The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul, in partnership with the Capri Theater and the Minnesota Historical Society, presents Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 3 at North Community High School, 1500 James Ave. North High serves as the alternate location for this film series while the Capri Theater is closed for expansion and renovation. Tickets to First Thursday Films are $5; purchase in advance at mspfilm.org or at the door the night of the show.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am offers an artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel-prize-winner. “She has the air of both a person capable of great delight and one who doesn’t suffer fools,” says A.O. Scott who reviewed the film for the New York Times. “…If you want a thorough documentation of everything Morrison has done and everyone she knows, there’s always Wikipedia. But if you’d prefer an argument for her importance and a sense of her presence, then you won’t be disappointed.”
In addition to Morrison, the film features interviews with Hilton Als, Angela Davis, Fran Lebowitz, Walter Mosley, Sonia Sanchez, Oprah Winfrey (who turned Morrison’s novel Beloved into a feature film), and Robert Gottlieb, her colleague at Random House and the editor of nearly all her novels. The film is also graced with original music by Kathryn Bostic, a specially created opening sequence by artist Mickalene Thomas, and evocative works by other contemporary African-American artists including Kara Walker, Rashid Johnson and Kerry James Marshall.
Duchess Harris will lead the always-thought-provoking conversation after the film. Harris, Professor and Chair of American Studies at Macalester College, is a prolific writer, editor, African American academic and legal scholar. She is the coauthor (with Sue Bradford Edwards) of Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA and is also the proud curator of The Duchess Harris Collection featuring more than 90 books for students in grades 3-12 on topics such as race and policing, and #MeToo.
The First Thursday Film series continues with Marshall on November 7, with conversation leader James Selmer; Amazing Grace on December 5; and Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary on January 2.
Topical and relevant in these turbulent times, First Thursday Films aims to create a space for dialogue and better understanding. Come for the movies. Stay for the conversation. Info: thecapritheater.org, mspfilm.org. Capri programs are generously supported by Target.