PMA Films Presents "Connection and Collaboration"
In partnership with Charles Nero, Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies and Africana at Bates College, PMA Films is excited to announce a new annual film series, “Connection and Collaboration.” The series, which is free and open to the public, will group films that examine and celebrate the ways African Americans collaborate across their differences for their survival. The films are presented in conjunction with a series of local events commemorating Juneteenth.
Registration encouraged to attend these free film screenings.
Cane River
Screening Friday, June 17 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Cane River (1982), Horace B. Jenkins’s independent film landmark, is a romantic drama set in Natchitoches, Louisiana which has one of the oldest communities of free people of color of Afro-European descent. It emphasizes “Connection and Collaboration” by exploring the developing relationship between a Black man and woman of differing origins–she is descended from enslaved African Americans, and he is from free people of color–many of whom owned enslaved African Americans.
Wattstax
Screening Saturday, June 18 at 2 p.m.
Wattstax (1973) chronicles a musical festival organized by the influential and pioneering Stax music label to commemorate the 1965 anniversary of the uprisings in Watts, an African American community in Los Angeles, California. Wattstax epitomizes “Connection and Collaboration” with its emphasis upon entrepreneurship, resistance to oppression, and what some now call “black joy.”
Everything Earned
Screening Saturday, June 18 at 4 p.m. with AN INTRO/Q&A WITH DIRECTOR ZAMZAM ELMOGE
The story of Everything Earned follows Ronnie Turner, the new head coach at Lewiston High School as he navigates through his journey of being one of the very few black coaches in the state of Maine. The film also follows the individual stories of each player on the team as they share their personal stories and dreams. The entire team overcomes their barriers by bonding through basketball. This is a story about doers, dreamers, brothers and family.
Brother to Brother
Screening Sunday, June 19 at 2 p.m.
Finally, Brother to Brother (2004) celebrates the connection of the past and present between two Black gay men. One is a celebrated, yet impoverished writer of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the younger, a student at Columbia University. The film shows the importance of an older generation mentoring and nurturing a younger generation.