Focus In! Film Series presents a screening and discussion of the film From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet?
Date and Time
May 13, 2019 6:30 pm
Location
Anacostia
2004 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20020
May 13, 2019 6:30 pm
Anacostia
Join us at Busboys and Poets Focus-In! Film Series: Cinema for a Conscious Community for the film From Selma to Stonewall: Are we there yet?
In partnership with Busboys and Poets and Film Fest DC+, co-executive producers Marilyn Bennett and the Rev. Gil Caldwell will be screening their documentary, From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet? to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and to inspire new activists to get involved in the present day interweave of justice issues. A lively panel discussion will follow, featuring Bishop Gene Robinson; Ashley Smith, Board President, Capital Pride Alliance; Sheila Alexander-Reid, Director, Washington DC Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; and Rebecca York, Community Engagement and Youth Leadership Coordinator, SMYAL. Join us for a night of storytelling: stories of personal experiences of discrimination, finding one’s footing as an activist, and insights into how one can get involved in fighting civil rights abuses today.
Marilyn Bennett, Director and Co-Executive Producer, From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet? said:
“When we imagine ourselves in the cloistered bar that was the Stonewall Inn on the night of June 28, 1969, we must remember that in those days there wasn’t a national LGBTQ movement and voting block politicians had to consider support from corporate sponsors or even images of ourselves in the media that were genuine or accurate. There were secret shames and hidden identities, daily degradation and physical abuse, marginalization and abandonment; but on that night the patrons had had enough of police and societal abuse. Today, we honor their anger and resistance, their “NO MORE!” No one in the bar, nor the thousands who joined them in the streets, could have imagined that that moment would become a milestone event that would help jumpstart the early LGBT movement, now the worldwide LGBTQ equality movement we see today. Where we still have work to do is helping our community and the public understand this: there isn’t any human or civil rights issue that doesn’t impact the LGBTQ community; we are in all walks of life, every race, culture and generation. The “From Selma to Stonewall” screening and discussion on May 13 will focus crucial attention on these intersections and how today we must continue and create revolutionary moments of our own.”
Focus-In! Film Series: Cinema for a Conscious Community is a Busboys and Poets-produced monthly film series that screens films with a focus dedicated to social justice, peace, art, music, and/or community value.
Free and open to all!
Seating is first come first serve for this event. Full service provided.
