FEBRUARY ONE Civil Rights Era doc shows February 19th

FEBRUARY ONE
Documentary: 61 mins
Directors: Dr. Steven Channing & Rebecca Cerese
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Location:MezzaLuna
2608 S Judkins St
Seattle, WA 98144
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Admission: $5 suggested donation
Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Info line: 206-326-1088

ABOUT THE FILM


Organization of American Historians Erik Barnouw Award Honorable Mention Recipient

In one remarkable day, four college freshmen changed the course of American history. February One tells the inspiring story surrounding the 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins that revitalized the Civil Rights Movement and set an example of student militancy for the coming decade. This moving film shows how a small group of determined individuals can galvanize a mass movement and focus a nation’s attention on injustice.

The Greensboro Four, Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil, were close friends at North Carolina A&T University before they became political activists. Two of the four had grown up where segregation was not legal, while another’s father was active in the NAACP. They recount how the idea for the sit-in grew out of those late night “bull sessions” that make college years so rich. Prof. William Chafe helps set the historical context the four young men confronted: the Civil Rights Movement had stalled since the Brown decision and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On the night of January 31, 1960 the four dared each other to do something that would change the South and their own lives forever. They decided to sit-in at the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro the next day.

On February 1st, dressed in their Sunday best, the four men sat down at the lunch counter. Frank McCain remembers that he knew then this would be the high point of his life, “I felt clean...I had gained my manhood by that simple act.” The four were refused service; when they did not leave the store the manager closed the lunch counter. In the days that followed they were joined by more students from local Black colleges and a few white students who also sat-in at other lunch counters in Greensboro. Prof. Vincent Harding reminds us that the Civil Rights Movement was the first major social movement to be covered by television news so word of the events in Greensboro spread across the nation like a prairie fire. Within just a few days students were sitting in at lunch counters in fifty-four cities around the South.

Greensboro’s civic leadership pressured the President of North Carolina A&T to halt the protests but he counseled the students to follow their own consciences. Finally after months of protests the Woolworth management quietly integrated its lunch counter. The wave of direct action started by the Greensboro Four coalesced in the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the vanguard of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. February One not only fills in one of the most important chapters in the Civil Rights Movement, it reminds us that this was a movement of ordinary people motivated to extraordinary deeds by the need to assert their basic human dignity. It provides an eloquent argument to today’s generation of students that involvement in the politics of our own time is a vital part of any college education.

Underground Railroad Film Series continues Feb. 19

FEBRUARY ONE
Documentary: 61 mins
Directors: Dr. Steven Channing & Rebecca Cerese
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Location:MezzaLuna
2608 S Judkins St
Seattle, WA 98144
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Admission: $5 suggested donation
Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Info line: 206-326-1088

ABOUT THE FILM


Organization of American Historians Erik Barnouw Award Honorable Mention Recipient

In one remarkable day, four college freshmen changed the course of American history. February One tells the inspiring story surrounding the 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins that revitalized the Civil Rights Movement and set an example of student militancy for the coming decade. This moving film shows how a small group of determined individuals can galvanize a mass movement and focus a nation’s attention on injustice.

The Greensboro Four, Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil, were close friends at North Carolina A&T University before they became political activists. Two of the four had grown up where segregation was not legal, while another’s father was active in the NAACP. They recount how the idea for the sit-in grew out of those late night “bull sessions” that make college years so rich. Prof. William Chafe helps set the historical context the four young men confronted: the Civil Rights Movement had stalled since the Brown decision and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On the night of January 31, 1960 the four dared each other to do something that would change the South and their own lives forever. They decided to sit-in at the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro the next day.

On February 1st, dressed in their Sunday best, the four men sat down at the lunch counter. Frank McCain remembers that he knew then this would be the high point of his life, “I felt clean...I had gained my manhood by that simple act.” The four were refused service; when they did not leave the store the manager closed the lunch counter. In the days that followed they were joined by more students from local Black colleges and a few white students who also sat-in at other lunch counters in Greensboro. Prof. Vincent Harding reminds us that the Civil Rights Movement was the first major social movement to be covered by television news so word of the events in Greensboro spread across the nation like a prairie fire. Within just a few days students were sitting in at lunch counters in fifty-four cities around the South.

