Santa Monica Public Library and the Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition invite you to celebrate the legacy of singer, actor, and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte with a screening of the documentary, Sing Your Song, followed by a panel discussion and Q & A on Thursday, January 11 at 5 p.m., in the Main Library’s Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium, at 601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Sing Your Song, a 2011 film from writer and director Susanne Rostock, documents Belafonte’s significant contributions to the entertainment field, the civil rights movement and to social justice globally. In her review for Cinevue, Sophia Satchell Baeza writes, “Rostock has put together a seamless and exciting film which, though it looks at the past, also explores the future of Black communities in the US through Belafonte’s outreach work. This is a fabulous documentary about a man and the times that were, and hopefully still are, a-changin”.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q & A featuring Tim Conley, cinema professor at Santa Monica College, Marq Hawkins, filmmaker and Hip-Hop historian, and Maria Belafonte, writer/director and granddaughter of Harry Belafonte, and moderated by Cassandra Chase, Director of the Equity & Justice Institute at Crossroads School.
All Library programs are free and open to the public. Parking is available underneath the Main Library, several bus lines and the Metro E line stop nearby, and there are bike racks. The MLK Auditorium is wheelchair accessible. Please call (310) 458-8600 to request additional accommodations.
Submitted by Jeff Kaplan