Black History Month Films at ICE Chatham Theaters
by
TRUTH BE TOLD – A CELEBRATION OF BLACK HERITAGE
@ ICE THEATERS Every Thursday in February.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
SKIN
South Africa/2009/107 min/Drama/Rated PG-13/Directed by Anthony Fabian
“SKIN” is one of the most moving stories to emerge from apartheid South Africa: Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) is a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. Her parents are rural shopkeepers serving the local black community, who lovingly bring her up as their ‘white’ little girl. But at the age of ten, Sandra is driven out of white society. The film follows Sandra’s thirty-year journey from rejection to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation, as she struggles to define her place in a changing world – and triumphs against all odds.
[youtube xnIGr1_—g 600]Post-Film Panel Discussion – Moderator: Santita Jackson, WVON; Panelists: Ambassador Nomvume Magaqa, Consul General, South African Consulate General in Chicago; Rev. Calvin Morris, PhD, Executive Director of the Community Renewal society of Chicago; and Dana Starks, Commissioner, Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
INVICTUS
USA/2009/134 minutes/Drama/Rated PG-13/Directed by Clint Eastwood
“Invictus” tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
[youtube E9Ovkye6lac 600]Post-Film Audience Q&A – Moderators: Matt McGill and Perri Small, WVON
Thursday, February 18, 2010
THE PROVIDENCE EFFECT
USA/2009/92 minutes/Documentary/Rated PG/Directed by Rollin Binzer
Providence-St. Mel, a private school in Chicago, is celebrated nationwide for its remarkable success rate: for nearly 30 years, 100 percent of its students have gone on to attend college. As the nation faces an ongoing crisis in public education, many administrators and activists have begun turning to the Providence model to boost test scores and student confidence. This documentary chronicles the school’s unique history, and offers testimonies from generations of Providence-St. Mel teachers and alumni, most importantly the man who has led the school during all those years, Paul J. Adams III.
[youtube Gyf0AG5Oso8 600]Post-Film Audience Q&A – Moderator: Cliff Kelley, WVON
Thursday, February 25, 2009
WITHIN OUR GATES
USA/1920/90 minutes/Drama/Unrated/Written, Directed and Produced by Oscar Micheaux
Recognized as the oldest known surviving film by an African-American director, “Within Our Gates” is a silent race film that dramatically depicts the racial situation in America during the violent years of Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, the Great Migration, and the emergence of the “New Negro”. The story focuses on an African-American woman who goes North in an effort to help a minister in the Deep South raise money to keep a school open for poor Black children. Her romance with a black doctor eventually leads to revelations about her family’s past that expose the racial skeletons in America’s closet, most famously through the film’s depiction of the injustice of lynching.
[youtube 13ZYQJGSVfY 600]Post-Film Panel Discussion – Moderator: Salim Muwakki, WVON; Panelists: Timuel Black, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at the City Colleges of Chicago; Nina Cartier, Doctoral Candidate at Northwestern University; and Floyd Webb, filmmaker/producer
All screenings will be held at the ICE Chatham Theaters, 210 West 87th Street, Chicago. Showtime is 7:00PM and admission is $5.00 for all screenings listed above. A post-film discussion will follow each screening. For program information or private group screenings, contact Venisha White Johnson at 773-892-3204 ext. 2 or venishajohnson@icetheaters.com.