Finger Lakes Film Trail Race Films/Race Matters
In recognition of Black History Month, Finger Lakes Film Trail invites you to celebrate with Race Films/Race Matters: Starting Conversations About Race in America, our popular film and lecture series produced in 2021. The series is FREE! The Finger Lakes Film Trail thanks Humanities New York for its support of the FLFT and its programs.
To appreciate where we are today in terms of racial relations and civil rights, we—as individuals, as a community, and as a nation—must have a better understanding of how, historically, we got here.
What are “race films”?
Produced from the 1910s until the early 1940s, race films were created largely by black film companies for black audiences. Unlike mainstream films, they starred black actors and emphasized black-oriented issues and themes.
Lecture + Film + Conversation
Race Films/Race Matters invites you to explore historic racial, social, and cultural dynamics through the unique lens of race films.
The insights and ideas that the lecturers offer will create a context for the various films, while the follow-up discussion questions provided on the website will encourage you, independently or through group discussion, to expand your own ideas about the significance of race and culture.