We are proud to present Capital Pictures, a limited engagement film series celebrating the art of great filmmaking in partnership with the Mississippi Film Society.
This inaugural series kicks off this summer with the screening of Body and Soul (1925), a early silent film by trailblazing director Oscar Micheaux, the first Black American to produce a feature length film. The film will be paired with an improvised DJ set. Cash bar.
Ticket $5; Registration required.
About the film
Body and Soul stars Paul Robeson – in his screen debut – as an escaped convict, described in a title card as “a man of many aliases.” As the Right Rev. Isiaah T. Jenkins, he returns to his hometown of Tatesville, Georgia, where he captivates the parishioners with his fiery sermons. Unbeknownst to his congregation, he also frequents the local juke joint, where he drinks heavily and gambles. When Yellow-Curley Hinds (Lawrence Chenault) drifts through town looking for girls to shanghai for a burlesque show, he recognizes Jenkins as his former cellmate. Over several drinks, the pair hatch new schemes to get rich quick.
About the filmmaker
The country’s first major black filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux (sometimes written as “Michaux”) directed and produced 44 films over the course of his career. Throughout the first half of the 20th century Micheaux depicted contemporary Black life and complex characters in his films, countering the negative on-screen portrayal of Blacks at the time.
About DJ Fluseph
Jackson-based beat maker, producer, rapper, and cultural historian.
Upcoming Screenings:
- July 24, 6 PM – Within Our Gates (1920) | Sylvia Landry, a young African-American woman goes North to raise money for a rural school in the Deep South. Her romance with a Black doctor eventually leads to revelations about her family’s past and her own mixed-race ancestry.
- August 14, 6 PM – The Girl from Chicago (1932) | A federal agent falls in love while on assignment in Mississippi.
