More Top Picks Best Digital Meat Thermometers
player ready...The concept of social justice will be examined from a variety of viewpoints during a film festival on Thursday at Olive-Harvey College in Chicago.
It’s the first time the college has offered the Black History Month Social Justice Film Festival. It will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday and again from noon to 2 p.m. Friday at the college’s Bruce Cherry Theater, 10001 S. Woodlawn Ave. Thursday’s screenings include a reception and panel discussion.
Hosted by Chicago-based actor Frederick Paul Williams, known for “Chicago Med,” “Chicago PD,” “Empire” and “The Chi,” the festival features short films that delve into topics such as a botched police investigation, risks faced in childbirth by Black moms, fighting systems that criminalize poverty, and even a look at the people fighting and helping in war torn Ukraine.
“I think it’s important to show them during Black History Month to really highlight the depth of the African-American experience because it is not just related to things specifically in urban areas,” said Jeffery Dillard, professor and department chair of the school’s Business and Professional Services Department. “Just like any other group, I think they are as interested in the war in Ukraine as they are about things in the inner city, about police relationships.”
The films range from two to 27 minutes.
“We picked films that we thought would be artistically appealing because when you deliver a message, it’s like the pastor preaching,” Dillard said. “You want them to be awake, and to be as authentic as possible to whatever that filmmaker is trying to communicate.
We also wanted to get a wide range of viewpoints and topics so there would be a lot of different things for the audience to try. Because they are short, you almost want it where the audience is saying, ‘Man I wish you could say more about this topic.'”
One of the film directors at the panel discussion will be Marquis Simmons, who directed “Broke Down Drone,” a film about three people relying on their talent to escape “one of the roughest neighborhoods in Chicago,” according to a news release about the festival. Simmons is from Chicago and attended both Arizona State University and Columbia College. The Olive-Harvey festival will mark the film’s Chicago premiere.
“I think our community deserves events like ours,” Dillard said. “It deserves everything that other areas of the city enjoy and hopefully we can be a part of just helping to revitalize everything on the Southeast Side of Chicago.”
More information is at https://events.ccc.edu/event/olive-harvey-black-history-month-short-film-festival/.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.