Best of Black Harvest Film Festival at the Garfield Park Conservatory

The Gene Siskel Film Center and the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance invite Chicago residents to experience Black Harvest Film Festival highlights from past years as well as the beauty of the Garfield Park Conservatory with the Best of the Black Harvest Film Festival at the Conservatory, sponsored by Allstate.

All screenings are FREE and include post-film discussions with filmmakers and special guests. Doors open at 5:30pm and the screenings start at 6pm. Refreshments will be served.

Schedule:

Wednesday, April 19: 

Prom Date Blues (short) 2015, Martisse Hill, USA, 17 min: Inviting a girl to the prom calls for stamina.

The Bathroom Attendant (short) 2013, Deon H. Hayman, USA, 14 min: A charming bathroom attendant at risk of losing his job due to new management teaches us that sometimes there’s more to a job than just tending to the needs of customers. With Shay Roundtree, Hrach Titizian

The Chicago Boyz (short) 2013, Tiara Epps, USA, 12 min: In Tiara Epps’ inspiring short, a spectacular young acrobatics team vaults from inner city to “America’s Got Talent.”

Perfect Day (short) 2013, Derrick L. Sanders, USA, 17 min: Desmond, an intellectual loner in a volatile high school, has devised a plan to reveal his affections to Aasha, the class beauty.  He secretly writes her love sonnets, depositing them in her locker between classes.  Then, in the midst of the day’s chaos, he discovers he has his own secret admirer.  All other concerns fade as he makes his way from clue to clue to hoping to find who is leaving him these cryptic notes.  As the last school bell rings, Desmond questions will he ever find love or as the tension at school escalates, even a safe way home. With Daniel Kyri, Ciera Angelia

Special Guests: Director Derrick Sanders (Perfect Day), Director Tiara Epps (The Chicago Boyz)

Wednesday, May 17:

Crescendo! The Power of Music (feature) 2014, Jamie Bernstein, USA, 85 min.

Conductor José Antonio Abreu’s El Sistema music education program created 40 years ago in Venezuela has transformed the lives of disadvantaged children around the globe.  CRESCENDO! follows two El Sistema-inspired programs—one in Philadelphia, the other in Harlem—focusing on three vividly drawn children whose talents don’t necessarily remove their problems.

Special Guest: Sergio Mims (Black Harvest Film Festival Consultant; Senior Writer, Shadow and Act)

Link to register for May 17