Film Series @ Brooklyn Museum

This series of monthly film presentations will usually take place the fourth Thursday of each month, except during holidays, will focus on documentaries and films by or about women and people of color as well as on films by local directors and exhibition-related films.

The films will be premiering at the Brooklyn Museum, prior to airing nationally on PBS. The schedule is as follows: 

July 26, 7 p.m.
I'm Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful (Jonathan Demme, 2011, 90 min.)
This critically acclaimed documentary, filmed over the course of five years, debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in 2011. It features the last resident to leave New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward following a mandatory evacuation order prior to Hurricane Katrina; she was also one of the first to return to the flood-devastated community, determined to bring her ruined home back to life. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer Daniel Wolff. 

August 23, 7 p.m.
Give Up Tomorrow (Michael Collins, 2011, 90 min.)
As a tropical storm beats down on an island in the Philippines, two sisters leave work and never make it home. Paco Larrañaga, a 19-year-old student, is sentenced to death for their rape and murder, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. This award-winning documentary exposes shocking corruption within the judicial system of the Philippines and casts a light on one of the most sensational trials in the country's history. Two grieving mothers, entangled in a case that ends a nation's use of capital punishment but fails to free an innocent man, dedicate more than a decade to executing or saving him. A Q&A with the filmmakers will follow. 

September 20, 7 p.m.
Reportero (Bernardo Ruiz, 2012, 71 min.)
This documentary follows a veteran reporter and his colleagues at a Tijuana-based independent newsweekly, Zeta, that challenges the drug cartels and corrupt local officials despite violence against journalists in Mexico, where more than 40 have been slain or have vanished since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderόn came to power and launched an offensive against the cartels and organized crime. Pressure on Zeta is so intense that it is printed each week in San Diego, and trucked to Tijuana for distribution, because no one in Mexico will sell them newsprint. A Q&A with the director will follow.