Jimmie Fails has one hope in life: to reclaim the majestic Victorian house his grandfather built. Every week, Jimmie and his only friend, Montgomery, make a pilgrimage across San Francisco to Jimmie’s dream home and imagine what life would be like if this neighborhood had never changed. When they realize the house’s current owners have moved out, Jimmie decides to recreate the home his family once had. As he struggles to reconnect with his family and reconstruct the community he longs for, Jimmie’s domestic aspirations blind him to reality. Director/co-writer/composer Joe Talbot makes an astonishing feature debut, transfiguring one man’s intimate despair into a timely story that questions who has a rightful claim to a city’s identity. Inspired by the real-life story of Jimmie Fails, who plays a fictionalized version of himself, The Last Black Man in San Francisco elegantly engages with a loss of cross-cultural connection as one individual seeks belonging in the new incarnation of his hometown. Winner of the Directing Award: US Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival. 2019, DCP, 120 min. —Sundance Institute
Free tickets available at the Main Lobby desk from 6 pm, while supplies last. Local release: Friday, June 14, Landmark’s Uptown Theatre.
A discussion between City Council member Jeremiah Ellison and Brittany Lewis (Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota), moderated by Euan Kerr from MPR, follows the screening.
Jeremiah Bey Ellison is the Ward 5 representative on the Minneapolis City Council. Dedicated to community voice and accountability, Ellison’s policies focus on self-determination for the Northside and include a strong focus on affordable housing. Born and raised in North Minneapolis, Ellison’s experience includes work as a visual artist, muralist, storyteller, youth counselor, and political organizer.
Brittany Lewis, PhD, is a senior research associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), where she is the principal investigator for multiple projects. Lewis is an ethnographer with expertise in urban housing, community economic development, and critical race and gender studies with a focus on issues of poverty. She utilizes her engaged action research framework to center the voices of black women and girls in her scholarship and public advocacy.
Euan Kerr (moderator) has worked at MPR News since 1985, except for a period in the early 1990s when he returned to his native Scotland to work for the BBC. At MPR he has been a reporter, a host, a producer, and an editor. He currently is a correspondent covering general interest stories and film. He also is one of the Cube Critics along with Stephanie Curtis.