This festival of work by black artists from around the world runs Friday, August 4, through Thursday, August 31, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $9, $5 for Film Center members; for more information call 312-846-2800. Following is the schedule for August 4 through 10; a complete festival schedule is available online at www.chicagoreader.com.
Short works by local artists Mercedes Yolanda Cooper, Brian McQuery, Artel Kayaru, and Sonny Arthur. 80 min. Cooper, McQuery, and Arthur will take part in a discussion at the screening. a Wed 8/9, 8:15 PM.
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Restraining Order
Thomas Allen Harris’s late stepfather was one of 12 young men who fled Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1960 to help build the African National Congress overseas; he walked 1,300 miles to Dar es Salaam and eventually settled in the Bronx. It’s an important, even epic story, but Harris throws barely relevant personal information into this 2005 video–the stepfather drank too much, their relationship was troubled. Worse, he combines interviews with witnesses to his stepfather’s struggle and reenactments shot in South Africa in a similar style–an uneasy mix of reality and fiction that’s more appropriate to a TV docudrama and that makes the truth annoyingly fuzzy. 74 min. (FC) Harris will attend the screening. a Sun 8/6, 5:15 PM, and Mon 8/7, 6 PM.
