Award-Winning Film Follows Middle-class African-American Family for 13 Years
The College of Southern Maryland is hosting a screening of the Sundance Institute documentary film American Promise in the Center for Business and Industry (BI Building), Room 113, La Plata Campus, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Feb. 25. This screening is free and includes refreshments and a post-film discussion led by David C. Miller, M.Ed., the chief visionary officer and co-founder of the Urban Leadership Institute (ULI), an organization focused on developing positive youth development strategies.
American Promise spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn, NY, turn their cameras on their son Idris and his best friend Seun, who make their way through one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Chronicling the boys divergent paths from kindergarten through high school graduation at Manhattans Dalton School, the documentary presents complicated truths about Americas struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportunity.
The documentary premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, won the Grand Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking and is currently playing at film festivals around the world. American Promise will broadcast on PBS in 2014 in conjunction with the release of Stephenson and Brewsters book by Random House.
Reservations are recommended by Feb. 24. Contact CSM Diversity Institute Program Coordinator Ava Morton at 301-539-4742 or AMorton@csmd.edu. CSM partners include United Way of Charles and Calvert counties and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake.
To learn more about the film and to view the trailer, visit www.americanpromise.org. For the NPR interview on “America's Promise,” visit http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/02/03/270874423/american-promise-probes-race-issue-in-nyc-private-school.
Calendar
Sundance Documentary Film American Promise. 6:30-8:30 p.m., Feb. 25. College of Southern Maryland, Center for Business and Industry (BI Building), Room 113, 8730 Mitchell Road, La Plata. American Promise spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn, NY, turn their cameras on their son Idris and his best friend Seun, who make their way through one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Refreshments and post-film discussion led by David C. Miller, M.Ed. the chief visionary officer and co-founder of the Urban Leadership Institute (ULI), an organization focused on developing positive youth development strategies. Free. Reservations are recommended by Feb. 24. Contact CSM Diversity Institute Program Coordinator Ava Morton at 301-539-4742 or AMorton@csmd.edu.