2010 SBAHFS Film Line Up and Descriptions

"Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North" Panel & Discussion

Download the flyer for Traces of the Trade (pdf)

A look at the personal history by descendants of the largest slave-trading family in America.

Little Rock Central High:  50 Years Later - Film screening/Discussion/Breakout Sessions

Download the flyer for Little Rock Central High (pdf)

The events that transpired at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas set a key and vital precedent for civil rights in the United States and permanently altered the sociocultural landscape of postwar America. In late September 1957, the Governor of Arkansas, Governor Orval Faubus, was unsuccessful in his attempt to block the entrance of several African American students into the school. In fact, he was met with unstoppable resistance from both President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.

Documentarists Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud go back to the pivotal institution and commemorate the 50th anniversary by cross sectioning the school's current racial makeup, student attitudes, adminis- tration and policies revealing the outstanding social progress eked out by the school. They also unveiled related challenges that still confront the students and faculty members.

In 1999, President Clinton presented the nation's highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal to the members of the Little Rock Nine and on January 20, 2009,President Barak Obama invited the Little Rock Nine to the 2009 inauguration.

Upcoming Screenings:

Color of the Cross

"Color of the Cross" tells a story that is familiar to all. The movie addresses four areas: Jesus and his disciples, the state of mind of the Romans occupying Judea, the issues facing the rabbis in th...( read more read more... )e Sanhedrin and the family life of Joseph, Mary and their remaining children. The movie opens as Jesus and the disciples are approaching Jerusalem for the last supper and follows the events up to Jesus' capture and crucifixion.

SKIN

Ten year-old Sandra is distinctly African looking. Her parents, Abraham and Sannie, are white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. They are shopkeepers in a remote area of the Eastern Transvaal and, despite Sandra’s mixed-race appearance, have lovingly brought her up as their ‘white’ little girl.

Sandra is sent to a boarding school in the neighbouring town of Piet Retief, where her (white) brother Leon is also studying, but parents and teachers complain that she doesn’t belong. She is examined by State officials, reclassified as ‘Coloured’, and expelled from the school. Sandra’s parents are shocked, but Abraham fights through the courts to have the classification reversed. The story becomes an international scandal and media pressure forces the law to change, so that Sandra becomes officially ‘White’ again.

By the time she is 17, Sandra realises she is never going to be accepted by the white community. She falls in love with Petrus — a black man, the local vegetable seller, and begins an illicit love affair. Abraham threatens to shoot Petrus and disown Sandra. Sannie is torn between her husband’s rage and her daughter’s predicament.

Sandra elopes with Petrus to Swaziland. Abraham alerts the police, has them arrested and put in prison. Sandra is told by the local magistrate to go home, but she refuses.

Now Sandra must live her life, for the first time, as a black woman in South Africa — with no running water, no sanitation, and little income. She and Petrus have two children, and although she feels more at home in this community, she desperately misses her parents and yearns for a reunion.

After many more years of hardship and struggle, the chances of that reunion ever happening seem remote. But Sandra carries her father's advice with her wherever she goes: 'Never give up!'

SKIN is a story of family, forgiveness and the triumph of the human spirit.

American Violet

Based on the true story of Dee Roberts, a 24 year-old African American single mother of four living in a small Texas town when she is dragged away from work one day in handcuffs, and then dumped in the women's county prison. The local district attorney leads an extensive drug bust, sweeping her housing project with military precision. Dee soon discovers that she has been charged as a drug dealer. Even though she has no prior drug record and no drugs were found on her in the raid, she is offered a hellish choice: plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison, jeopardizing her custody and risking a long prison sentence. She chooses to fight the unyielding criminal justice system, risking everything in a battle that forever changes her life and the Texas justice system.

23rd Psalm

A psychic christian detective must renew his faith in order to solve the murder of a born again prostitute rumored to have had the ability to work miracles.