Silent film WITHIN OUR GATES to be screened on February 17, 2017 at UAlbany

African American director Oscar Micheaux's response to D. W. Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION

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Still from WITHIN OUR GATES, directed by Oscar Micheaux

ALBANY, NY (01/26/2017)(readMedia)-- WITHIN OUR GATES (United States, 1920, 79 minutes, b/w, silent, directed by Oscar Micheaux) will be shown on Friday, February 17, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute as part of its Classic Film Series, the screening is free and open to the public.

This film is pioneering African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux's response to D. W. Griffith's 1915 racist film THE BIRTH OF A NATION, and the earliest surviving feature by an African-American director. An educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths. The New Yorker's Richard Brody said, "Micheaux's narrative manner is as daring as his subject matter, with bold flashbacks and interpolations amplifying the story."

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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