Greensboro’s civic leadership pressured the President of North Carolina A&T to halt the protests but he counseled the students to follow their own consciences. Finally after months of protests the Woolworth management quietly integrated its lunch counter. The wave of direct action started by the Greensboro Four coalesced in the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the vanguard of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. February One not only fills in one of the most important chapters in the Civil Rights Movement, it reminds us that this was a movement of ordinary people motivated to extraordinary deeds by the need to assert their basic human dignity. It provides an eloquent argument to today’s generation of students that involvement in the politics of our own time is a vital part of any college education.

BOBBIE AND JEROME play opens!

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center Presents World Premiere Play: Bobbie and Jerome

Performances: October 7-26, 2008
Opening/Press Night: October 10, 2008 7:30 pm
Live Theatre Week: Stonecarving Open Studio Tour 10/13 6-8pm
Free Night of Theater 10/16

Seattle WA, -- Much like stonecarvers themselves, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center Artistic Director Jacqueline Moscou and local playwright Daniel W. Owens have been perfecting, sculpting, and shaping the play Bobbie and Jerome for over four years. They met in 1992 and planned for years to work together. In 2004 Owens asked Moscou to set up an early reading and work through some rewrites. Immediately Moscou said yes, and together they readied Bobbie and Jerome for the LHPAC stage.

Connecting with the Stonemason's Union and a seasoned stone carving professional to consult was crucial to the play's development and success. West Seattle stone carver Sabah Al-Dhaher joined the creative team and was tasked with leading a special intensive "Stonecarving Boot Camp" for the playwright, director, and actors. "I will never look at a rock the same way again! My hands are still recovering," says local actor G. To'mas Jones. who plays the role of Bobbie.

Bobbie and Jerome is the captivating story of two cousins fighting their addictions, their joined past, and each other. The complex art of stone carving is at the play's core and an authentic depiction of the craft is crucial to the play's success. Errol is the "Stone Yard's" master mason who admires both Bobbie and Jerome for their talent as stone carvers, but also fears for their futures. Set in the stone yard of a gothic Harlem cathedral in 1998, this world premiere drama opens a lens into the lives of two men struggling to save the Stone Yard and settle a past score.

"Bobbie and Jerome embodies everything LHPAC is about. We create a home for African American arts and its artists, and are dedicated to the development of new works," says Jacque Moscou. Throughout Bobbie and Jerome's development process LHPAC has pooled creative resources and connected with many different corners of the artistic community. Moscou continues, "Art transforms people's lives. This play drives that message home. Personally, connecting with art through stonecarving has been a blast!"

On October 13 the general public is invited to get a taste of "Stonecarving Boot Camp" and chat with the actors, director, playwright, and local stone carver Sabah Al-dhaher at his open studio tour. This free event will be held from 6-8 pm at 3838

Delridge Way SW and is part of Theatre Puget Sound's Live Theatre Week.

LHPAC always encourages new audiences to experience the thrill of Live Theatre. October 7 is a "Pay-What-You-Can-Preview" performance and LHPAC will participate in Live Theatre Week's FREE Night of theatre on October 16th.

Bobbie and Jerome, written by Daniel W. Owens and directed by Jacqueline Moscou, will have its world premiere at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center October 7-26, 2008. Marcel DavisG. To'mas Jones plays his cousin Bobbie. Ron Davids plays the master mason Errol. The Set Designer who brings a stone yard indoors is Tommer Peterson. Sound Designer Herbert Thompson will add jazz elements to the production. Doris Black will design the costumes and Stephen Deibert is the lighting designer.
plays Jerome and

Bobbie and Jerome is recommended for ages 12 and older. Performances will be held at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center at 17th & Yesler in Seattle. Previews are Oct.7-9 at 7:30 pm. Opening Night is October 10 at 7:30 w

ith a special "Taste of Harlem" reception afterwards. Shows run Thursdays - Sundays at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays (no 2 p.m. matinee on Oct 26).

Advance ticket prices are $20 for adults; $15 for youth and seniors; and $24 day of show at the door. A special discount is offered to groups of 10 or more. Ticket Line: 206-386-1177. Tickets are available at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center and through Brown Paper Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com or 1-800-838-3006.

