Classic Black Cinema Series: Anna Lucasta

(1958) Anna Lucasta is an illuminating and provocative drama. Sultry siren Eartha Kitt (St. Louis Blues) is a lascivious lady of the night, and cool cat Sammy Davis Jr. displays appeal and power in this torrid tale of love and greed. When wild child Anna Lucasta (Kitt) is thrown out of the house by her self-righteous father, she falls into the life of prostitution and into the arms of street-wise sailor Danny Johnson (Davis). After Anna shocks them all by finally finding true love with a well-heeled young suitor, her unforgiving father sets a vengeful plan in motion to remind his daughter of her sordid past and to destroy her future forever.

Specifically designed as a vehicle to expose the community to the vast artistic value black film has had throughout the years, the goal of the film series is to appeal to as diverse a population as possible and further the appreciation of Black cinema.

Curator and host, Felix Curtis, came to Charlotte from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area where he curated The San Francisco Black Film Festival and Black Filmworks, the annual film festival component of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, where he later served as Executive Director.