Update: So I apparently was mistaken from the Beyond Broadway article. This is in fact in Seattle, not New York. My apologies.
Anyone who has met me knows that I rep Chicago hard. I love my city and appreciate the wealth of experience, food, knowledge, and beauty reverberating from it. Just this once, however, I am envious of Seattle. In the next few weeks, they’ll be hosting, again, the Langston Hughes Black Film Festival from April 18th to the 24th.
While I hope they find their way to some independent theaters out our progressive, midwestern way (bigups Iowa!), if you’re in the area, definitely check out these sure to be powerful films.
- Medicine for Melancholy (4/24 7pm) – A love story of bikes and one-night stands told through two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with issues of class, identity, and the evolving conundrum of being a minority in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco; the city with the smallest proportional black population of any other American city. Shouts to my boy Wyatt Cenac who is holding this down, as well as his gig over at the Daily Show.
- American Violet (4/18 7pm) – Based on the astonishing true story of Regina Kelly, a waitress wrongly arrested during a disastrous drug sweep in Hearne, TX. Her refusal to accept a plea bargain eventually helped expose the DA’s case a sham, based almost entirely on the word of a pathological informant. Starring Nicole Beharie and Alfre Woodard.
- Trouble the Water (4/22 7pm) – 2009 Academy Award nominee/Best Documentary. A redemptive tale of two self-described street hustlers who become heroes. They survive the storm and seize a chance for a new beginning; Not As Seen on TV (4/22 4pm) youth documentary by four teens; Renaissance Village (4/19 1pm) A gritty look at the delicate relationship between gov’t and citizen post disaster. Follows the personal struggles of five characters who live in a FEMA trailer park where allegations of formaldehyde poisoning force the park to close. Filmmaker Lou Karsen in attendance.
- Frederick Douglass and the White Negro (4/26 1pm) – Douglass escaped slavery and took refuge in Ireland during the peak of the Great Famine. This film examines the effect Ireland had on his activism, the role of the Irish in America after Douglass’ return, and the turbulent relationship between African and Irish Americans as well as the race riot that rocked NYC during the Civil War.
More information over at BroadwayWorld.com and the official website for the festival.
Bonus: Check the official trailer for Medicine for Melancholy and American Violet below.
