JAMES BALDWIN @ 100

JAMES BALDWIN at 100. Lights, Camera, Baldwin. Celebrating a century of James Baldwin (1924 – 1987): the brilliant thinker, writer, and activist whose prescient essays, plays, and novels continue to shine a searing light on American racism 35 years after his death.

Each screening will be followed by a post-show audience discussion with Charmaine Simpson, founder of Black History Studies and Hakeem Kazeem, film maker, writer and host of the club and performance night Batty Mama, promoting queer Black and brown bodies.

The screenings will be held at The Lexi Cinema, 194b Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise, London, NW10 3JU. Located 3 minutes from Kensal Rise Overground Station. Located 10 mins from Kensal Green and 15 mins from Queens Park on the Bakerloo Line. Via Bus, the Okehampton Road stop is right outside the Lexi Cinema, served by 52, 452, 6, 187, 302. Free on-street parking in local streets.

Meeting The Man: James Baldwin in Paris  + James Baldwin: From Another Place

We bring together two rare archival shorts.

Meeting The Man: James Baldwin in Paris  + James Baldwin: From Another Place plus outtakes package.

Born in 1924, in Harlem, Baldwin spent much of his life abroad, and in these three short films — made in Istanbul, Paris, and London (with Dick Gregory) — he can be charming, candid, churlish, witty, and acerbic. Whether ruminating on his own “American-ness,” his experience as a child-minister, Black Power, or the nature of love and sexuality, creativity, freedom, and survival — his unsparing opinions are never less than eye-opening, and his onscreen presence never less than riveting.

THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED

This event will take place on THURSDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2024 at 19:00.

Please book your ticket(s) here https://thelexicinema.co.uk/TheLexiCinema.dll/WhatsOn?pg=0&sp=8151173

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE 

Whether relaxed or agitated, James Baldwin always appears miraculously composed and intellectually nimble in front of the camera.  Disgusted by the level of racism in America, Baldwin had left the United States for Paris in 1948. But in 1957 he returned to contribute to the Civil Rights movement. James Baldwin retraces his time in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, reflecting with his trademark brilliance and insight on the passage of more than two decades.

 “As much an essay as a documentary… It’s a harsh truth, precisely and artfully rendered.” – Darren Hughes, Filmmaker Magazine

THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED

This event will take place on THURSDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2024 at 19:00.

Please book your ticket(s) here https://thelexicinema.co.uk/TheLexiCinema.dll/WhatsOn?pg=0&sp=8151173

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

Based on Baldwin’s novel of the same name, this Barry Jenkins-directed masterpiece follows the love story of Tish and Fonny, two young African Americans whose lives are shattered by false accusations and the criminal justice system.

“A terrific film, as sinewy as it is sensuous, interweaving stark social-realist themes of prejudice, oppression and imprisonment with a poetic evocation of love, loss and, ultimately, transcendence.” – Mark Kermode, The Observer ★★★★★

THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED

This event will take place on THURSDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER 2024 at 19:00.

Please book your ticket(s) here https://thelexicinema.co.uk/TheLexiCinema.dll/WhatsOn?pg=0&sp=8151173

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO

I Am Not Your Negro envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words, as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Alongside a flood of rich archival material, the film draws upon Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. to explore and bring a fresh and radical perspective to the current racial narrative in America.

Raoul Peck’s Oscar-nominated documentary is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.

“Raoul Peck’s fluid documentary uses the timeless anger of James Baldwin to animate his history of the Black experience in America, from Hollywood stereotypes to police brutality.” – Violet Lucca, Sight & Sound

The Filmmaker: Raoul Peck

Raoul Peck’s complex body of work includes feature narrative films like The Man by the Shore (Competition Cannes 1993), Lumumba (Director’s Fortnight, Cannes 2000, bought and aired by HBO), Sometimes in April (HBO, Berlinale 2005), Moloch Tropical (Toronto 2009, Berlin 2010) and Murder in Pacot (Toronto 2014, Berlin 2015).

THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED

This event will take place on THURSDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 2024 at 19:00.

Please book your ticket(s) here https://thelexicinema.co.uk/TheLexiCinema.dll/WhatsOn?pg=0&sp=8151173

Programme supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery. www.filmlondon.org.uk/filmhub