All Events
Cup of Culture
13th
MCC Theater
“Powerful, infuriating and at times overwhelming, Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13TH will get your blood boiling and tear ducts leaking.” – The NY Times
Award-winning director/writer Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out with bracing lucidity. (English, 2016, 100 min)
Watch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66F3WU2CKk
Poetry Reading with Shirley Geok-Lin Lim & Rick Benjamin
MCC Lounge
Join Shirley Geok-Lin Lim and Rick Benjamin for poetry readings, open mic, and reception. Shirley Geok-Lin Lim will be reading poetry written during the 2014 Hong Kong Democracy Movement protests and from more recent work on the U.S. and Santa Barbara scenes. She hopes to facilitate discussion on the relations between the poet and the world, poetry and politics. Rick Benjamin’s work walks the line between the mystical and the mundane and sometimes attempts to blur it altogether. He will be reading new work and other poems from his three books, Passing Love, Floating World, & Endless Distances. He has just completed his term as State Poet Laureate of Rhode Island (2012 - 2016) at Brown University.
Race Matters Series
Trump Says Go Back, We Say Fight Back
MCC Theather
Donald Trump's election has been viewed with dismay, even alarm. Join us in a discussion of the opportunities for organizing and coalition building that we can and must engage. The panel discussion will include Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson and Dr. Robin Kelley from UCLA. Johnson writes and teaches on race and racism, cultural history, spatial politics, and political economy. Kelley’s research has explored the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora, and Africa; black intellectuals; music; visual culture; contemporary urban studies and more. Elizabeth Robinson is an independent media practitioner and activist, both locally and internationally, and who currently produces ‘No Alibis’ on KCSB fm.
Cup of Culture
I Learn America
MCC Theater
“There’s no denying the film’s social relevance, especially considering the fact that one out of four children in America is an immigrant...” – The Hollywood Reporter
The International High School is a NYC public school dedicated to serving newly arrived immigrant teenagers. The students strive to master English, adapt to families they haven’t seen in years, confront the universal trials of adolescence, and search for a future they can claim as their own. Through these five vibrant young people, their stories and struggles, and their willingness to open their lives and share them with us, we “learn America.” (English, 2013, 93 min)
Watch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbW4gytQCiE
Co-sponsored by: Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
