Join us every first Wednesday of each month as we bring back several award-winning films from Hi5 plus some must-see gems that have not yet been screened. Brought to you by the Harlem International Film Festival.

Box office open for advance ticket purchases Mon-Fri 12-6 & from 1 hour before until the end of all events. During these hours, knock on the window if door is locked.

Does Sex Ruin Lives?
Dir. Casey McDaniel, 2010, 87 min.
Taking a bite of the forbidden fruit can be a decision filled with excitement and can come with painful consequences. Join Diann on her journey to discover the truth about sex and the impact it has on so many people's lives as she shares her own experiences; the good, the bad, and the ugly. This Documentary attempts to uncover how even a brief encounter can have such a lasting impact on the way people go about living their everyday lives. Whether it is an open topic of discussion or a hushed-up politically incorrect conversation, SEX has its uncontested place in the mind of every living being on earth.

Does Sex Ruin Lives? is the question posed to random people. What everyday people walking down the street have been through proves to be extremely entertaining and enlightening. You never know by looking at a person what they have experienced sexually. Something that we all share is a sexual drive and the potential to have an average of 2,000 sexual encounters in our lifetime. Sex has been the root of scandal, the spark to lasting relationships, and a source of entertainment. It ignites heated discussions around Disease, Abortion, Molestation, Rape, Divorce, Virginity, Love and so much more. So watch, explore, and discover more about Sex! The Unspoken Birds and Bees.

Q&A with the director's cousins, Reem Khamis-Dakwar and Nancy Leigh, to follow screening.

ONE NIGHT ONLY
FORMER U.S. POLITICAL PRISONER TELLS HER SIDE OF THE STORY

Freeing Silvia Baraldini
Dir. Margo Pelletier & Lisa Thomas, 2010, 102 min.
Freeing Silvia Baraldini, comes back to Harlem for a special screening dedicated to Geronimo ji-Jaga (Geronimo Pratt) who passed away on June 2nd. Winner of the Best Documentary at the 2010 Harlem International Film Festival, the film tells the captivating story of Silvia Baraldini, an anti-war, anti-racist activist who was arrested in 1982 and sentenced to 43 years in prison, in part for her participation in helping to free Black Panther, Assata Shakur, from prison. Freeing Silvia Baraldini revisits the decisive events, political and personal, that forged the young, Italian immigrant into an American radical.
   In the 1980’s when hundreds of politically-minded people folded back into the comforts of American society, Silvia deepened her commitment to revolutionary struggle. She became the National leader of the May 19th Communist Organization, a radical group of White North Americans and a key element in a fragile alliance of revolutionaries, Black, White and Puerto Rican, who united to fight for what they viewed as a true equality and justice for all. Silvia has been described as everything from an international terrorist to a modern-day Rosa Luxembourg; her legacy embodies the enduring human spirit within the international resistance movements.

Q&A with the filmmakers, Margo Pelletier and Lisa Thomas to follow screening.

9 LIVES: 20 Year Anniversary
With the upcoming twenty-year anniversary of the City College 9 and in light of the recent loss of Heavy D, the Harlem International Film Festival presents Jason Swain's 9 Lives for the final Hi Wednesdays screening of 2011.

With the untimely passing of Heavy D, we extend our condolences to his loved ones as we commemorate the 20 year anniversary of a tragic night involving the rap artist (early in his career) that took the precious young lives of nine of the city's loved ones. Please join us for this special memorial screening of 9 Lives, Jason Swain's tribute to the nine victims including his brother Dirk, who he lost that fateful night, changing the course of Jason's life forever. The director will join us for a discussion after the screening.

In December 1991, Heavy D and Puff Daddy unravels the moments in the countdown to disaster and the circumstances that needlessly took nine youngsters from their loved ones. With Rodney King's video-taped brutal beating making headlines in the Spring of 1991 and the Crown Heights riot spinning New York City into turmoil that August, this examination of the City College 9 disaster seeks peaceful reconciliation, artfully avoiding finger-pointing to let us witness first-hand how institutionalized prejudices combined to allow something as simple as a charity basketball game in Harlem to spiral out of control.

Out of the devastating melee of lives lost a seed of hope emerged through the formation of the Dirk Swain Foundation to forever remember and combat the senselessness of December 28, 1991.