Free Owsley Sunday Film: The Learning Tree

Directed by Gordon Parks

Sunday, May 28, 12:30 pm

Free. First come, first served.

“Rich, distanced, cool and sophisticated.”—Roger Greenspun, New York Times

The first Hollywood studio film from an African American director, this semi-autobiographical work was the debut feature of photographer, musician, and filmmaker Gordon Parks. The film follows the coming-of-age of Newt Winger, an African American teenager living in rural Kansas in the late 1920s, who is forced into maturity by the violence and vitriol surrounding him.

Based upon Parks’s upbringing in Kansas while Jim Crow laws and racial violence were thriving, the film was a turning point in the cinema of the African American community. Praised for its stunning cinematography and political insight, The Learning Tree remains a crucial work of art to this day. 1969, U.S., video, 107 minutes. Recommended for 10+.

Screened in conjunction with Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art, which includes photography by Gordon Parks.