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, 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 Guests: Sergio Mims (Black Harvest Film Festival Consultant; Senior Writer, Shadow and Act) and a chamber ensemble from the Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project will perform immediately following the screening.