The community is invited to join the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas for an exclusive free screening of the Academy Award-Nominated documentary, “I Am Not Your Negro.”
The event will be held from 1-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the center, 701 S. Main St. Sponsored by AETN/PBS, the screening is free to the public.
“In 1979, author James Baldwin wrote a 30-page letter outlining a biography of slain civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” according to a news release.
“Although Baldwin’s proposed manuscript was never completed, master filmmaker Raoul Peck uses Baldwin’s deeply personal notes to jump through time, juxtaposing Baldwin’s private words with his public statements, resulting in a radical, up-to-minute examination of race in America. The film is an ‘essay about images, their origins, discourse and ultimately their impact on our collective consciousness’,” according to the release.
Award-winning actor, Samuel L. Jackson narrates the film. “I Am Not Your Negro” was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2017 Academy Awards.
Following the film screening, Gabe Mayhan, director of the AETN documentary Dream Land: Little Rock’s West 9th Street, will moderate a panel discussion with John Kirk, director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Anderson Institute for Race and Ethnicity, state Rep. Vivian Flowers, and John Foster, associate professor of sociology at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
The arts center is partnering with the Arkansas River Educational Service Cooperative to provide area teachers professional development hours for attending the event. Educators will receive a classroom discussion guide and curriculum guide on “I Am Not Your Negro,” as well as primary source class activities specific to the Civil Rights movement within Pine Bluff and Jefferson County.
According to the release, the film’s other honors included Winner Best Documentary – Los Angeles Film Critics Association; Winner Best Writing - IDA Creative Recognition Award; Four Festival Audience Awards – Toronto, Hamptons, Philadelphia, Chicago; Two IDA Documentary Awards Nominations – Including Best Feature; Five Cinema Eye Honors Award Nominations – Including Outstanding, Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking and Direction; Best Documentary Nomination – Film Independent Spirit Awards; Best Documentary Nomination – Gotham Awards, according to the release.
Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP Leonor Colbert, lcolbert@asc701.org . Details: 870-536-3375, info@ASC701.org or www.ASC701.org .