In collaboration with the Center for African and听African American Studies and other members of the Black community, CU Boulder鈥檚 celebrates Black History Month with a selection of films that highlight Black culture through cinema.听
鈥淓ach film will be introduced by that title's sponsor and covers a wide range of topics, genres, styles and time periods, with the intent of introducing new audiences to these powerful films that too often are overlooked,鈥� said Jason Phelps, program director of the International Film Series.
91制片厂 the International Film Series
The International Film Series is Boulder's first arthouse series and has been locally programmed since 1941. The goal has always been to bring underrepresented films to new audiences, as well as celebrating cinema's legacy on our culture with screenings that don't always fit neatly into one category. It is also one of few places in the U.S. where the latest digital projection systems and reel-to-reel 35mm film projectors coexist peacefully to both honor the rich legacy of the past, the present and the future.
Black History Month film selections
A total of 10 films will be shown as part of the series, and students, faculty, staff and the Boulder community are invited to attend. All of the films will be shown in Muenzinger Auditorium on campus. Tickets are required and are available only at the door on the day of the showing.
Feb. 15听听7:30 p.m.
鈥淭hrough cinematographer Mark Schwartzbard's lens, The Photograph听feels like a gentle throwback to romantic movies that left their audiences in good spirits as they filed out of the theater.鈥�
Feb. 21 听7:30 p.m.
This 2009 action comedy film听stars听Michael Jai White,听Tommy Davidson听and听Salli Richardson, and is a听parody听of and听homage听to the blaxploitation genre and its era.
Celebrating Black History Month at CU Boulder
Several events are set for February as the CU Boulder community celebrates Black History Month 2023. Plan to attend gatherings around campus, take in movie screenings, explore and learn through the University Libraries guide and more!
Feb. 22听听7:30 p.m.
In this 1984 film, Charlie Banks (Nate Hardman) 鈥渧iews his chronic unemployment as a kind of spiritual trial. But day work and selling a few catfish can't sustain a family of five. While his wife Andais (Kaycee Moore) works to support them with dignity, Charlie finds comfort for his wounded sense of manhood in an affair that threatens his marriage and family.鈥�
Feb. 23听听7:30 p.m.
This 2022 film follows Mamie Till-Bradley as she seeks justice and exposes the racism that led to the murder of her son, Emmitt Till, in 1955. Special introduction by听CAAAS Director Reiland Rabaka.
Feb. 24听 7:30 p.m.
This听1971film鈥攚ritten, directed, produced, edited and starred听in by听Melvin Van Peebles鈥攆eatures听music by Earth, Wind &听Fire. The film's 鈥渋ncendiary politics are matched by Van Peebles's revolutionary style, in which jagged jump cuts, kaleidoscopic superimpositions听and psychedelic sound design come together in a sustained howl of rage and defiance.鈥�
Feb. 25听 7:30 p.m.
鈥淲ith his rousingly entertaining directorial debut, Sidney Poitier, alongside actor-producer Harry Belafonte, helped rewrite the history of the western, bringing Black heroes to a genre in which they had always been sorely underrepresented.鈥�
Feb. 26听 2 p.m.
In this 1980 film, 鈥渙perating in defiance of the racially exclusive Hollywood studio system, novelist Ishmael Reed, director Bill Gunn and a renegade group of artists banded together to film a 鈥榤eta soap opera鈥櫶齛bout the struggles of a working class African American couple in New York City.鈥�
Feb. 27听 7:30 p.m.
Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Morris Chestnut star in this 1991 film that follows the lives of three young males growing up in South Central Los Angeles.听
Feb. 28听 7:30 p.m.
鈥�Black Girl听tells the story of a Senegal nursery maid who returns to France with her white employers. But in France she finds their relationship altered. She is a housemaid, not a nurse, and the countless petty cruelties of the day pile up against her overwhelming loneliness for Dakar.鈥�
March 1听 7:30 p.m.
鈥�The听Woman King is a story about the Agojie, who were a real-life group of women that protected the West African Kingdom of Dahomey (now in southern Benin) in the 19th century.鈥�
