African-American Films: Perfect Timing
Considering the issues it examines, the timing of this year’s African American Film Festival could not have been more fortuitous, according to Brenda Simmons, executive director of the Southampton African American Museum and organizer of the festival.
“I think it’s amazing, especially given what happened yesterday and since,” she said a few hours after Donald J. Trump became president-elect. “To me, these films are very significant, because we still have serious divisions in this country. It would be great for people to see where we were 50 years ago and how far we’ve come, but also to think about whatwe still can do to move forward.”
The festival, which will take place on Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. at the Southampton Arts Center, includes two feature films, two shorts, an evening of spoken word and live jazz, and a short play by students from the Southampton Youth Bureau’s Act Two programs.
The feature films focus on pivotal events in the civil rights struggle of the early 1960s. “Two Trains Runnin’,” a documentary directed by Sam Pollard and narrated by Common, documents separate migrations that took place in June 1964. The best known was the Mississippi Summer Project, later known as Freedom Summer, during which civil rights leaders recruited hundreds of college students, most of them white, to teach and register voters in that state.
At the same time, two groups of young men — musicians, college students, and record collectors — also traveled to Mississippi, their mission being to find Son House and Skip James, legendary bluesmen of the 1930s who were driven into retirement by the Great Depression. The musicians’ careers resumed during the folk revival, and they are now considered music revolutionaries.
Three of the young volunteers for Mississippi Summer disappeared on June 21, and their bodies were not found until Aug. 4.
“Two Trains Runnin’ ” will be shown at 2:30 p.m. with “You Can Go,” a short narrative by Christine Turner, a New York University film student, in which a high school administrator talks down a troubled pupil.
“PRAEY,” a short by the N.Y.U. film student Kyleel Proda Rolle about the violence of city life and the struggle to escape it, will be shown at 3:45, followed by “4 Little Girls,” a 1997 documentary by Spike Lee about the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in September 1963 that killed four young black girls. The film places that tragic event in the context of the civil rights struggle in Birmingham, which Martin Luther King Jr. called “probably the most segregated city in the United States.”
The festival will open at noon with “Judging Fred,” a production by the Southampton Youth Bureau’s Act Two program. “An important thing the Southampton African American Museum does is collaborate with everybody,” said Ms. Simmons. “Tracy Koisin of the youth bureau told me about ‘Judging Fred,’ which stresses the need for people to respect each other, not judge each other.”
Spoken word and live jazz take over the stage at the arts center at 7:30. The program will feature a performance by Dominique Fishback, followed by the Certain Moves jazz band. Ms. Fishback is an actress and poet from Brooklyn whose many television credits include “Show Me a Hero,” “The Affair,” “Royal Pains,” and the upcoming HBO series “The Deuce.”
Nigel Noble, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who is on the museum’s film committee, saw Ms. Fishback’s one-woman Off Broadway play, “Subverted,” and told Ms. Simmons it was brilliant. She then found Ms. Fishback’s agent on Facebook. “Dominique is an actress,” said Ms. Simmons, “but she’s also a very strong poet, and she sends a strong message.”
Certain Moves is a mainstay of the East End jazz scene, “what I call our house band,” said Ms. Simmons. In addition to Charles Certain on saxophone, the group includes Randy London on drums, Wayne Hart on bass, Billy Gaines on keyboards, and Abdul Zuhri on guitar.
In addition to recommending Ms. Fishback, Mr. Noble has been instrumental in the festival’s success. “We’re really blessed to have him on our film committee,” said Ms. Simmons. “He’s the one who reaches out to get us the films, which isn’t always easy, and he is friends with Sam Pollard, who made ‘Two Trains Runnin’ ’ and was also involved in ‘4 Little Girls.’ ” A festival pass, which includes all programs, is $55. The film programs are $15 each, $12 for students and senior citizens. Tickets for spoken word and jazz are $35 and $30, and a $5 donation has been requested for admission to “Judging Fred.”