A film that many of you have been anticipating finally opened in USA theaters on February 3rd, and continues to expand each weekend into new cities around the country, ensuring that it’s accessible to as many of you as possible, bolstered by a 2017 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary.
Magnolia Pictures is releasing Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck’s critically-acclaimed documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” – a project Peck worked on for at least 6 years, and is made with the full cooperation of the Baldwin estate. Peck has described it as “a very creative documentary.” In short, the film toys with the idea that Baldwin actually wrote what was to be an ambitious book – “a masterpiece” as Peck puts it – on Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., whose lives all ended in assassinations. Baldwin knew it would be a challenge, and didn’t believe it would sell, but he felt that he needed to write it. Baldwin never did write the book (Peck learned about it via letters Baldwin sent to his agent); but Peck’s “creative documentary” imagines that he did. As the filmmaker has said: “The starting point of the film is to say – yes, he wrote it. He just didn’t bind it together, but if you go through his work, the film is there.”
All Peck had to build upon were 30 pages of Baldwin’s notes for the book, and the rights to all of Baldwin’s final, unfinished manuscript, “Remember This House,” in which the author went about the painful task of remembering his three fallen friends – Evers, X, and King – and crafted an elegantly precise and bracing film essay which is anchored by the presence of Baldwin himself in images and words, read beautifully by Samuel L. Jackson.
Why a film on Baldwin? Peck’s response: “Because Baldwin is my life… I started reading Baldwin when I was 14 or 15, and I realized as an adult a lot of the things I was saying came from him.”
Aramide Tinubu interviewed Peck about the film (read it here) and also reviewed “I Am Not Your Negro” (read her thoughts here).
Magnolia continues to release theatrical playdates for the film, including this weekend’s expansion opening locations. So check out the below schedule and make note of when the film will be coming to a theater near you, if it hasn’t already. You’ll find playdates through June:
2/3/2017
CA, Berkeley: California 3
CA, Emeryville: Bay Street 16
CA, Hollywood: Pacific ArcLight Hollywood 15
CA, Los Angeles: Baldwin Hills 15
CA, Pleasant Hill: Century 16 Downtown Pleasant Hill
CA, San Francisco: Alamo Drafthouse Mission
CA, San Francisco: Embarcadero Center Cinema 5
CA, Santa Ana: South Coast Village 3
CA, West Los Angeles: The Landmark 12
CO, Boulder: Century 16
CO, Denver: Esquire Theatre
CO, Littleton: Alamo Drafthouse Little 7
DC, Washington: E Street Cinema
FL, Miami: O Cinema Wynwood
FL, Miami Beach: South Beach 18
GA, Atlanta: Atlantic Station Stadium 16
GA, Atlanta: Midtown Art Cinemas 8
GA, Atlanta: Phipps Plaza 14
IL, Chicago: Arclight Chicago 14
IL, Chicago: River East 21
IL, Chicago: Showplace Icon 16
IL, Chicago: Studio Movie Grill – Chatham
IL, Evanston: CineArts 6 – Evanston
LA, New Orleans: Broad Theatre 4
MA, Brookline: Coolidge Corner Theatre
MA, Cambridge: Kendall Square Cinema 9
MD, Baltimore: Charles Theatre
MD, Largo: Magic Johnson Capital Centre 12
MD, Silver Spring: Majestic 20
MI, Royal Oak: Main Art Theatre
MN, Minneapolis: Lagoon Cinema
MO, University City: Tivoli Theatre
NY, New York: Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
NY, New York: Film Forum
NY, New York: Magic Johnson Harlem USA 9
PA, Philadelphia: Rave University 6
PA, Philadelphia: Ritz 5 Movies
TX, Austin: Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
TX, Austin: Arbor Cinemas at Great Hills 8
TX, Dallas: Angelika Film Center and Cafe
VA, Arlington: Shirlington 7
WA, Bellevue: Lincoln Square Stadium 16
WA, Seattle: SIFF Cinema Egyptian
2/9/2017
IN, Bloomington: Indiana University Cinema
NY, Ithaca: Cornell Cinema
2/10/2017
CA, North Hollywood: Laemmle NoHo 7
CA, Pasadena: Playhouse 7 Cinemas
CA, San Diego: Hillcrest Cinemas
MI, Grand Rapids: Celebration Cinema Woodland
MI, Muskegon: Carousel Cinema 16
MI, Okemos: Studio C!
