FARMINGTON —The University of Maine at Farmington’s Office of Student Life is sponsoring a film series for Black History Month, an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of blacks in U.S. history. Events are free and open to the public.
The series began on Tuesday, Feb. 4, with the 2014 historical drama “Selma,” directed by Ava DuVernay, based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. Below are a list of movies, locations and times for the showing of the remaining films.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 11, in The Landing, UMF Olsen Student Center
The remarkable life of South African revolutionary, president and world icon Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba) takes center stage. Though he had humble beginnings as a herd boy in a rural village, Mandela became involved in the anti-apartheid movement and co-founded the African National Congress Youth League. His activities eventually led to his imprisonment on Robben Island from 1964 to 1990. In 1994, Mandela became the first president of democratic South Africa.
FruitVale Station
7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 18, in Lincoln Auditorium, UMF Roberts Learning Center
Though he once spent time in San Quentin, 22-year-old black man Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) is now trying hard to live a clean life and support his girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) and young daughter (Ariana Neal). Flashbacks reveal the last day in Oscar’s life, in which he accompanied his family and friends to San Francisco to watch fireworks on New Year’s Eve, and, on the way back home, became swept up in an altercation with police that ended in tragedy. Based on a true story.
The 13th
7 p.m., Tuesday, February 25, in Lincoln Auditorium, UMF Roberts Learning Center
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
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