Screening alongside Steve James' landmark 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams, is a more recent touchstone of non-fiction film by photographer RaMell Ross that also chronicles the lives of two young men (college basketball player Daniel and new father Quincy.)

Dazzling and sun-drenched, Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) is an innovative, impressionistic portrait of contemporary life in Hale County, Alabama, chronicling a small community of people who come up against ordinary and uncommon odds. RaMell Ross’ careful and considered debut feature was filmed over five years and is constructed from fleeting, everyday moments – church services, basketball practice and family gatherings - shifting in and out of scenes, lives, homes, experiences.

Taken as a whole, the film offers an urgent and current political critique, questioning issues of representation and stereotype prevalent in images of Black America, and investigating the reproduction of blackness via film and photography.

With thanks to ICA.

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