The Pleasures of Fear is an illuminating in-person conversation between Black cinema scholar and MoAD's Cultural Critic-in-Residence, Dr. Artel Great (San Francisco State University) and Black film historian, author, and professor Dr. Ed Guerrero (NYU). They are the co-editors of the best-selling anthology Black Cinema & Visual Culture: Art and Politics in the 21^st Century. With "The Pleasures of Fear" program they will explore the uneasy tensions between the nightmares of the Black horror film and the (broken) promises of the American Dream. Drs. Guerrero and Great will dive into the cultural history of Black horror movies and tackle critical concerns including: the box office success of the genre-blending hit Get Out and its influences; the deep, and barely repressed, pyschological and social issues mediated in Black horror as a cinematic sub-genre; the origins of Black racial tropes in Hollywood horror flicks; and the progressive evolution of the Black horror movies' narratives, tales, clichés, and conventions. This dynamic conversation will also include insights into a wide-range of horror films, from 1970s Soul classics like Blacula and J.D.'s Revenge to the contemporary milestones of Candyman and They Cloned Tyrone.

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This is an on-site public program at MoAD. The event will also be livestreamed on MoAD's YouTube Channel.

Dr. Ed Guerrero is a Black cinema scholar and film historian who has written extensively about Black movies and their cultural/social consequences. His influential books, inlcuding Framing Blackness, explore Black cinema, its critical discourses and political economy. Dr. Guerrero has served on numerous editorial and professional boards, including the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. He has also taught Cinema Studies at New York University.

Dr. Artel Great is the inaugural Cultural Critic-in-Residence at MoAD and the George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in African-American Cinema Studies and Assistant Professor of Critical Studies at San Francisco State University. He is also an Independent Spirit Award-nominated filmmaker and film and media scholar who has written on Black cinema and popular culture in both mainstream and academic publications.

You can purchase a copy of Black Cinema & Visual Culture: Art and Politics in the 21st Century in MoAD's online bookstore.