'On the Screen' Presents Two Films at LTV Studios

“On the Screen” at LTV Studios will screen “I Am Not OK” and “Leveling Lincoln” on Friday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. Presented by “Women Rising: Stories of Strength and Change,” a film series curated by filmmaker and chair of the Brooklyn College Film Department Annette Danto, the program celebrates the resilience, courage and unwavering determination of women both in front of and behind the camera. The series celebrates the artistry of storytelling through documentaries, exclusive premieres and a rich tapestry of offerings by local filmmakers.

In “I Am Not OK,” directed and edited by Gabrielle Lansner, a mother and son respond to the unending killings of Black Americans amid the backdrop of the protests that followed the death of George Floyd. Dance and archival photographs are woven together to evoke fear, outrage, anger and the need for communities to come together and find solutions. Narration for the film is written and spoken by Tiffiney Davis, the executive director of the Red Hook Art Project in Brooklyn. The film stars Pat Hall and Dahsir Hausif and has screened extensively at festivals around the world, winning Best Experimental Film at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival in New York City and Best Cinedance at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival in Minnesota.

“Leveling Lincoln” is a 2024 Daytime Emmy Award-winning film directed and produced by Arden Teresa Lewis that explores the history behind the landmark 1961 desegregation case of Taylor vs. Board of Education of New Rochelle, where an entire elementary school had to be torn down to achieve a level playing field in education.

The case, the first of its kind in the North (seven years after Brown vs. The Board of Education), was praised on the floor of the United States Senate as an example of successful integration by peaceful protest, discourse and jurisprudence. In its wake, New Rochelle leveled the school. A new school was never built and the vacuum created in the Lincoln Avenue community remains today.

In contrast to the Ruby Bridges or the Linda Brown stories in the South, the New Rochelle case had hundreds of children bussed to schools without calling out the National Guard, all because a group of dedicated parents took action. They knew their children were being given an inferior education in a city that prided itself on its diverse school population. Intended and unintended consequences spill out in every interview as they reflect upon their own children and grandchildren and worry for their future.

Arden Teresa Lewis has performed, directed and produced on both coasts and a few states in between. She has raised two children in Los Angeles and taught in LAUSD for the past 19 years. She and her husband, Charlie Mount, have made a partnership in the arts for over 30 years.

Tickets are $10 in advance at ltveh.org with VIP café seating $35 including reserved front row seating and a drink ticket. Tickets are $15 at the door (student tickets are $5 with a valid ID). LTV Studios is at 75 Industrial Road in Wainscott.