PREVIEW OF “SANCTUARY” A NEW FILM BY RICHARD WARE ADAMS, MARCH 09TH, 6PM, Lecture Hall Room UL104, University Center 63 Fifth Avenue, New York

The Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School, in collaboration with African Studies and the Global Studies program, hosts a preview of “Sanctuary“, by Richard Ware Adams. The 69-minute film will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, Rev. Stephen Phelps (New Sanctuary Coalition) and Mmammotsa Makhene (The New School), moderated by Miriam Ticktin (The New School).

“Sanctuary” is a personal evocation of the humanity in one remarkable space that welcomed some of the world’s many migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. It tells the story of a revolving community of the uprooted, mostly from Zimbabwe, who were given shelter by the thousands in an historic but still thriving Johannesburg church.

Richard Ware Adams began early with 8mm murder movies. He later co-edited the Oscar-winning three-screen To Be Alive!, a hit of the 1964 NY World’s Fair. While on a Fulbright in film in 1965 Poland he captured an encounter at the language barrier between American and Polish students in Exchange of Words (1967). He shot and edited the feature-length Asylum (1972) about life in R.D.Laing’s therapeutic commune in London, now a cult classic. As cameraman/editor he helped the late William Miles make his first two films, Men of Bronze (1977) and the four-hour PBS mini-series I Remember Harlem (1981), both classics of black history. Richard produced, shot, and edited Citizens (1986) on the birth of Poland’s Solidarity movement, which premiered at the New School and MoMA.

Rev. Stephen H. Phelps, ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), served as Interim Senior Minister of The Riverside Church in New York City, 2011- 2014.  He serves as co-chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition and speaks and writes on themes of social justice and the development of consciousness.  He and his wife Dr. Beth Mount live in New York City.

Mmammotsa Makhene is an Adjunct Lecturer at Hunter College, and a PhD candidate at The New School. She holds degrees from the University of Witwatersrand and The New School for Social Research, where she earned her masters in economics. Her work is at the intersection of African youth’s income inequality, race and education policy. A Soweto native, she began her career at Investec, South Africa’s leading investment bank and later, at WesBank. She is currently teaching the course “Africa and the World,” which compares Africa’s political economic relationship with the West to its Chinese relationship.

Free, and open to the public; no tickets required.

Co-sponsored by the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, African Studies, and the Global Studies Program. Supported by the New School for Social Research.

March 09th, 6pm

Lecture Hall Room UL104, University Center

63 Fifth Avenue, New York