Poster detail for Beyond Boundaries film series

The Beyond Boundaries Screening & Discussion Series is an annual, six-part film series organized around categories of diversity including, but not limited to race, gender, class, sexuality, and abilities, with an emphasis on intersectionality.  

Screenings create an opportunity for open dialogue on social justice issues among college students, staff, faculty and members of the greater Western New York community.

All screenings are held in the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s Tower Auditorium beginning at 7:00 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

Fall 2024 Schedule

Man in front of a voting sign

Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (2022)

February 15

Directors: Sam Pollard, Geeta Gandbhir 

We begin on February 15 with the news and documentary Emmy award-winning film, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (Sam Pollard & Geeta Gandbhir, 2022). The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represented not the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement, but the beginning of a new, crucial chapter. Nowhere was this next battle better epitomized than in Lowndes County, Alabama, a rural, impoverished town with a vicious history of racist terrorism. In a town that was 80 percent Black but had zero Black voters, laws were just paper without power. Through first-person accounts and searing archival footage, the documentary tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County.  

Watch Trailer

Collage of a woman and posters

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2023)

March 14

Directors: Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
 
We welcome Sundance Grand Jury prize winner Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Joe Brewster & Michèle Stephenson, 2023). The film pushes the boundaries of biographical documentary film to reveal the enduring influence of one of America’s greatest living artists and social commentators. The film reckons with the inevitable passing of time through a collision of memories, moments in American history, live readings, and visually innovative treatments of Giovanni’s poetry.

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Woman on a motorcycle

Esther Newton Made Me Gay (2022)

NEW DATE: Thursday, April 25, 2024
NEW LOCATION: Upton Hall 230

Reception at 6:00 p.m.; Film at 7:00 p.m.; Followed by a discussion with Esther Newton and Jean Carlomusto. 

Director: Jean Carlomusto
 
We welcome pioneering cultural anthropologist Esther Newton and filmmaker Jean Carlomusto to join us in person to screen Esther Newton Made Me Gay, 2022. The film tells the story of Newton's career, awakening to gay life in the 1950’s, the women’s liberation movement and lesbian-feminism, drag culture, and forging a butch identity, which for her is now in conversation with trans-masculinity. Keenly attuned to the cultural and societal forces that shaped her life, Esther guides us through an anthropology of herself that includes her love of dogs and the sport of competitive dog agility. 

Watch Trailer

Curation & Sponsorship

The series is curated by Communication Department faculty Ruth Goldman and Meg Knowles.   

Beyond Boundaries is sponsored by the Communication Department, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Equity and Campus Diversity Office, and the Center for Social Justice.

For more information, please contact Dr. Ruth Goldman or Professor Meg Knowles

Previously Screened

Fall 2023

Spring 2023

Fall 2022

Spring 2022

Fall 2021

Spring 2021

Fall 2020

Spring 2020 

Fall 2019

Spring 2019

Fall 2018

Spring 2018

Fall 2017

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

Spring 2016

Fall 2015

Spring 2015

Fall 2014