Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/22/2017
7:00 pm
Location
Southeast Steuben County Library
Categories
Seventh Art Stand Screening: Uplifting Black Voices
Screening of 13th
TV-MA (2016) 100 mins.
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation’s history of racial inequality. The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
Seventh Art Stand: Upifting Black Voices was initially inspired by the Philando Castile ruling in Minnesota, but continuously relevant, the focus centers around films that empower African-Americans, celebrate successful leaders, and offer historical context that leads to the continued unjust treatment of communities of color.
THE SEVENTH ART STAND is a rapid response initiative which utilizes film to bridge communities and create new inroads for civil rights discourse.