Summer 2015: Newark Black Film Festival

The Newark Black Film Festival (NBFF), the longest running festival of its kind in the United States, kicks off its 41st season on June 24 at the Newark Museum with Half of a Yellow Sun, a film about twin sisters who find romance in the late 1960s against the backdrop of Nigeria's civil war. Youth Cinema, the accompanying summer-long series of free children's features and short films, debuts on July 6 at The Newark Public Library and July 8 at the Museum.

Screenings are free, but seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
 

2015 Newark Black Film Festival Schedule

All screenings begin at 7 pm at the Museum, unless otherwise noted.

June 24 - Half of a Yellow Sun
Twin sisters from a wealthy Nigerian family take wildly different paths in life, but both become swept up in the struggle to establish Biafra as a republic while preoccupied by their romantic entanglements and betrayals. Opening reception: 5:30 pm. Speaker: Biyi Bandele, filmmaker. Host: Mary Sue Sweeney Price.

July 1 - Clipped Wings, They Do Fly
Billy Ray suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder, compounded with Schizophrenia, and finds himself on trial for murder, a crime which he does not remember committing. Speaker: William Michael Barbee, writer. Host: Wilma Grey.

July 8 - Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
A film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present.

5:30 pm viewing of the Museum's exhibitions Royals & Regalia: Inside the Palaces of Nigeria's Monarchs and Hassan Hajjaj: My Rock Stars. Speakers: Thomas Allen Harris, director, producer and writer; and Deborah Willis, producer. Host: Richard Wesley.

July 15 - Love Always, Eartha
A frail little girl is hopelessly abandoned by her mother and thrown into a world of abuse is rescued by an aunt, moves away to New York City and becomes that talented woman known as Eartha Kitt. Speaker: Dierdra McDowell, writer and producer. Host: Ralph Waller.

July 22 - Roots of My Heart
Gloria Rolando's film about an AfroCuban woman who seeks her roots through her family history of old photos, newspaper clippings jealously guarded by her grandmother.
Speaker: : Yesenia Selier, performer, researcher and teacher; and Ben Jones, artist. Hosts: Gloria H. Buck and Ben Jones.

July 29 - Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth
New Jersey Institute of Technology
This documentary tells the compelling story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the 20th Century.
Speaker: Pratibha Parmar, filmmaker; and Shaheen Haq, producer. Host: Lisa Payne.

2015 Youth Cinema Schedule

Youth Cinema will be held on Mondays at The Newark Public Library at 10:30 am and at the Newark Museum on Wednesdays at 1 pm unless otherwise noted.

Monday, July 6 and Wednesday, July 8
Ages 4-12
Not So Fast, Songololo
Elizabeti's Doll
Garrett's Gift
Obara & The Merchants

Monday, July 13 and Wednesday, July 15
Ages 4-12
Burkina Faso: The Tyrant and the Child
Cliques, Phonies & Other Baloney
Chato and the Party Animals

Monday, July 20 and Wednesday, July 22
Ages 4-13
Ellington is Not a Street
The Frog Prince
Koi & the Kola Nuts

Monday, July 27 and Wednesday, July 29
Rated G
Happy to Be Nappy & Other Stories of Me
Ruth Law Thrills a Nation

Wednesday, August 5
Ages 5-12
Robots
Wednesday, August 12
Kirikou and the Sorceress