Tune in Tuesday, May 18th at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests:
Dave Davidson will be talking about his new film A PLACE OUT OF TIME: THE BORDENTOWN SCHOOL
Laura Poitras will be talking about her new film THE OATH
A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School
For a seventy-year period, when America cared little about the education of African-Americans, and discrimination was law and custom, The Bordentown School was an educational utopia. An incubator for black pride and intellect, it taught values, discipline, and life skills to generations of black children. This is the story of that remarkable school, as told by Bordentown alumni, historians, and remarkable archival footage. It is also the story of black education in America across three centuries, presenting a nuanced, rarely seen portrait of a separate black space; and a much-needed preface to the growing national discussion about historically black institutions and their role in nurturing identity and accomplishment. What was lost and what was gained in the march toward equality?
Watch at trailer for the film. A Place Out of Time - The Bordentown School
Academy Award ®-nominated director Laura Poitras brings to audiences a singular work of high-risk filmmaking with this gripping documentary political thriller shot on location in Yemen and Guantanomo Bay. THE OATH is the cross-cut tale of two men whose fateful meeting ultimately propelled them on very different courses with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, September 11th, Guantanamo Bay Prison and the U.S.
Poitras is that rare filmmaker who risks her life to go to Yemen and Guantanomo Bay and gets incredible access. Because she has had contact with these former Al Queda members, she has now been placed on the "watch list" at airports. Recently though, on her way to Berlin, she ended up on the "no fly" list and had to have a government official step in to clear her status. In a year, when a female director who made a narrative film about the war, here we have another female director who actually went to Yemen, Guantanomo Bay, and Iraq to give us first hand insight as to the impact of this conflict on the people there and those we are fighting.
Poitras's previous film MY COUNTRY MY COUNTRY was nominated for an Oscar in 2007 for Best Documentary, as she profiled and follows a doctor in Iraq whose family was separated by the war and eventually, he had to flee to Europe. Poitras is an important American filmmaker and with THE OATH, she brings us another point of view that is rarely seen. This time, from former Al Queda members - one a "re-educated" reformed Jihadist and the other, a prisoner in Guantonomo Bay who becomes one of the first POW's to have a trial by the Bush regime. THE OATH is the rare film that brings audiences face to face with members of Al Queda.
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