A screening and discussion of the PBS documentary American Promise, about two African American children from Brooklyn who attend one of the nation’s most elite private schools in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, is scheduled for Thursday, March 20 at 4 p.m. in Memorial Lounge, Waterman. 

The Sundance Festival award-winning film, presented by Vermont Public Television in partnership with the University of Vermont, chronicles the divergent paths of Idris Brewster and Seun Summers as they make their way through the predominantly white Dalton School, whose alumni include the likes of Anderson Cooper, Chevy Chase and Claire Danes. Most of the footage was taken by their middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn and represents some complicated truths about America’s struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportunity.

A discussion following the film, a production of PBS’ long-running POV television series featuring independent nonfiction films, will be moderated by Fayneese Miller, dean of the College of Education and Social Services (CESS). Panelists include Cindy Gerstl-Pepin, associate dean in CESS; Nicholas Negrete, assistant dean of students; and Leon Walls, assistant professor in CESS.

American Promise won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and is a co-production of Rada Film Group, ITVS and POV’s Diverse Voices Project, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The film is free and open to the public.

Information: 656-9605.

PUBLISHED

03-18-2014
Jon Reidel
Watch the film's trailer.