Friday, January 23, 2004

Wilmington, N.C.—During February, the Department of English of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington presents films based on literary works by or about African Americans. UNCW faculty will introduce each film at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, Tuesday, Feb. 17 and Tuesday, Feb. 24 in Morton Hall, Bryan Auditorium. Admission to the films is free and open to the public.

• Feb. 10—The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker’s epistolary novel. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the movie was made in 1985. Lu Ellen Huntley, an associate professor or English, will introduce The Color Purple, which was filmed mostly in Anson County on land owned by her father, Harry Huntley. She will offer firsthand observations about the film’s production.

• Feb. 17—Driving Miss Daisy, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Alfred Uhry. This 1989 movie won an Academy Award for best picture and best actress. The movie follows the progress of a proud, eccentric southern Jewish matron from 1948 to 1973 as she responds to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s message and the Civil Rights movement. Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy), resists her son’s (Dan Aykroyd) idea that she needs a chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) but gradually comes to recognize that he is perhaps her best friend. The film will be introduced by Lewis Walker of the English department.

• Feb. 24—A Raisin in the Sun, based on Lorraine Hansberry’s award winning play, has been referred to as “One of the most powerful films to grace the 1961 screen.” Hansberry’s work was inspired by her own family’s struggle to integrate a white Chicago neighborhood. It is an intensely moving story about an African American family set at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. The members of this inter-generational family unite in their drive for a chance at a good life, though differences threaten to split them apart. The film is in turn funny, tragic, and uplifting as the action shifts between what to do with a $10,000 life insurance check and who should make that decision. Sidney Poitier’s “electrifying” performance keeps the drama edgy and disturbing. The performances of the three powerful women in the family keep it moving at an unpredictable pace. The film will be introduced by Ele Byington of the English department.

Funding for this film series, offered to the public at no charge, is provided by Charles Green III. For more information, call the UNCW English Department at 962-3320.