An Unapologetic Dream: A MLK Day Celebration

Hyde Park Art Center in collaboration with Arts + Public Life and South Side Community Art Center, presents a free public screening of Unapologetic by Chicago filmmaker Ashley O”Shay, a film told through the lens of Janaé Bonsu and Bella Bahhs, two fierce abolitionist leaders, that gives a deep look into the Movement for Black Lives, from the police murder of Rekia Boyd to the election of mayor Lori Lightfoot. The highly acclaimed film has screened at various film festivals including, the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival in Toronto, the Black Harvest Film Festival in Chicago, and 2020 DOC NYC.

Opening the program will also be a screening of The Black Archive Project: Chicago Uprisings 2020 by local independent filmmaker and documentarian, Resita Cox, who uses documentary filmmaking as a means to archive the Black experience and retrieve Black history that has been lost (or purposely buried) to connect the past, present, and future, and a poetry reading from Leslé Honore, an AfroLatina poet, artivist, and author of Fist & Fire, a collection of powerful, unflinching poems that confront issues of social justice through the lens of real human lives and voices.

The poetry and films will be followed by a discussion with filmmakers Ashley O’Shay, Resita Cox, poet Lésle Honore, and more.

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ: COVID safety event info and University of Chicago policies: All visitors aged 12+ attending public events with fixed audience seating inside of a University of Chicago building must provide proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of event, or a positive COVID-19 test within 14-90 days of event and affirm no symptoms. UChicago faculty, students, and staff may present their UCID as proof. All guests, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear a mask at all times while inside of the Green Line Performing Arts Center.