designed to augment/support spring 2018 coursework across numerous departments and schools. Each event will be preceded by an introduction, and followed by a talk-back with faculty members whose expertise closely aligns with program content.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

All screenings will be held in Acting Studio (Modlin 104), Theater & Dance

Screening One: Thursday, Feb. 15, 6:30pm

Introduced by Lauren Tilton, Assistant Professor, Rhetoric & Communication Studies & Patricia Herrera, Associate Professor of Theater

Historic footage, speeches and interviews with the Young Lords and Black Panther Party, documented by Newsreel, an alternative media collective active in the 60s and 70s.

Black Panther a.k.a. Off the Pig (SF Newsreel Collective, 1968, 15 min.)
A compelling document of the Black Panther Party in 1967, featuring interviews with the leadership, and footage of the aftermath of the police assault against the Los Angeles Chapter headquarters

El Pueblo Se Levanta/The People are Rising (Newsreel Collective, 1971, 50min.)
This film focuses the Young Lords as they implement their own health, educational, and public assistance programs, fighting back against social injustice.

Note: This screening coincides the Universes Theatre Ensemble residency and performance as part of the Tucker-Boatwright Festival.

Screening Two: Tuesday, Feb. 27, 5pm

Introduced by Andrea Y. Simpson, Associate Professor, Political Science

Fifeville (Kevin Jerome Everson, 2005, 15 min.)
A film about Fifeville, a neighborhood in Charlottesville, Virginia, focusing on black residents’ reflections on the area’s gentrification.

Second and Lee (Kevin Jerome Everson, 2008, 3 min.)
A cautionary tale about when not to run, using archival reportage and voiceover recollection to trace through repetitive corridors of presumption, justice and judgment.”

The Prison in 12 Landscapes (Brett Story, 2016, 87 min.)
Without showing an actual prison, the film explores the pervasive (but not always visible) ways the prison system affects policy-making, policing, the economy, and the shaping of places where we live.

Screening 3: Tuesday March 20, 6:30pm
An Evening with Filmmaker Akosua Adoma Owusu

Join us for an evening of short films and conversation with filmmaker Akosua Owusu, whose work combines elements of personal history, traditional myths, and popular culture, and explores what she describes as “triple consciousness”. Owusu was named by Indiewire as one of the six “Avant-Garde Female Filmmakers Who Redefined Cinema”, one of ArtForum‘s “Top Ten Artists”, and one of The Huffington Post‘s “30 Contemporary Artists under 40.” Her work has been featured in major international exhibitions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She was a 2013 MacDowell Colony Fellow and a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow. She holds M.F.A. degrees in Film/Video and Fine Art from California Institute of the Arts, and received her BA degree in Media Studies and Art from the University of Virginia.

Program:

On Monday of Last Week, 2017, 14 min.
Bus Nut, 2015, 7 min.
Mahogany Too, 2018, 3 min.
Reluctantly Queer, 2016, 8 min.
Kwaku Ananse, 2013, 25 min

Screening Four: Tuesday, March 27, 5pm

Introduced by Dr. Julian Hayter, Assistant Professor, Jepson School of Leadership and Dr. Paul Achter, Associate Professor of Rhetoric & Communication Studies

I am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck, 2016, 93 min.) This documentary draws from James Baldwin’s writings and personal account of the lives and assassinations of three close friends— Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X, connecting the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement to #BlackLivesMatter.

Note: Screenings 2 & 4 coincide with a lecture by Dr. Soyica Diggs Colbert and performance of James Baldwin’s play Blues for Mr. Charlie as part of the Tucker-Boatwright Festival.