MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA and BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA present —

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African Diaspora Film Club at MoAD | OUTTA THE MUCK with Co-Directors Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak

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Join us for today's program on Zoom:

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://moadsf-org.zoom.us/j/81568890365?pwd=R3BmMUZCdXJMa3ZEdk9RZEprTk9VZz09

Passcode: 967523

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Join us for our bi-monthly series, The African Diaspora Film Club. Modeled after our African Book Club, we will meet every other month to discuss a film that we have all viewed in advance of the discussion. The conversation will be moderated by Cornelius Moore, co-director of California Newsreel and film series curator at MoAD. We will be choosing a selection of films, some previously screened at MoAD. You may have already seen it, or this may be your first introduction. In either case, join us for a lively discussion of the film.

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This month we will be discussing OUTTA THE MUCK (2022, 79 minutes). You will receive instructions to join via zoom after you sign up here. Look for an email from MoAD after you signup, if you don't receive it in your inbox, look in your spam or junk mail.

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We will not be screening the film. OUTTA THE MUCK will premiere on Independent Lens/PBS on February 6, 2023 and is currently streaming here: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/outta-the-muck/

View the film in advance and then join us for the discussion on Sunday, February 26th from 5-6pm (PST).

You can access the film

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Directors Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak will join us for the discussion.

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ABOUT THE FILM

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Family, football and history come to life in an intimate portrait of the Dean family, longtime residents of the historic town of Pahokee, Florida. As we take a journey back home, with filmmaker Ira McKinley, to the land of sugarcane, he reconnects with his niece Bridget and nephew Alvin and explores their shared family history that spans seven generations. Told through stories that transcend space and time, Outta presents an intimate portrait of a community that resists despair with love, remaining fiercely self-determined, while forging its own unique narrative of Black achievement.

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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

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Ira Mckinley (Co-Director/Producer/Writer) is a filmmaker and activist and the director/producer of the award-winning documentary The Throwaways. Born in Upstate New York he is now based in South Florida where Outta The Muck is set. Ira started his activism in the 1980's when he participated in Act Up in Ithaca, NY. During the winters of 2007/2008 he started a Homeless Arts Showcase in Northampton, MA's Pulaski Park which was inspired by his fifteen years being homeless himself. Ira is the recipient of the 2014 ACLU Carol S. Knox award, 2013 MLK Storytelling + Activist Award from Siena College, 2009 Northampton Arts Council's Emerging Filmmaker Award, and was the 2009 Producer of the Year for Northampton Community Television. His current film Outta The Muck tells the story of his family roots in Pahokee, FL and is being produced with support from ITVS, Black Public Media, JustFilms, Sundance, and Southern Documentary Fund.

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Bhawin Suchak (Co-Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor) is an educator, filmmaker, and founding member/co-executive director of Youth FX, a media arts organization focused on empowering young people of color in Albany, NY and around the world by teaching them creative and technical skills in film and digital media while supporting self-determined communities of emerging artists. Bhawin also co-directs NeXt Doc, a year-round fellowship program that exists to amplify the voices of documentary filmmakers of color between the ages of 20-24 years old. Bhawin is the co-director, producer, cinematographer and editor of Outta The Muck (2022),a feature length documentary supported by ITVS, Black Public Media, JustFilms, Sundance, and Southern Documentary Fund. He previously co-directed, The Throwaways (2014) with Ira Mckinley, and Free To Learn (2004).

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The African Diaspora Film Club is presented in partnership with Black Public Media

Black Public Media (BPM), formerly known as National Black Programming Consortium develops, produces, funds, and distributes media content about the African American and global Black experience. Our mission is to commit to a fully realized expression of democracy and we accomplish this by supporting diverse voices through training, education, and investment in visionary content makers.

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For 40 years, BPM has addressed the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. BPM continues to address historical, contemporary, and systemic challenges that traditionally impede the development and distribution of black stories.

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