Focus on Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden

A graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, San Francisco-born Moselle’s feature debut, The Wolfpack, was among the most revelatory nonfiction films of the 2010s, the story of six homeschooled cinephile brothers who, during years shut away from the outside world, had created one of their own in a four-bedroom Lower East Side apartment. Chance encounters, like that which led to her meeting The Wolfpack’s subjects, have continued to constitute a crucial part of Moselle’s docufiction practice, which has produced Skate Kitchen, a winningly laid-back slice-of-life narrative featuring members of the titular all-female skateboarding collective, and now, The Black Sea. Co-directed by Moselle and the film’s star, Derrick B. Harden, an accomplished musician and artist, The Black Sea is a charming, entirely improvised fish-out-of-water comedy whose release by Metrograph Pictures—and weekend engagement at the cinema—accompanies this series. Alongside Moselle’s work, Harden has curated a special screening of Melvin Van Peebles’s 1971 Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, a key influence on his artistic achievements.