28th Black Harvest Film Festival Highlights: Local Premieres and Fest Hits Populate Stand-out Program | Festivals & Awards

Read an interview with director Nikyatu Jusu here.

“The Inspection” (November 5^th)

“We meet French almost a decade after being thrown out of his mother’s (Gabrielle Union) house when he was 16 and came out of the closet. He’s homeless now, estranged from his mother in New Jersey. He goes to her to get his birth certificate, which he needs to join the Marines. He’s decided that this is the place to go to give his life meaning, and I liked that Bratton doesn’t look down on this decision—after all, he made it. Yes, Ellis shouldn’t have to risk his life as a soldier to find purpose, but Bratton and Pope allow us to understand how he reached this point in a way that doesn’t feel reductive or manipulative.” – Brian Tallerico

“The African Desperate” (November 12^th)

“Martine Syms has a singular voice, flowing with creativity. Using her own background as an artist, Syms has taken artistic academia and the whiplash of exiting the comfort of school and churned it into a jungle juice of weed, ketamine, and self-discovery.” – Peyton Robinson

RESTORATIONS AND ANNIVERSARY SCREENINGS:

Don’t miss restored versions of “Buck and the Preacher” and “Cooley High,” neither of which were reviewed by Roger, along with these two undeniable Spike Lee classics:

“Malcolm X” (November 19^th on 35 mm!)

“Walking into “Malcolm X,” I expected an angrier film than Spike Lee has made. This film is not an assault but an explanation, and it is not exclusionary; it deliberately addresses all races in its audience. White people, going into the film, may expect to meet a Malcolm X who will attack them, but they will find a Malcolm X whose experiences and motives make him understandable and finally heroic. Reasonable viewers are likely to conclude that, having gone through similar experiences, they might also have arrived at the same place.” – Roger Ebert