Rethinking Race Film Festival

Feature film: American History X

Friday, Feb. 1
Movie - 6 to 8:30 pm
Discussion - 8:30 to 10 pm
Student Union Theatre

Sponsored by University Libraries and ZPN
Free Subway sandwiches to the first 200 people who attend American History X at 6 p.m.

American History X is a 1998 American drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. It was distributed by New Line Cinema.

The film tells the story of two brothers, Derek Vinyard (Norton) and Daniel "Danny" Vinyard (Furlong) of Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California. Both are intelligent and charismatic students. Their father, a firefighter, is murdered by a black drug dealer while trying to extinguish a fire in a South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles, and Derek is drawn into the Neo-Nazi movement. Derek brutally kills two black gang members whom he catches in the act of breaking into the truck left to him by his father, and is sentenced to four years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. The story shows how Danny is influenced by his older brother's actions and ideology and how Derek, now radically changed by his experience in incarceration, which includes violent rape by white neo-Nazi inmates, tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path as he did. The film is told in the style of nonlinear narrative.

David McKenna scripted the film and shooting took place in Los Angeles, California. The film was released in the United States on October 30, 1998 and went on to gross over $23 million at the international box office. It was given an "R" rating by the MPAA for "graphic brutal violence including rape, pervasive language, strong sexuality and nudity."

Critics mostly praised the film and Edward Norton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. It was also named by Empire magazine in September 2008 as the 311th Greatest Movie of All Time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_History_X

Undefeated (2011)

Monday, Feb. 4, 6 p.m.
113 minutes
Student Union Theatre

Free Subway sandwiches to the first 100 people who attend Undefeated at 6 p.m.
Sponsored by University Libraries

Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s documentary "Undefeated" is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field.

Founded in 1899, Manassas High School in North Memphis has never seen its football team, the Tigers, win a playoff game. In recent decades, the last-place Tigers had gone so far as to sell its regular season games to rival schools looking to chalk up an easy win.

That began to change in 2004, when Bill Courtney, former high school football coach turned businessman, volunteered to lend a hand. When Courtney arrived, the Tigers were accustomed to timeworn equipment and a sorry patch of lawn as a practice field. Focusing on nurturing emotional as well as physical strength, Courtney has helped the Tigers find their footing and their confidence.

The 2009 summer/fall football season promises to be the Tigers’ best ever — perhaps the season that finally breaks the 110 year-old playoff jinx. It’s the senior year for the team’s star player, O.C., a left tackle blessed with power, size and speed. With football scholarships hanging in the balance, O.C. will have to juggle practice with the study sessions he needs to pass crucial exams. Also playing his last season is undersized offensive lineman Montrail – known to all as “Money” — an earnest honors student hoping to score an academic scholarship. For Chavis, a talented linebacker in his junior year, the challenge of 2009 lies in keeping his explosive temper in check — something the willful teenager isn’t always interested in doing.

For players and coaches alike, the season will be not only about winning games — it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life.

The Intolerable Burden (2003)

Friday, Feb. 8, 11 a.m.
56 minutes
Student Union Theatre

In the autumn of 1965, sharecroppers Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter enrolled the youngest eight of their thirteen children in the public schools of Drew, Mississippi. Their decision to send the children to the formerly all white schools was in response to a "freedom of choice" plan. The plan was designed by the Drew school board to place the district in compliance with the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, essential since without compliance, the district would no longer be eligible for financial support from the Federal government. Given the prevailing attitudes, Blacks were not expected to choose white schools. This proved true for all but the Carters.

"The Intolerable Burden" places the Carter's commitment to obtaining a quality education in context by examining the conditions of segregation prior to 1965, the hardships the family faced during desegregation, and the massive white resistance, which led to resegregation.

Children of the Camps (1999)

Friday, Feb. 8, 12:15 p.m.
57 minutes
Student Union Theatre

Part of the "Children of the Camps" educational project, this video shares the experiences, cultural and familial issues, and the long internalized grief and shame felt by six Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in internment camps as children during World War II.

Tuskegee (1997, 23 minutes)

Friday, Feb. 8, 4 p.m.
23 minutes
Student Union Theatre

Between the years of 1932 and 1971, the U.S. government used approximately 600 blacks from Macon County, Alabama, as human guinea pigs for syphilis research under the guise of treatment for "bad blood." This program includes an interview with one of the last surviving participants, Herman Shaw; explains the role of Nurse Rivers; and presents the medical establishment's justification for disguising racism as legitimate medical research.

Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna ) (2007)

Friday, Feb. 8 5:30 p.m.
106 minutes
Student Union Theatre

"Under the Same Moon" (La Misma Luna) tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico. Unexpected circumstances drive both Rosario and Carlitos to embark on their own journeys in a desperate attempt to reunite. Along the way, mother and son face challenges and obstacles but never lose hope that they will one day be together again.

Good Hair (2010, 95 minutes)

Monday, Feb. 11, 2:30 p.m.
95 minutes
Student Union Theatre

Comedian Chris Rock tackles the very personal issue of hair, and how attaining good hair can impact African Americans' activities, relationships, wallets, and a self-esteem. Engages in frank, funny conversations with haircare professionals, beautyshop and barbershop patrons, as well as featuring interviews with Dr. Maya Angelou, Nia Long, Ice-T, Raven Symone, and more.

The Loving Story (2012)

Thursday, Feb. 14, 10 a.m.
77 minutes
Student Union Theatre

Considered the definitive account of Loving v. Virginia, the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage, this documentary focuses on the case of Richard & Mildred Loving, a white man & a black/Native American woman who were convicted by the state of Virginia for the crime of marrying across racial lines in the late 1950s.

Red Tails (2012)

Thursday, Feb. 14, 1 p.m.
125 minutes
Student Union Theatre

A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.