Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.
 

Grace

U.S., 2024 

As 16-year-old Grace prepares for baptism in the 1950s rural South, unexpected feelings surface. Written and directed by Natalie Jasmine Harris, this Black queer Southern Gothic short explores the tension between faith, identity and coming-of-age. Its rich visuals blend pastoral landscapes with the double entendre of Grace’s shifting perspective. Referencing Daughters of the Dust, Eve’s Bayou, The Color Purple and Their Eyes Were Watching God, Grace offers a poignant reimagining of self-discovery and tradition.

DCP, color, 14 min. Director/Screenwriter: Natalie Jasmine Harris. With: Jordan Rayanna Wells, Alexis Cofield, Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew, C L Simpson, JeVon Blackwell.
 

The Fits

U.S., 2015

11-year-old Toni (Royalty Hightower) trains in a boxing gym until the neighboring dance team’s fierce energy draws her in. Anna Rose Holmer’s Venice Film Festival-premiering debut blends adolescence’s mysteries with an eerie outbreak of seizure-like “fits” among the dancers. Spare yet hypnotic, the film is a vibrant ode to Black girlhood and African American dance traditions.

DCP, color, 72 min. Director: Anna Rose Holmer. Screenwriter: Saela Davis, Anna Rose Holmer. With: Royalty Hightower, Alexis Neblett, Da'Sean Minor, Lauren Gibson, Makyla Burnam.

—Public Programmer Beandrea July