Feb 21- Mar 28 MIDNIGHT RAMBLES
Black Cinema of the 70’s & 80’s
Nearly 500 “race films” were made for (and sometimes by) African-Americans between 1910 and 1940. Often shown at late-night screenings called “Midnight Rambles,” they provided a counterpoint to the demeaning roles blacks were forced to play in mainstream Hollywood. Inspired by this independent spirit, Creative Alliance’s 2008 Midnight Rambles series explores pioneering African-American films of the 70’s and 80’s. In partnership with the Maryland Film Festival.

Thu Feb 21
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Van Peebles, 1971)
The Film that THE MAN doesn’t want you to see! Sweet Sweetback (Van Peebles), raised in a whorehouse, finds himself on the lam from white authority after intervening in a police beating of a Black Panther. Though directed by an African-American (the great Melvin Van Peebles) and starring “The Black Community,” this independently produced film —with soundtrack by Earth, Wind and Fire—shaped Hollywood’s “blaxploitation” genre. Even African-American audiences were shocked by the ferocity of its anti-establishment stance. Intro by Jed Dietz and Eric Hatch, Maryland Film Festival. 7:30pm. $7, $5 mbrs, stus, & Friends of MFF.

Thu Feb 28
My Brother’s Wedding
(Burnett, 1983/2007)
BALTIMORE PREMIERE
A young man living in an LA ghetto can’t seem to get his life on track: he works at his parents’ South Central dry cleaners, all of his friends are either dead or incarcerated, and his brother is about to marry a wealthy doctor’s daughter. A “lost” work by the director of MFF ‘07 audience favorite Killer of Sheep, this film was shelved after the bungled 1983 release of a rough-cut version. Burnett completed his film the way he’d envisioned it only last year, to widespread critical acclaim. 7:30pm. $7, $5 mbrs, stus, & Friends of MFF.


Thu Mar 6
Car Wash (Schultz, 1976)
Propelled by a funk soundtrack that became a best-selling album, this blaxploitation musical comedy shows a day in the life of the Dee-Lite Car Wash: the owner chases skirts, his son studies Mao, a customer’s son keeps losing his lunch, a cabbie chases a hooker who skipped on her fare, and a mad bomber is on the loose. Cameos include George Carlin, “Professor” Irwin Corey, The Pointer Sisters, Clarence Muse, and Richard Pryor. Introduced by Thomas Cripps, Baltimore’s celebrated African-American film scholar. 7:30pm. $7, $5 mbrs, stus, & Friends of MFF.