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Added: November 5, 2008, 5:47 pm	Share    Print    Email

A scene from "Catch A Fire," one of the features playing at the Third Annual East End Black Film Festival.

Southampton - The Parrish Art Museum and The East End African-American Museum and Center for Excellence will present the Third Annual East End Black Film Festival on Saturday, Nov. 8, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. The day-long event celebrates African-American cinema and will showcase a diverse collection of films that speak to every member of the family. A day pass to the festival is $5 and will include food provided by Gloria of the Hamptons.

Films, selected by The East End African-American Museum and Center for Excellence, will focus on the richness of Black culture while recognizing universal themes and the similarities that exist among all cultures.

"Finding Our Folk"

The day kicks off with a screening of two children's movies. Beginning at 1 p.m., the family short "Garrett's Gift" (20 minutes) will be screened. At 1:30 p.m., "Finding Our Folk" (60 minutes) tells the tale of a group of motivated youngsters, who, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina organize a group of students, artists, and community members from across the United States to document the stories of those who weathered the storm and lived to tell the tale. The resulting film ties these stories with the tales of people from marginalized communities all over the country in a way that aims to inspire the residents of New Orleans to rebuild their communities and pave the way for social, political, and economical cultural shifts.

Then at 3 p.m., the classic American film, "A Raisin in the Sun" (128 minutes), tells the story of Lena Younger, a strong, proud woman who has raised a family in a crowded apartment on the South side of Chicago. Her son Walter Lee works as a chauffeur, intelligent and ambitious but impulsive and often angry, he desperately wants to get ahead in a world that offers him few opportunities. His wife Ruth takes in laundry to help make ends meet and watches over their son. Younger daughter Beneatha is a college student who wants to become a doctor and often speaks of searching for her cultural identity. On the death of her husband, Lena becomes the beneficiary of a $10,000 life insurance payment, and suddenly the family is in conflict over how the money should be spent. This original movie version of Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play was groundbreaking when first was released in 1961, and a wealth of future plays, films, and TV productions have taken their lead from this socially conscious drama about a struggling African-American family.

At 5:30 p.m., attendees can enjoy feature presentations, including "Catch a Fire" (101 minutes). In the film, an apolitical South African oil-refinery worker and soccer coach is forced into terrorism as a means of fighting back against the brutality of the apartheid regime in director Phillip Noyce's dramatic look at the life of one-time political prisoner and freedom fighter Patrick Chamusso. In the 1980s, Patrick and his wife Precious lived a peaceful life until one fateful day, when on an overnight trip with his team, Patrick is singled out as the prime suspect in a bombing at the refinery. Placed in solitary confinement, with his wife and family brutalized by a government agent, the young family man is eventually cleared of charges, but his life is in shambles. Devastated and distraught, Patrick soon begins working as a rebel fighter and political operative for Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. As the oppressed country's powerful apartheid regime continues to torture and torment its citizens, the now-radicalized Patrick must disappear from his family without a trace and go undercover if he is to aid in toppling the system that destroyed his family, and forever changed his outlook on the world.

"Cover"

Following this film, at 8 p.m., will be a short selection, "Tangy's Song!" (20 minutes). Produced by award-winning filmmakers, Michelle Taylor and Paul Grant, "Tangy's Song!" chronicles the true story of Tangy Major who in the late 1980s unknowingly contracted HIV from her boyfriend, became pregnant, and transmitted the virus to her baby. Seven months after giving birth she buried her son, and seven years later buried the man who became her husband. Tangy is HIV positive, widowed, and childless all before the age of 29. HIV had taken almost everything she had - but it couldn't take her faith in God and her ability to glorify Him through song.

Concluding the film festival is "Cover" (96 minutes), which will begin at 8:30 p.m. A woman accused could be either a killer or a victim in this psychological drama from director Bill Duke. Valerie Maas is a God-fearing housewife and artist who one day finds herself in a situation she never imaged possible - being questioned on murder charges by a no-nonsense police detective and a district attorney eager to close this case. As Valerie repeatedly insists she's not a murderer, she tells the story of the last several months of her life and how her marriage begins to fall apart, she suspects her husband is being unfaithful, but she's shocked to discover the truth is more complicated than she imagined. "Cover" also stars Vivica A. Fox, Patti LaBelle, Lou Gossett, Jr., Clifton Davis and Mya Harrison.

The East End African-American Museum and Center for Excellence's mission is to promote an understanding and appreciation of African American culture by creating programs which will instill respect, leadership, integrity, accountability, growth, diversity, inclusiveness and excellence through educating the community as a whole about the importance of the African-American historical legacy.

 • For additional information on the film festival, call 631-283-2118, ext. 40 or visit www.parrishart.org. For information on the East End African-American Museum and Center for Excellence, call Bonnie Cannon at 631-283-1271.