Classic Black Cinema Series: The World, The Flesh and The Devil

The World, the Flesh and the Devil is a 1959 SCI-FI doomsday movie starring legendary actor, Harry Belafonte, at the peak of his film career. The movie is set in a post-apocalyptic world with very few human survivors - only 3. A miner (Harry Belafonte), a woman (Inger Stevens), and a bigot (Mel Ferrer) roam the city of New York, deserted after a nuclear war. This film hinges on Belafonte's intense performance. The film's screenplay is based on the 1901 novel The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel.

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.