Brooklyn Museum Launches Thursday Evening Film Series, Beg. Tonight, 7/26

The Brooklyn Museum will launch a series of monthly film presentations in the 460-seat Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium as a part of the weekly Thursdays @ 7 programming, when the Museum remains open until 10 p.m. The film series, which 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. It will debut tonight, July 26 with a series of critically acclaimed documentary features presented in partnership with POV and FilmWax. 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 Calder?n 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.

In addition to the POV films, the Thursdays @ 7 film series will present a special screening of Brooklyn filmmaker Terence Nance's debut feature film, which premiered at Sundance this year and was one of ten films selected to be part of the Sundance London Film Festival:

August 9, 7 p.m.
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (Terence Nance, 2012, 93 min.)
Directed, produced, and written by Nance, this debut film follows the relationship between Nance and a young woman, precariously balanced between platonic and romantic. Blending live action and various styles of animation, Nance explores the fantasies, emotions, and memories provoked by this singular moment in time. A Q&A with the director will follow the screening.

Special support for the Thursdays @ 7 film series is provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Brooklyn Museum remains open every Thursday evening until 10 p.m., allowing visitors to linger later in the galleries and enjoy exciting programs that, in addition to film, include interviews, performance, music, and gallery tours.

Expanded hours at the Brooklyn Museum were made possible in part by the generosity of the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation.

Follow the Brooklyn Museum's Press Office on Twitter at BklynMuseumNews.

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