NE, Lincoln: Mary R. Ross Film Theater
NY, Brooklyn: Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn 7
NY, Rochester: Little Theatre
OH, Cleveland Heights: Cedar Lee Theatres
TX, Houston: River Oaks Theatre 3
UT, Salt Lake City: Broadway Centre Cinemas
2/11/2017
HI, Honolulu: Doris Duke Theatre
2/13/2017
LA, Baton Rouge: Manship Theatre
2/16/2017
OH, Columbus: Wexner Center for the Arts
2/17/2017
AZ, Scottsdale: Camelview at Fashion Square
AZ, Tucson: The Loft Cinema 3
CA, Monterey: Osio Cinemas
CA, Palm Desert: Tristone Cinemas Palm Desert 10
CA, Santa Cruz: Nickelodeon Theatres
CA, Santa Monica: Monica Film Center
CA, Sebastopol: Rialto Cinemas 9
CT, New Haven: Criterion Cinemas 9
DE, Wilmington: Theatre N at Nemours
GA, Fitzgerald: Grand Theatre
HI, Honolulu: Kahala Theatres 8
IN, Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne Cinema Center
IN, Indianapolis: Keystone Art Cinema 7
IN, Notre Dame: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center/Browning Cin
KY, Louisville: Speed Art Museum
LA, Shreveport: Robinson Film Center 2
MA, Amherst: Amherst Cinema Arts Center 3
MA, Provincetown: Waters Edge Cinema 2
MI, Detroit: Cinema Detroit
NC, Asheville: Grail Moviehouse 3
NC, Charlotte: Park Terrace 6 Cinema
NC, Durham: Carolina Theatre – Durham
NJ, Asbury Park: The ShowRoom
NJ, Cherry Hill: Cherry Hill 24
NM, Santa Fe: CCA Cinematheque
NY, Albany: Spectrum 8
NY, Ithaca: Cinemapolis 5
NY, Millerton: Moviehouse
NY, Pleasantville: Jacob Burns Film Center
NY, Yonkers: Alamo Drafthouse Yonkers 6
OH, Cleveland: Tower City 11
OR, Portland: Cinema 21 Theatre
OR, Portland: Hollywood Theatre
PA, Pittsburgh: Harris Theatre
TN, Memphis: Studio on the Square 5
TN, Nashville: Belcourt Theatre
TX, El Paso: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – Montecillo 8
TX, Lubbock: Alamo Drafthouse Lubbock 8
2/20/2017
CA, Modesto: State Theatre Modesto
2/21/2017
WA, Spokane: Magic Lantern Theatre
2/22/2017
VA, Norfolk: Naro Expanded Cinema
VA, Winchester: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema 8-Winchester
2/23/2017
KY, Paducah: Maiden Alley
MT, Bozeman: Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture
NY, Hudson: Time and Space Limited
2/24/2017
AL, Montgomery: Capri Community Film Society
CA, Nevada City: Magic Theatre
FL, Gainesville: Gainesville Cinema 14
FL, Jacksonville: Sun-Ray Cinema
FL, Sarasota: Burns Court
GA, Macon: Douglass Theatre
IL, Champaign: Art Theatre
ME, Portland: Portland Museum of Art
MI, Ann Arbor: Michigan Theater
MI, Kalamazoo: Alamo Drafthouse Kalamazoo
MO, Kansas City: Tivoli @ Manor Square
MT, Billings: Arthouse Cinema & Pub.
NC, Winston-Salem: Aperture Cinema
NY, Rhinebeck: Upstate Films 2
NY, Rome: Capitol Theatre
OH, Columbus: Gateway Film Center 8
OH, Dayton: New Neon Movies
OK, Tulsa: Circle Cinema
OR, Eugene: Broadway Metro
PA, Harrisburg: Midtown Cinema 3
PA, Lancaster: Zoetropolis
PA, York: Small Star Art House
SC, Columbia: Nickelodeon
SC, Greenville: Peace Center for the Performing Arts
TX, Katy: Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park 6
VT, Rutland: Flagship Premium Cinemas – Rutland Plaza
WA, Port Orchard: Dragonfly Cinema
WA, Port Townsend: Rose Twin
WA, Vancouver: Kiggins
2/26/2017
NH, Portsmouth: Music Hall
NY, Auburn: Auburn Public Theater
2/27/2017
FL, Key West: Tropic Cinema Key West
2/28/2017
IL, Normal: Normal Theatre
3/2/2017
NY, Patchogue: Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center
3/3/2017
MI, Grand Rapids: Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts
NE, La Vista: Alamo Drafthouse Omaha
NE, Omaha: Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater
NH, Concord: Red River 3
NY, Brooklyn: Syndicated Bar Theater Kitchen
NY, Pelham: Pelham Picture House
OK, Oklahoma City: Oklahoma City Museum of Art
3/10/2017
CA, Fresno: Fresno Filmworks c/o Tower Theatre
CT, Hartford: Real Art Ways Cinema
FL, Tallahassee: Tallahassee Film Society / All Saints Cinema
ID, Boise: The Flicks 4
MA, Salem: CinemaSalem 4
ME, Portland: Portland Museum of Art
RI, Providence: Cable Car Cinema
3/24/2017
NM, Mesilla: Fountain Theatre
4/7/2017
TN, Memphis: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
6/8/2017
MI, Saugatuck: Saugatuck Center for the Arts