Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.
Portal
U.S., 2022
Rodney Evans’ Portal is a visual essay capturing how Evans and friend Homay King navigate lives reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Favoring human connection over isolation, the short pairs quiet images of rest — lying in bed, sleeping on a couch — with scenes of outdoor movement. Poetry, prose and intimate audio recordings from Evans and King narrate the radical changes of 2020, creating a resonant time capsule. Through its meditative visuals and lyrical storytelling, Portal invites viewers to simultaneously process their own pandemic experiences, offering a contemplative space to reflect on resilience, the power of community, and the shared impact of an extraordinary year.—Public Programmer Beandrea July
DCP, color, 12 min. Director: Rodney Evans. Screenwriters: Rodney Evans, Homay King.
Brother to Brother
U.S., 2004
Rodney Evans’ feature debut stands firmly on the shoulders of the 1990s Queer New Wave in its unflinching portrayal of Black queer characters. Winner of the 2004 Sundance Jury Prize, it helped launch Anthony Mackie’s career and featured early roles for Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Lance Reddick. Mackie plays Perry, an art student grappling with homophobia and fetishization whose friendship with Bruce Nugent, a Black gay Harlem Renaissance artist and poet, inspires confidence and pride. Over 20 years later, Evans’ moving tribute to intergenerational black queer artistry stands up as a classic in modern American independent cinema.—Public Programmer Beandrea July
35mm, color, 90 min. Director/Screenwriter: Rodney Evans. With: Anthony Mackie, Roger Robinson, Ray Ford, Aunjanue Ellis.
Support for the screening is provided by the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation Queer Screening Endowment and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation.