Classic Black Cinema Series - Bright Road

(1953) The film, Bright Road, was based on See How They Run, a story written by Mary Elizabeth Vroman, a 4th generation schoolteacher from the British West Indies. Jane Richards (Dorothy Dandridge), a young 4th grade teacher in the South, faces a challenge in the form of 11 year-old C.T. Young, a backward boy, whose pride has made him a stubborn rebel and liar. Jane believes in him, then discovers his interest in nature when she finds him watching a caterpillar in a tree trunk as it develops a cocoon. C. T. is devoted to his family and especially to Tanya, who adores him. When Tanya dies, the embittered C.T. stays away from school and when he returns, gets into a fight and is sent to Coventry. When a swarm of bees invades the classroom and panics the students, C.T. takes charge, captures the queen bee, and leads the swarm outside, earning the school principal's praise.

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.