At this Friday Films, March 4, 2011, VMFA will present film director Tim Reid with his guest Richard Roundtree showing Reid’s 1996 motion picture directorial debut, Once Upon a Time…When We Were Colored, in which Roundtree plays the sturdy ice man, Cleve. Afterwards they will be joined by Tim’s lovely wife, actress Daphne Maxwell Reid, to give insight and Q&A about the movie.
Once Upon a Time…When We Were Colored is a beautiful and evocative depiction of a 1940s-1950s African American community in Mississippi. The complex weaving of several characters stories together with elegance and warmth elevates this movie to a truly rewarding experience for all.
Most any sharp student of pop culture knows who Richard Roundtree is but, in case you missed the bus, he had the dream role in the hippest movie of 1970, SHAFT. The Gordon Parks directed film has come down the ages as a fixture in Americana. Roundtree was chosen to play John Shaft because he was perfect for the hippest, coolest, baddest private eye in Manhattan comparable to Sean Connery’s absolute quintessential James Bond portrayal. The equally legendary Isaac Hayes won the Oscar that year for the theme music.
Join us for a once in a lifetime night! http://www.vmfa.museum/FridayFilms/
– Trent Nicholas, VMFA Coordinator of Statewide Media Resources
photo. Tim Reid (Millennium Studios, 2011).