Multicultural Film Series

April 8–10

Prodigal Sons
Kimberly Reed, 2008, USA, 87 min.
Thursday, April 8 at 7:30 pm

Kimberly Reed returns home to a small town in Montana for her high school reunion, hoping for reconciliation with her long estranged adopted brother. But along the way Prodigal Sons uncovers stunning revelations, intense sibling rivalries, and unforeseeable twists of plot and gender. Reed's rare access delicately reveals not only the family's most private moments, but also an epic scope as the film travels from Montana to Croatia, from jail cell to football field, from deaths to births and commitments of all kinds. This unflinching look at identity and the past challenges us to wonder if we can ever truly become someone new.

Prom Night In Mississippi
Paul Saltzman, 2008, USA, 90 min.
Friday, April 9 at 7:30 pm

In 1997, Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman offered to pay for the senior prom at Charleston High School in Mississippi under one condition: the prom had to be racially integrated. His offer was ignored. In 2008, Freeman offered again. This time the school board accepted, and history was made. Charleston High School had its first-ever integrated prom - in 2008. Until then, blacks and whites had had separate proms even though their classrooms have been integrated for decades. Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman follows students, teachers and parents in the lead-up to the big day. This seemingly inconsequential rite of passage suddenly becomes profound as the weight of history falls on teenage shoulders. "Billy Joe," an enlightened white senior, appears on camera in shadow, fearing his racist parents will disown him if they know his true feelings. Prom Night in Mississippi captures a big moment in a small town, where hope finally blossoms in black, white and a whole lot of taffeta.

Taqwacore: The Birth of Islamic Punk
Omar Majeed, 2009, Canada, 80 min.
Saturday and Sunday, April 10 & 11 at 7:30 pm

When he was 17, Michael Knight left his mother’s home in Rochester to study Islam at a Pakistani madrassa. It was his first act of rebellion—against his abusive, schizophrenic, white-supremacist father. Years later, burned out on the demands of religious dogma, Mike rebelled once more—by penning a Muslim Punk manifesto called "The Taqwacores." His work of fiction struck a chord with young Muslims around the world and before long, real-life Taqwacore bands were creating a scene. This film follows Michael and his band of Muslim punks as they journey across the U.S. and Pakistan, transforming their worlds, their religion and themselves through the spirit of Taqwacore.