Birth of an Answer

Birth of an Answer celebrated 100 years of African American creative and critical responses to D.W. Griffith's film, Birth of a Nation (1915). The evening featured a screening of African American pioneer filmmaker Oscar Micheaux's silent classic, Within Our Gates (1919), accompanied by a live performance of a contemporary film score composed by Dr. Adolphus Hailstork that placed past and present in conversation with one another. The score was performed by The Harlem Quartet and guests and by the I. Sherman Greene Chorale under the direction of conductor Michael Morgan.

The event also featured the world premiere of the short fiction film Our Nation (2015), produced by the Old Dominion University Film Program, directed by Derrick Borte, written by David P. Mallin, produced by Monty Ross, and starring Connor Berry, Marsha Stephanie Blake and Derrick Baskin. Our Nation tells the story of the Norfolk response to Birth of a Nation in 1915 through the eyes of Douglas, a young African American boy and budding cinephile.

The Attucks performance concluded with an open conversation with filmmakers Melvin Van Peebles, Zeinabu Irene Davis, Tim Reid, and Michael Swanson, moderated by film critic Mike Sargent.

Early birds also got to check out an exhibit of African American film posters and hear the I. Sherman Green Chorale perform spirituals in the lobby to the Attucks Theatre.

NOTABLES: 622 attendees. Birth of an Answer was made possible through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts; gifts from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation's Lewis Family Fund and ODU's Town-n-Gown; support from Old Dominion University's Department of Communication and Theatre Arts, the President's Lecture Series, the Film Festival Fund, and the F. Ludwig Diehn Concert Series Fund. Birth of an Answer was co-sponsored with the City of Norfolk, the Crispus Attucks Cultural Center, the Norfolk Chamber Consort, the Virginia Arts Festival, and WHRO Public Media. Birth of an Answer earned the Institute for the Humanities the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award from the Urban League of Hampton Roads as well as a Distinguished Merit Citation from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. To learn more about Birth of an Answer, please visit http://www.boaaevent.org. Check out a review of the event here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arts-conversations/id293233634?mt=2