BAM Presents an Exclusive NY Run of Horace Jenkins' CANE RIVER
By: Kaitlin Milligan
From Friday, February 7 through Thursday, February 20, BAM presents an exclusive New York run of a new 4K restoration of Horace Jenkins' romantic drama of race, family, history, and colorism, Cane River (1982). Stars Richard Romain and Tommye Myrick and Jenkins' son, filmmaker/journalist Sacha Jenkins, will appear in person for post-film Q&As Friday, February 7 at 7pm, Saturday, February 8 at 4:30pm and 7pm, and Sunday, February 9 at 2pm.
A nearly-lost gem of Black independent cinema shot in Natchitoches Parish (a historically "free community of color" in Louisiana) with an entirely African-American cast and crew, Cane River is a simultaneously frothy and socially incisive romance-cum-family melodrama. It follows Peter (Romain), a brash former football player and aspiring writer, as he returns to his hometown in rural Louisiana and strikes up a relationship with the spirited Maria (Myrick), despite the disapproval of her family. Infused with poetic feeling for the local flavor of its setting, this luminous Black pastoral explores thorny issues of colorism, the legacy of slavery, and African-American land loss with a deft, deceptively light touch. Jenkins was already an Emmy-winning television director and producer when he made his first feature film, Cane River. Despite financing from wealthy patrons, a gala debut in New Orleans, and even distribution interest from Richard Pryor, the film appeared to be lost to time due to Jenkins' untimely death at age 42, just months after the movie's completion. After decades, the film's original negative was acquired by the Academy Film Archive from the DuArt Film & Video Vault in 2013, and the film was painstakingly remastered by IndieCollect with Oscilloscope Laboratories spearheading the release. BAM is proud to present the first-ever run of Jenkins' rediscovered treasure.
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