Book + Film Club February: Black Lens – The Black Western
The fight was against the raiders... but the feud was between themselves!
Sidney Poitier
In-Person
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema
Feb 25
Sidewalk’s Book + Film Club unites movie and book lovers for a monthly film screening. Each session is $35 and the includes book, film screening, and discussion. Select the $15 option for access to the film screening and post film discussion. Dates, descriptions, and registration deadlines below.
Registration Deadline to have books picked up: Friday, February 6th .Books will be mailed within 72 hours of this date.
Registration Deadline to have books picked up: Monday, February 16th.. Books can be picked up from our Box Office during our regular operating hours Thursday & Friday from 2pm til Close and on Saturday & Sunday from 10:30am until close.
Book: Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western by Mia Mask
African American westerns have a rich cinematic history and visual culture. Mia Mask examines the African American western hero within the larger context of film history by considering how Black westerns evolved and approached wide-ranging goals. Woody Strode’s 1950s transformation from football star to actor was the harbinger of hard-edged western heroes later played by Jim Brown and Fred Williamson. Sidney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher provided a narrative helmed by a groundbreaking African American director and offered unconventionally rich roles for women. Mask moves from these discussions to consider blaxploitation westerns and an analysis of Jeff Kanew’s hard-to-find 1972 documentary about an all-Black rodeo. The book addresses how these movies set the stage for modern-day westploitation films like Django Unchained. A first-of-its kind survey, Black Rodeo illuminates the figure of the Black cowboy while examining the intersection of African American film history and the western.
Film: Buck and the Preacher (1972) dir. Sidney Poitier, Joseph Sargent
A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.