Hooray! It’s a regeneration summit! Not really sure what that is, but we’ll all find out soon enough February 3-5, at the onset of Black History Month, when The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’s Regeneration Summit: A Celebration of Black Cinema, kicks off a three-day event with the grand mission of exploring the history of Black participation in American film history and culture. A plethora of stuff-to-do includes live entertainment, workshops, screenings, panel discussions, and food vendors, programmed in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898– 1971.
No such exploration would be complete without the presence of music and dance, both fields of unequivocal Black excellence and innovation for more than a century. A delicious event honors a trio of great dancers of the movies, Cab Calloway, and The Nicholas Brothers, Harold and Fayard.
Living the Legacy
9:15pm | Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby
The grandson of Cab Calloway, Joshua Langsam, and granddaughters of Fayard Nicholas, Cathie and Nicole Nicholas, join forces with musical accompaniment powered by multi-Grammy-award winning songwriter and record producer James Fauntleroy for a historic live performance honoring Cabell “Cab” Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers.
Another live event will spool “soundies,” early music videos.
Soundies 101: A Hidden History
1pm | Ted Mann Theater, LL1
Before music videos and the internet became the video platforms for musical artists, music lovers of the 1940s would drop a dime into a machine and enjoy what are known as “Soundies”—short films featuring song and dance numbers. This cinematic genre expanded opportunities for iconic Black performers such as Duke Ellington, Dorothy Dandridge, Cab Calloway, and many others. Featured conversation will include film historian Susan Delson, world-renowned jazz film archivist Mark Cantor, Academy Museum curatorial research assistant Manouchka Labouba, moderated by the Academy Museum’s Vice President of Curatorial Affairs Doris Berger.
Regeneration Summit: A Celebration of Black Cinema | Academy Film Museum | Feb 3 – 5