Museum of the Moving Image Announces Upcoming Guest Speakers: Ruby Dee, Ben Vereen and More

Museum of the Moving Image has announced two special programs in Changing the Picture, an ongoing series of screenings and discussions sponsored by Time Warner, Inc. The series celebrates and explores the work of film and television artists of color who are bringing diverse voices to the screen. On Monday, January 21, at 4:00 p.m., for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday, the Museum will present "Tongues Untied, True Tales Told" featuring the legendary Ruby Dee, S. Epatha Merkerson (currently featured in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln), and Barbara Montgomery (who will screen excerpts from her new film Mitote), in a "town hall" discussion about the past, present, and future of African-American women in film and television.

On Monday, February 4, at 7:00 p.m. the Museum, in collaboration with the PBS series Pioneers of Television, will present "Making Roots, Making TV History," a discussion with Ben Vereen, Lou Gossett, Jr., LeVar Burton, and Leslie Uggams, stars of the landmark television miniseries. The discussion will be moderated by Donald Thoms, Vice President of Programming for PBS. Roots, the most groundbreaking miniseries of all time, was aired on BET just last month, in December 2012, and was seen by more than four million people, a record for a cable showing of the series.

"It has been a long, slow process for the American film and television industries to bring genuine diversity to their storytelling," said the Museum's Chief Curator, David Schwartz. "Changing the Picture celebrates the pioneering work of the directors, writers, and actors of color who have brought new stories to the screen."