Dan Owens'

play Mutambi and Lindstrom was read in 2006 at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey. Stage/screen and television actor John Amos read the role of Mutambi. Owens' The Measuring Stick [aka The Chisler] was staged in 2003 as part of the 2nd Annual Seattle FringeACT Festival of New Original Works. He wrote the book for the musical Little Ham which received "rave" reviews in the New York Times and The New Yorker in December 2001. Little Ham was also produced Off-Broadway in the Fall of 2002. He also wrote the book for The MoreYou Get - The More You Want, which was produced Off-Broadway by the FDCAC. In 2002 his play Forever My Darlin' had an extended run at Chicago's ETA Theater. And in the summer of 1999 Mutambi and Lindstrom was produced at the 15th Annual National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In 1997, Owenswas commissioned by Seattle's ACT Theatre, as part of their "FirstACT" play development project, to write Aunt Lou and Miss Sara. His 1992 play, The Gang on the Roofd his work produced by: The New Federal Theater, The Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center (FDCAC), The Negro Ensemble, The George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, New Jersey), and The Westport Summer Playhouse (Westport, Conn.). He was twice a participant in the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference (Waterford, Conn.) and was the recipient of a Rockefeller Grant for Playwriting. Mr. Owens graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with a B.A. in English, attended Yale School of Drama, and receivedhis M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a native of Malden, Massachusetts and currently lives in Seattle with his daughter Gabriela. was one of six grant recipients from the Fund for new American Plays - Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That play was successfully produced by the Capital Theater Company in Albany, New York. While living in New York City Mr. Owens ha

Sabah Al-Dhaher was born in Nasriyah, Iraq. At the age of fifteen he was accepted to the Institute of Fine Arts in

Basra, Iraq, where he lived and received his training in classical art, graduating

first in his class in 1989. Al-Dhaher fled Iraq in 1991 due to his involvement in a failed uprising against the regime of Saddam Hussein at the end of the first Gulf war. After spending 2 ? years in a refugee camp in the desert of Saudi Arabia, he came to the U.S. as a political refugee in 1993. Al-Dhaher currently teaches stone carving at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. Visit www.aldhaher.net for more information.

Underground Railroad Film Series:ANOTHER AMERICA by Michael Cho

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Underground Railroad Film Series presents ANOTHER AMERICA by Michael Cho. Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. - $5.oo suggested donation at the door (no advance ticket sales). Event location: Theater Off Jackson, 409 7th Avenue S., Seattle,in the heart of the International District. LHAFF Info Line: tel. (206)326-1088.

Filmmaker Michael Cho investigates his own family history and tragedy as he explores the Black/Korean conflict in the inner city as illuminated by the Los Angeles uprisings of 1992.

The murder of his uncle in Detroit forces Cho to take a close look at his family’s own experiences as Korean American merchants. In L.A., he captures the stories of everyday Korean and African Americans as they shop in the mall. Returning to his hometown of Detroit, Cho lets local community members and relatives tell their own stories about race relations -- a Detroit poet, an Amerasian brother and sister, and the daughter of the slain uncle. ANOTHER AMERICA is revealed, one where dreams have fallen short and where this country’s racism and violence continue unchecked.

In the article News at Eleven in the Big City[1], published in the film journal Wide Angle, Cho wrote:

"In Another America, a documentary that I produced about the relationship between Korean American merchants and African Americans in the inner city, I looked at the murder of one of my uncles, an immigrant from Korea, during a robbery at his store in downtown Detroit. When he was murdered, my father, also a downtown merchant, called the local television news stations to have them cover my uncle's death. He wanted to tell them a larger story about how the city had fallen apart under the weight of its abandonment and how this was connected to my uncle's murder. Instead, the TV news programs told a tragic story of a family victimized by a random crime. The emotions were there in their report, but little context. Their coverage undoubtedly moved many who watched the news that night. But did it inform them?

Everyday, we witness other people's tragedies on television. Sometimes, their stories have an impact. Most other times, they are swallowed by anonymity and apathy and buried amongst the thousands of other tragedies broadcast everyday across the television spectrum. Then, one day I see my own family on television. Their grief shouts out to the viewers to wake up and see what's happening in their city. But in three minutes, it's over. There was little follow-up to my family's story. Soon other tragedies would displace ours.

