The INseparable film tour, which features mini-documentaries that examine rural life in Indiana, will be screened at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in the Moving Image Archives Screening Room in Wells Library.
The 10-city film tour will make its third stop in Bloomington before continuing to other cities in Indiana. The tour includes documentaries, made by five Midwestern filmmakers, which highlight the ways that different socioeconomic and racial groups interact with each other across rural and urban demographics.
The films are funded by Indiana Humanities, a nonprofit that promotes humanities initiatives with the hope of sparking conversation about diversity throughout the state. The organization has partnered with the Indiana Remixed festival, a semester-long initiative celebrating arts and creativity specific to Indiana.
Identity and community are at the forefront of these films, according to the Indiana Humanities website. In “From Sundown to Sunrise," filmmakers Pat Wisinewski and Tom Desch examine the arrival of the first African American family in Valparaiso in 1969. Their arrival broke racial boundaries and directed the town toward inclusion.
“It changed the whole trajectory of ambition for the family, and the characterization of the town,” Wisniewski said in a press release from Indiana Humanities.
Other featured films will take a look at rural journalism in Wayne County, the discontinuation of arts education in Gary, a married couple who start a composting business in southern Indiana and the experienced of mixed-race families in various rural and suburban communities.
Leah Nahmias, director of programs and community initiatives at Indiana Humanities, said film is a particularly effective way to depict what it means to live in Indiana today because people can connect strongly to watching their own experiences.
“We as Hoosiers don’t always see our own experiences reflected back to us on screen,” Nahmias said.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect that the INseperable screening is sold out. Unclaimed seats will be given to those waiting in line at 6:55 p.m. on a first-come first-serve basis.
