2008 Black Film Festival
Fridays in Febraruy | 7 p.m. | Mudd Theater
$5 at the door (CST/CGU students free with I.D.)

Film Festival Poster (.pdf)

In celebration of Black History Month, the Pan-African Seminarian Association at Claremont School of Theology is hosting this annual Black Film Festival. All films are selected to "Celebrate the African American Spirit."

February 1 | The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
The murder of Emmett Louis Till, a 14-year-old African American in Money, Mississippi, and the sham trial that followed helped spark America’s civil rights movement. For allegedly whistling at a white woman in public, Till was tortured, beaten beyond recognition and thrown into the Tallahatchie River. Fifty years later, Louisiana-born filmmaker Keith Beauchamp has reconstructed the case in this documentary and found that responsibility for the murder extends beyond the two "good ole boys" who were acquitted by an all-white jury.

February 8 | Finding Forrester
Jamal Wallace (Robert Brown), an amazingly gifted African American scholar-athlete from the Bronx, is having trouble fitting in at his all-white prep school. An eccentric, reclusive novelist (Sean Connery) takes Jamal on as his protégé and discovers that this athlete is as talented with a pen as he is with a basketball. As the pair becomes closer, the novelist helps Jamal decide whether to pursue a career in basketball or writing in this contemporary drama.

February 22 | A Lesson Before Dying
An uplifting tale of a black man (Mekhi Phifer) in the 1940s South who is wrongly accused of killing a white man. His attorney’s only defense is that he is an animal, a hog, and, therefore, is unaccountable for his actions. Predictably, he is convicted of the crime. Distraught in a prison cell, his family convinces the local school teacher (Don Cheadle) to visit him and restore his deflated dignity. Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines.

February 29 | Akeela and the Bee
In this heart-warming film, precocious eleven-year-old Akeelah from south Los Angeles is found to have an affinity for spelling. Despite her mother’s objections, Akeelah enters a contest and eventually finds herself at the National Spelling Bee. A mysterious teacher and a cast of colorful characters from her neighborhood help her along her journey.