Film Series

Within Our Gates (1919)
Monday, October 4, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Oscar Micheaux. 79 minutes. Black and White. Silent. Not Rated.
Oscar Micheaux was the first African American to produce a feature length film, The Homesteader. Within Our Gates, his second film, was Micheaux’s response to D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, a film that glorified the Ku Klux Klan.

The Learning Tree (1969)
Monday, October 11, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Gordon Parks. 107 minutes. Rated PG.
Gordon Parks was a photojournalist for Life magazine before turning to film direction. He was the first African American to direct a film for a major studio, Warner Brothers – The Learning Tree which was based on Parks’ book of the same name. The story, set in the 1920s covers events in a young black teenagers life in small-town Kansas.
Film introduced by Terry Nelson, Special Collection and Community Resource Manager, Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library.

Cooley High (1975)
Monday, November 8, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Michael Schultz. 107 minutes. Rated PG.
Michael Schultz is a prolific director of film, television and theater. His early films combine comedy with profound social commentary. In Cooley High two high school students near the North Side of Chicago have their lives turned upside down. The film features a soundtrack of 1960s soul.
Film introduced by Danny Walker, Senior Librarian, Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library.

Killer of Sheep (1977)
Monday, November 15, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Charles Burnett. 83 minutes. Black and White. Not Rated.
Killer of Sheep was filmed on a budget of less than $10,000 while Charles Burnett was studying at UCLA film school. The film is set in the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the 1970s and told through the disillusioned eyes of Stan, who works at a slaughterhouse. The film was shown sporadically after 1977 and gained in reputation before winning a prize at the 1981 Berlin film festival. Since then the Library of Congress has named it a National Treasure and selected it as one of the “100 Essential Films” of all time.
Film introduced by Omar Montgomery, Director of Black Student Services, University of Colorado Denver.

Sugar Cane Alley/Rue Cases-Nègres (1983)
Monday, November 22, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Euzhan Palcy. 103 minutes. In French with English subtitles. Rated PG.
Born in Martinique, Euzhan Palcy, is noted as the first black female director of a major Hollywood Studio (MGM) for A Dry White Season (1989). Sugar Cane Alley, her first feature film, documents life of a poor black family living on a Martinique Sugar Plantation in the 1930s through the eyes of a young boy.
Film introduced by Dr. Rachel Harding, Veterans of Hope, Iliff School of Theology.

Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Monday, November 29, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Julie Dash. 112 minutes. Rated PG.
Julie Dash was born in New York City. When Daughters of the Dust debuted she became the first African American woman to have a feature length film on general release in the United States. Daughters of the Dust tells the story of three generations of Gullah women at the turn of the 20th century.
Film introduced by Jackie Benton, Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Crooklyn (1994)
Monday, December 6, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Spike Lee. 115 minutes. Rated PG.
Spike Lee is a prolific producer, director, writer and director. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983. Lee’s films usually examine race relations, poverty, politics and urban life and crime. Crooklyn takes place in Brooklyn during the summer of 1973 and focuses on a young girl, her family and the life lessons she learns. Other than the title song the entire soundtrack is comprised of 1970s music.
Film introduced by Reginald Blanding, Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library.

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005)
Monday, December 13, 6 p.m., Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Director – Keith A. Beauchamp. 70 minutes. Rated PG13.
Keith A. Beauchamp started his own research into the case of Emmett Till fifty years after Till’s death. His research led him to create this documentary and aided the reopening of the Emmett Till case by the United States Justice Department in 2004.
Film introduced by Donnie Betts, Film Producer of No Credits Productions.