Nothing But a Man: A 50th Anniversary Celebration
/Thursday, April 24th-Wednesday, April 30th, 7:30pm
Nothing But a Man
A 50th Anniversary Celebration
Michael Roemer, 1964, 92 min.
A true landmark of American cinema and African-American screen representation, Nothing But a Man portrays the poignant relationship between a preacher’s daughter (jazz singer Abbey Lincoln) and a railroad man and single dad (Ivan Dixon). After the two marry, they confront a host of problems including racism, school integration, unemployment, and family conflict. Against this detailed social backdrop (which is a powerful document of Jim Crow-era restrictions), the film portrays Duff and Josie as fully-fleshed out individuals, complex and contradictory, in a way rare for movies about black characters at the time. Shot during the tumultuous summer of 1963—the summer of Medgar Evers’ assassination, George Wallace at the University of Alabama, and the March on Washington, the film features an unparalleled, Motown based soundtrack that includes Martha & the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Mary Wells and the Miracles. Nothing But a Man is fiction Cinema Vérité gold.
A conversation between director Michael Roemer and writer Kevin Powell will follow the 7:30pm screening on Friday, April 25th.
A Q&A with director Michael Roemer and documentary filmmaker and Maysles Cinema founder Albert Maysles will follow the 7:30pm screening on Saturday, April 26th.
Following the 7:30pm screening on Monday, April 28th there will be a Q&A with writer and cultural activist Kazembe Balagun of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung-New York Office.
"Nothing But a Man changed my life. By that I mean this beautiful film opened my head up, introduced me in a shattering way to the notion of race, drove me to James Baldwin, Soul on Ice, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, thus birthing a whole new world-view for me."
- Jonathan Demme
"Its so rare for a film to both be so excellent and ahead of its time which makes it just as valuable today as it was 50 years ago. Its a subject well covered only when this film is included."
- Albert Maysles
"Nothing But a Man...is one of the most sensitive films about black life ever made in this country.” - Hal Hinson, The Washington Post
“One of the great American independent films.”
- Amy Taubin, Artforum
