King: A Filmed Record From Montgomery to Memphis
/Sunday, February 17th, 4:00pm
@ The Church of the Intercession
(550 West 155th Street at Broadway)
Maysles Cinema and the Documentary Forum at City College of New York Present
A Black History Month Special
King: A Filmed Record From Montgomery to Memphis
WITH HARRY BELAFONTE APPEARING LIVE
4:00pm (with 15 min. intermission)
King: A Filmed Record From Montgomery to Memphis
Directed by Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970, 185 min.
Initially released in theaters across American as a one-time-only event in 1970, Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's King: A Filmed Record is back on the silver screen for the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the March on Washington. On February 17th, The Maysles Cinema will kick off a series of screenings around the country of this historic, epic documentary. Chronicles the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, and culminating with his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Combines dramatic readings by Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Ruby Dee, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward among others, with newsreel and archival footage to create a powerful and comprehensive record of Dr. King's legacy and the American Civil Rights movement. Nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award.
"Perhaps the most important documentary film ever made. "- The Philadelphia Bulletin
"Stunning...the events are allowed to speak for themselves."- The New York Times
7:15pm
Post Screening panel discussion with Harry Belafonte, producer Richard Kaplan, author Fredrick C. Harris and moderated by DJ Spooky.
Harry Belafonte:
Born in 1927 in Harlem, to a mother of Jamaican descent and a
Martiniquan father and raised on the island of Jamaica Harold George Belafonte is
a global hero. After becoming interested in the theater,
he began taking acting classes in the late 1940’s. He eventually
received a Tony award for his participation in John Murray Anderson’s
“Almanac.” Starting his singing career in New York clubs, he made his
debut at The Village Vanguard. In 1956, the single, “Matilda,” was
recorded on his breakthrough album, “Calypso,” that sold over 1
million copies within one year. Belafonte also recorded “Banana Boat
Song” and “Jump in the Line,” both of which became huge pop hits. From
1950-1970, he continued to record and received Grammy awards as well
as appeared in several films, including Bright Road (1953) and Island
in the Sun (1957). In 1984, he produced and scored the musical, Beat
Street and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best
Supporting Actor in Kansas City (1996).
In the 1950s, Belafonte started supporting the Civil Rights Movement,
becoming one of Martin Luther King’s confidants and contributing to
the Freedom Rides, voter registration drives, and the organization of
the March on Washington. He also financed the Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee during the “Freedom Summer” of 1964.
Blacklisted in the McCarthy era, Belafonte prevailed and sang a
controversial “Mardi Gras” number on CBS that was later deleted. Among
his many humanitarian achievements, he helped to organize the, “We Are
the World,” song to raise funds for Africa, participated in the
anti-apartheid movement and sang in the Live Aid concert in 1985. In
2004, he was awarded the Domestic Human Rights Award by Global
Exchange. To this day, Belafonte continues to speak out against
political and social injustices. The 2011 documentary film, Sing Your
Song, highlights Belafonte’s leadership role in the civil rights
movement and his efforts to promote social justice.
DJ Spooky:
Originally from Washington D.C, Paul D. Miller attended Bowdoin
College in Maine where he earned degrees in French literature and
philosophy. During the mid-1990s, Miller began developing his unique
style becoming known for both his trip hop style as well as having
influenced the illbient genre as DJ Spooky. His musical style draws
from a diverse group of influences, including hip-hop, traditional
African beats, classical, reggae, jazz, and Electronica. In addition
to recording several singles and composing remixes, including his
remix of D.W Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation he has written
science fiction and composed the score to the film, Slam. He also
appeared in the 2008 documentary, Flicker. Also referred to as, That
Subliminal Kid, DJ Spooky contributed to the AIDS benefit albums,
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip in 1996 and Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
in 1998. In 2010, DJ Spooky formed The Vanuatu Pacifica Foundation to
help foster dialog between Oceana and the rest of the world. In
addition to his position as a professor of music-mediated art at the
European Graduate School, he is one of the first DJs to create the DJ
Mixer App which has been downloaded over 1 million times.
Richard Kaplan:
Richard Kaplan’s 60 years of nonfiction filmmaking have taken him around the world and into situations of staggering moral complexity and social ambiguity. Though he started out in the 1950s making films commissioned by clients ranging from the U.S. Air Force to the Indian Handicrafts Commission, Kaplan’s signature documentaries—including The Eleanor Roosevelt Story,which won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Documentary, and King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis—were often self-produced, and arose out of his personal enthusiasm for their subjects. In addition to filmmaking, Kaplan has been a respected college professor and a media consultant for organizations such as the Writers’ Guild, the American Museum of the Moving Image, and the United States Information Agency.
Fredrick C. Harris
Fredrick C. Harris is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. He is the triple award winner of the book “Something Within: Religion in African-American Political Activism” and the co-author of “Countervailing Forces in African-American Civic Activism, 1973-1994,” which received the 2006 W.E.B. DuBois Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and the 2007 Ralph Bunche Award from the American Political Science Association. He has been a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and is a 2012 recipient of the Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award at Columbia University. His new book is "The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics."
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Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/embed/vIDGX-TIZ9I
