As the Covid-19 pandemic stretches toward the four-month mark in Central California, movie theaters in the region remain closed. After canceling its April and May screenings as a health and safety precaution, Fresno Filmworks has taken an opportunity to improvise this summer with the concept of Virtual Cinema in the month of July.
The political documentary “John Lewis: Good Trouble” is, in many ways, a perfect fit for Filmworks. The opportunity to share the life story of a widely respected Black congressman like John Lewis in his own words, in a film directed by a Black woman (Dawn Porter), goes to the heart of our mission of cultivating understanding through cinema. Especially considering how in Hollywood these stories are often told through the lens of white filmmakers and white subjects, “Good Trouble” is good, necessary troublemaking cinema, representing true inclusion of the Black community at the movies.
But without the draw of experiencing a movie together in the physical theater — which has, for nearly two decades, been central to the ways Filmworks creates a meaningful movie experience — how can our organization reach not only our core audience but also a broader audience with this important film?
Thankfully, these like-minded cultural, community, and media organizations have stepped up to help tell their respective audiences about our Virtual Cinema screening. Filmworks recommends you check them out and learn more about the good trouble they are getting into themselves.
Screening Sponsor
The California Advocate Newspaper
The California Advocate was founded in 1967 by Les and Pauline Kimber, and has served the Central Valley and Fresno for more than 50 years. The newspaper continues the legacy of the Black press in America to be the voice, the advocate, and the information source for the country’s Black communities.
The Cal Advocate was previously a Filmworks screening sponsor in March 2017 for the Raoul Peck documentary about author and activist James Baldwin, “I Am Not Your Negro,” a screening that remains the only movie in Filmworks history to sell-out both screenings at the Tower Theatre, bringing together more than 1,500 people in one evening.
Community Partners
Black Lives Matter Fresno
The Black Lives Matter Fresno page on Facebook is not a moment but a movement. From Trayvon Martin to George Floyd and beyond, BLM Fresno is here to inform and educate on issues of importance to the Black community and to the growing community of allies. The group will continue fighting police abuses, racism, and ignorance here and everywhere.
Fresno Center for Nonviolence
The Fresno Center for Nonviolence is a nonprofit organization dedicated to peace and social justice locally and globally through speakers, conferences, films, and other local and national events. The center supports a number of programs and organizations also working toward peace and social justice. A lamp has been lit.
Peace Fresno
Peace Fresno is an antiwar education, advocacy, and activist organization. The group works to build the peace movement locally and nationally. Peace Fresno collaborates with groups in our community and elsewhere working for peace and social, economic, and environmental justice.
uSpark Valley
uSpark Valley is a political multimedia studio for the San Joaquin Valley. Millennials and Zoomers lack access to local political coverage in a medium that they can relate to, and uSpark is committed to educating and informing this key demographic about Valley issues that matter most to them. uSpark produces content that’s more accessible to younger voters through the use of social media, striving to captivate and inspire a new generation of potential voters by highlighting the progressive issues they care about.