ATLANTA (January 24, 2017) Last night, musical superstar and social critic/activist, Janelle Monáe, civil rights icon, Ambassador Andrew Young, and more engaged with students, press and influencers at a private screening of the new James Baldwin documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, presented by Liquid Soul for Magnolia Pictures.
The documentary which releases to theaters, February 3rd, has been nominated for an Oscar Award and a NAACP Image Award for best documentary in the Documentary (Feature) categories.
Famed visual artist and scholar, Fahamu Pecou, wearing a University Of Baldwin long sleeve tee, kicked off the evening introducing artist/activist Janelle Monáe who recited a moving excerpt from Baldwin’s "Notes Of A Native Son," setting an empowering tone for the screening.
Just before her presentation, she shared a special connection that she and her labelmates at Wondaland Records, have with James Baldwin. "@Wondaland Arts Society and I had the honor of hosting a gut wrenching and TIMELY documentary about our hero James Baldwin. It was an honor to screen a documentary about one of the greatest American writers, JAMES BALDWIN!" At the end of the screening, the audience rose to their feet and the film received a standing ovation.
The final highlight of the evening is an intriguing talkback panel discussion moderated by Morehouse Cinema, Television and Emerging Media Studies (CTEMS) Director, Dr. Stephane Dunn which featured Ambassador Andrew Young; Clark Atlanta University African American Studies Professor, Dr. Daniel Black; Morehouse College Asst. Professor of English, Dr. Francine Allen, Georgia Equality Field Organizer, Rob Woods and artist/activist, Fahamu Pecou. The discussion explored race relations - past and present, the impact of James Baldwin during the civil rights movement and now, the relevance of the documentary to the social issues of today, concluding with thoughts on where we should go from “here.” Civil Rights icon, Ambassador Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. gave the students a first-hand perspective sharing on the civil rights movements and marches then compared to now.
Other notable guests attending were: Egypt Sherrod (HGTV’s “Flipping Virgins”); DJ FaDelf (Celebrity DJ, Author and Motivational Speaker); Jack A. Daniels (Psychotherapist, 5x Bestselling Author and Host of FYI’s “Black Love”); Marshawn Evans (Author, NBC’s “The Apprentice”); Christopher Hicks (Director, Mayor’s Office of Film and Entertainment); (Founder, Hat-titude Big Hat Brunch) and many more!
I Am Not Your Negro opens nationwide on Friday, February 3!
ABOUT I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends—Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of this manuscript.
Now, in his incendiary new documentary, master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.