Explore the accomplishments of Gordon Parks in the art of the moving image! Three major films directed by Parks will be shown over the course of this two-day event. This festival is inspired by Gordon Parks: Back to Fort Scott.
Rated PG This poignant story was adapted by Gordon Parks from his own semi-autobiographical novel. Set in a small town in 1920s Kansas, the film relates the overwhelming events that force a black teenager into sudden manhood. The Learning Tree was the first major Hollywood studio movie directed by an African American and was among the first 25 films to be preserved by the U.S. Library of Congress in the National Film Registry. Following the film, Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, VMFA Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, will conduct a short gallery tour of Gordon Parks: Back to Fort Scott. Dir. Gordon Parks Rated PG Double Feature: Admission to Leadbelly also covers admission to Shaft. Present your ticket at the theater entrance. Dir. Gordon Parks Rated R The success of this taut urban action movie launched an entire film genre, affectionately known as “Blaxploitation,” and is one of the best of the bunch. Richard Roundtree plays a charismatic antihero who’s as handy with his fists as he is with the ladies. By casting a black actor as a typically gritty, conventional crime film lead, Parks made Shaft especially revolutionary and influential. Film director/actor Tim Reid will introduce the film and speak afterwards. Double Feature: Admission to Leadbelly also covers admission to Shaft. Present your ticket at the theater entrance. 
The Learning Tree
(1969; 107 min)
Dir. Gordon Parks
Thu, Oct 13, 6:30–9 pm
Leslie Cheek Theater
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Image: Warner Bros. Studios
Leadbelly
(1976; 126 min)
Fri, Oct 14, 1–3:30 pm
Leslie Cheek Theater
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Image: Swank Motion Pictures
Shaft
(1971; 100 min)
Fri, Oct 14, 6:30–9 pm
Leslie Cheek Theater
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Image: Warner Bros. Studios