Classic Black Cinema Series: The Well

551 South Tryon Street,Charlotte NC 28202

08 January, 2023

Description

A controversial film for 1951, The Well is an emotional, socially-conscious drama. Its theme is community cooperation, despite the fact that it stages one of the most elaborate race riots ever seen on American screens. It has a noir-like tendency toward documentary realism, filling dozens of small roles with non-actors. It sees America as a tinder box waiting to erupt into racial warfare. In April 1949, Los Angeles TV station KTLA made history with marathon location coverage of a 27-hour effort to free a small girl, Kathy Fiscus, from a narrow abandoned well-shaft in San Marino. The effort to save the young girl is a central storyline of this film. About Classic Black Cinema SeriesSpecifically 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.