HOT IRONS

For the fourth film presented in partnership with the DeLUXE Theater, join us for a screening of Hot Irons (1999), directed by Andrew Dosunmu. In Detroit, hair styling isn't just a matter of personal grooming, it's a way of life, and Andrew Dosunmu's documentary Hot Irons offers an inside glimpse at Motor City hair salons that turn the tresses of their African-American clientele into remarkable works of art. Dosunmu takes his cameras to Detroit's annual "Hair Wars" competition, in which stylists compete to see who can create the wildest and most outrageous hairdo. Offering a stark contrast between the unique aesthetic of the stylists and the grinding poverty of inner city Detroit, which never fully recovered from the 1968 riots, Hot Irons shows how events like "Hair Wars" brings a sense of art and purpose to a community where both are often lacking. KATRINA BABIES details the close-knit families and vibrant communities of New Orleans whose lives were uprooted by the 2005 disaster. Buckles raises his camera to elevate the voices of his city; utilizing confessional-style footage, home movies, animation, harrowing archival footage and candid interviews with Katrina survivors, Buckles unearths a reservoir of grief and suppressed emotion. Through these moving, first-hand accounts, KATRINA BABIES journeys toward healing, not just from the most destructive storm in U.S. history, but also from the multi-generational traumas of being black and disenfranchised in America. In the face of systemic racism, government neglect, and the unprocessed pain of family separations, the children of Katrina are left to chart their own path toward healing. The screening will be followed by a multigenerational conversation between pioneering local hairstylists.