'Strange Fruit' (Joel Katz, 2002, 57 min.) 'Strange Fruit' explores the history and legacy of a song unique in the annals of American music. Best-known from Billie Holiday's haunting 1939 rendition, the song "Strange Fruit" is a harrowing portrayal of the lynching of a black man in the American South. The film tells a dramatic story of America's past by using one of the most influential protest songs ever written as its epicenter. The saga brings us face-to-face with the terror of lynching as it spotlights the courage and heroism of those who fought for racial justice when to do so was to risk ostracism and livelihood if white - and death if black. It examines the history of lynching, and the interplay of race, labor, the Left and popular culture that would give rise to the civil rights movement.
Part of the Maysles Cinema series Doc Watchers, a Harlem, community-based documentary film screening club and series. Curated by Hellura Lyle, Maysles Cinema's very first screening partner. The first Monday of every month at 7pm.
Discussion
Location
Maysles Cinema (View)
343 Lenox Ave.
New York, NY 10027
United States