As an independent filmmaker, I took on the job of pushing beyond what was covered by the local news. Like my father, I also wanted to tell a story of cities and the people who live in them. Behind my uncle's death, there was another story not told on television news. Behind the much televised conflict between Korean Americans and African Americans, there was another story. In Another America, I related how the deterioration of the inner city affects both groups. I looked at some of their history in this country. I explored the common economic and social issues that concern both communities. I examined how crime does not occur in a vacuum. TV news presents fear in the guise of delivering information. I wanted to promote understanding by telling the stories behind the story. I wanted the viewer to get to know a part of their city that they may never visit and to understand its peoples."

The Underground Railroad, a project of the annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, is a fall - through -winter film and discussion series. Using the metaphor of a series of strategically located “Safe Houses” in Seattle neighborhoods, the Underground Railroad is a series of intimate screenings designed to build community across the aisle and across neighborhoods. Each Safe House along the trail brings forth a different provocative work about African American life, leading to ‘freedom at the annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival in April. Join us at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 104 – 17^th Avenue South, April 12-20, 2008 for the annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival!

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[1] Wide Angle - Volume 20, Number 3, July 1998, pp. 145-149.

2 films on contemporary Islamic life in the U.S.A.,December 13

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Underground Railroad Film Series presents two films about aspects of contemporary Muslim-American life: COVERED GIRLS and ISLAM BEHIND BARS

7:00 P.M. Thursday, December 13 at Central Cinema - $5.00

1411 21st Avenue, Seattle 98122 / (206) 328-3230 / www.central-cinema.com. For show information & updates, call the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival phone info line: (206)326-1088

Covered Girls

A film by Janet McIntyre and Amy Wendel. 22 min.

Muslim-American girls are lively and full of fun -- despite wearing the traditional 'hijab'. How do they fare after 9/11?

Have you ever seen Muslim-American high school girls in full-length dresses and traditional hijabs (head scarves) playing full-court basketball? Prior to 9/11, the average Westerner had little more than one-dimensional views of Islam and Muslim women. Covered Girls opens a window into the lives of a colorful and startling group of Muslim-American teenage girls in New York and challenges the stereotypes many Americans may have about this culture.

The film documents the daily experience of Kiren who coaches her high school basketball team, Amnah who has a black belt in Karate, and Tavasha who is cutting a CD of original rap songs. Their traditional clothing allows them to understand prejudices and to speak out about their faith, especially after 9/11, when people spat upon, pushed and threatened them. They are quite happy that their dress allows men to look at them as people instead of as sex objects. The film follows the girls from a Harlem recording studio to a Brooklyn mosque, revealing typical teenagers suddenly caught in a tug-of-war between religious extremism and the American dream.

"Excellent Outreach tool" - Middle East Studies Association

"By depicting the girls in their full-length dresses and hijabs behaving just like teens in western clothing, the film gently reminds us to observe the adage about not judging a book by its cover. The voices we hear are casual, straightforward and heartfelt The background rap music fits well into the black and white urban scene. This short film is an excellent choice for a discussion about bigotry amongst teenagers. Recommended'

Homa Naficy, Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT for EMRO

National Women's Studies Association, 2004
Best Short Documentary, Nashville Independent Film Festival, 2003
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2003
Official Selection, Walker Art Center's Women with Vision Film Festival, 2003
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, 2003

Islam Behind Bars

Written and Directed by John Curtin & Paul Carvalho
Produced by Kaos Productions Inc. 58 min.

No religion is growing faster in Western prisons than Islam. In the United States alone, there are more than 200,000 Muslim inmates. They are mainly Black converts searching for an alternative to Christianity, which many reject as the slave-master's faith. Islam Behind Bars takes an unflinching look at the disruptive power of poisonous religious demagoguery, but also leaves the viewer with a better understanding of an intriguing new fact of the Black experience in the West.

The prisoners follow a path first made famous by Malcolm X, who went to jail for pimping and petty theft and came out a fiery Muslim preacher. He had discovered a strict religion which could bring discipline and dignity to men whose lives had been devastated by violence and drugs.

In the aftermath of September 11th, authorities fear that terrorist organizations may recruit Muslim prison converts to attack the West. Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber” was probably recruited while in a British prison. The film shows that there are some imprisoned Muslims who find peace and a respect for all of God’s creations in their new faith, and others who direct their anger at the West.

For show information & updates, call the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival phone info line: (206)326-1088