Beginning Monday, February 18th, Angelika Film Center, Talk Radio 570 KLIF, Fox4, and Wear-Dated Carpet will show the first film of the, 1st Annual Talk Radio 570 KLIF Black History Month Film Festival, Malcolm X, followed by Tuskegee Airmen on Wednesday, February 20th, and Glory Tuesday, February 26th. Thursday, February 28th, we will end the series with the 1963 Academy Award winning film , To Kill A Mockingbird. All films will be shown at Angelika Film Center and Café, Mockingbird Station, begin at 7:30PM, and are free to the public. Prior to each film there will be a brief panel discussion.
Black History month is a time to celebrate and reflect upon the achievements, influences and contributions of African Americans in all of our lives. It’s in that spirit that 570 KLIF plans to showcase some exceptional films that are thought-provoking and entertaining at any time of the year--but are particularly important during Black History Month.
Monday, February 18th - Malcolm X (1992), Starring Denzel Washington
Biography of Malcolm X, the famous African American leader. Born Malcolm Little, his father (a minister) was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. He became a gangster, and while in jail discovered the Nation of Islam writings of Elijah Muhammad. He preaches the teachings when let out of jail, but later on goes on a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, there he converts to the original Islamic religion and becomes a Sunni Muslim. He changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz and stops his anti-white teachings, as he realizes the error of his mistakes. He is later on assasinated and dies a Muslim Martyr.
Wednesday, Feb. 20th- The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), Laurence Fishburne
During the Second World War, a special project is begun by the US Army Air Corps to integrate African American pilots into the Fighter Pilot Program. Known as the "Tuskegee Airman" for the name of the airbase at which they were trained, these men were forced to constantly endure harassment, prejudice, and much behind the scenes politics until at last they were able to prove themselves in combat. In WWII, the Tuskegee army airfield was where the first 'colored' army fighter pilots were trained. This dramatization of real events follows one man, Hannibal Lee, through training to impossibly high standards, Congressional maneuvering, months of no air-combat action, and finally acceptance and decoration as one of the 332nd Fighter Group, who never lost a bomber to enemy action.
Tuesday, Feb. 26th- Glory(1989), Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and
Morgan Freeman
Based on the letters of Colonel Robert G. Shaw. Shaw was an officer in the Federal Army during the American Civil War who volunteered to lead the first company of black soldiers. Shaw was forced to deal with the prejudices of both the enemy (who had orders to kill commanding officers of blacks), and of his own fellow officers.
As the US Civil War protracts and drains even the vast resources of the north, an experiment is made with black troops, serving in a special regiment under an all-white officer corps. Since the traditional military establishment considers this a bad joke, the young abolitionist idealist Robert Gould Shaw from a very privileged family gets the rank of Colonel with the dubious honor to command the black volunteers, mainly illiterate former slaves. Even his personal friend and second in command, Major Cabot Forbes, lacks confidence in the project; yet they must overcome countless difficulties in
training, procurement etcetera before the unit can even enter the War, but end up covering themselves and the Union army with glory -and a sea of blood- against the Confederates.
Thursday, Feb. 28th- To Kill A Mockingbird (1962), Starring Gregory Peck
Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning book of 1960. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s. He agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Many of the townspeople try to get Atticus to pull out of the trial, but he decides to go ahead. How will the trial turn out - and will it
change any of the racial tension in the town?
Through the eyes of "Scout," a feisty six-year-old tomboy, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD carries us on an odyssey through the fires of prejudice and injustice in 1932 Alabama. Presenting her tale first as a sweetly lulling reminiscence of events from her childhood, the narrator draws us near with stories of daring neighborhood exploits by she, her brother "Jem," and their friend "Dill." Peopled with a cast of eccentrics, Maycomb ("a tired and sleepy town") finds itself the venue of the trial of Tom Robinson, a young black man falsely accused of raping an ignorant white woman. Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem's widowed father and a deeply principled man, is appointed to defend Tom for whom a guilty verdict from an all-white jury is a foregone conclusion. Juxtaposed against the story of the trial is the children's hit and run relationship with Boo Radley, a shut-in who the children and Dill's Aunt Stephanie suspect of insanity and who no one has seen in recent history. Cigar-box treasures, found in the knot hole of a tree near the ramshackle Radley house, temper the children's judgment of Boo. "You never know someone," Atticus tells Scout, "until you step inside their skin and walk around a little." But fear keeps them at a distance until one night, in streetlight and shadows, the children confront an evil born of ignorance and blind hatred and must somehow find their way home.
An American film classic, based upon a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel: In the rural American south during the depths of the Depression, two children watch as their principled father takes a stand against intolerance. A gentle and leisurely movie
despite some rough content, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' benefits immensely from its near-perfect casting, particularly of Mary Badham and Philip Alford as the children and Gregory Peck in the role for which he is best remembered, as their wise and
patient father.
