Museum of the Moving Image to Host 'Endangered by the Moving Image' Discussion, 2/1

Do media depictions of African Americans influence the way they are treated by the police, the criminal justice system, and by society at large? In the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in Staten Island, protests have once again raised questions about the criminalization of the black image on screen. Museum of the Moving Image will present Endangered by the Moving Image: The Criminalization of Black and Brown Bodies, a timely discussion addressing this issue, on Sunday, February 1, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Museum. Leading African-American cultural commentators including Jelani Cobb, Mia Mask, and Greg Tate will look at the history of how African Americans are represented in film and television, beginning with D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and continuing through contemporary movies and TV programs.

This program was organized by the Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF) with the assistance of Museum of the Moving Image. Warrington Hudlin, President of the Black Filmmaker Foundation and Vice Chairman of the Museum's Board of Trustees, said, "For the second year now, BFF and the Museum have used the occasion of Black History Month to take a critical look at the representations of African Americans by the media."

Panelists:
Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress, is the director of the Africana Studies Institute, University of Connecticut, and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and commentator for National Public Radio.
Mia Mask, film professor at Vassar College, is the co-editor of the recent books Poitier Revisited: Reconsidering a Black Icon in the Obama Age, and Black American Cinema Reconsidered. She is the author of Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film.
Greg Tate is a writer, musician, and producer whose writing has focused on African-American music and culture. He was a long-time staff writer for The Village Voice and his books include Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America and Everything but the Burden.

Other participants will be announced as they are confirmed.

Tickets for "Endangered by the Moving Image: The Criminalization of Black and Brown Bodies" are $12 ($9 students and senior citizens / free for Museum members at the Film Lover level and above.) Advance tickets are available online at movingimage.us/Endangered.

About Changing the Picture, sponsored by Time Warner Inc.
This ongoing series celebrates and explores the work of film and television artists of color who are bringing diverse voices to the screen. The series, which consists of screenings and discussions with directors, writers, actors, scholars, and more, includes contemporary work as well as historically significant work that have played an important role in the evolving attempt to "change the picture" and bring a wider variety of voices and visions to the moving image.