February iPick Films
Please join us as we celebrate African American history and culture with films from California Newsreel, producer and distributor of cutting-edge social issue documentaries. All showings will be at Richland Library Main in the first level auditorium. Some films may contain adult language/subject matter.
BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez
The Emmy award nominated BaddDDD Sonia Sanchezoffers unprecedented access to the life, work and mesmerizing performances of renowned poet and activist Sonia Sanchez who describes herself as “a woman with razor blades between my teeth.” A leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and inspiration to today’s hip hop spoken word artists, Sanchez for over 60 years has helped to redefine American culture and politics as an activist in the Black, women’s and peace movements. 91 minutes, 2015.
3:00 p.m., Sunday, February 4
Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi
Dirt And Deeds in Mississippi uncovers the largely unknown and pivotal role played by Black landowning families in the deep South who controlled over a million acres in the 1960s. They were prepared to put their land and their lives on the line in the fight for racial equality and the right to vote in America’s most segregated and violently racist state.
82 minutes, 2015.
3:00 p.m., Sunday, February 11
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
On November 20, 2013, Bayard Rustin was posthumously awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Who was this man? Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. His activism for peace, racial equality, economic justice and human rights, and how he navigated through his life and career as an openly gay man are the themes of this portrait.
83 minutes, 2002.
Screening and Discussion, 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 13
Agents of Change
Current struggles to make colleges welcoming and relevant for students of color continue movements which swept across campuses fifty years ago. Agents of Change, tells the timely and inspiring story of how successful protests for equity and inclusion led to establishing the first Black and Ethnic Studies departments at two very different universities, San Francisco State (1968) and Cornell (1969). 66 minutes, 2016.
3:00 p.m., Sunday, February 18
Homegoings
Through the eyes of funeral director Isaiah Owens (South Carolinian), the beauty and grace of African American funerals are brought to life. Filmed at the Owens Funeral Home in Harlem and the rural South, director Christine Turner’s Homegoings takes an up-close look at the rarely seen world of undertaking in the black community, where funeral rites draw on a rich palette of tradition, history and celebration. It reveals the special status of undertakers in the community; borne out of their permanence, their economic stability, and the necessities of the segregation period. Combining cinémavérité with intimate interviews and archival photographs, featuring an evocative score by Daniel Roumain, the film paints a portrait of the dearly departed, their grieving families and a man who sends loved ones “home.” 56 minutes, 2013.
3:00 p.m., Sunday, February 25
Questions? Please visit us online at RichlandLibrary.com or call (803) 929-3450.