CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education is teaming up with the Alamo Drafthouse for the Blaxploitation Film Festival where they will be airing films with primarily black casts, writers and directors.
Blaxploitation films emerged in the midst of the Civil Rights era in the 1970's. You might recognize films like "Shaft" or "Jackie Brown," as well as recent ones like "Black Panther."
“To me it’s described as if, you know, it’s become harder, still hard for African-Americans to participate in films, to be cast in films and things of that nature. So, that’s why we want to celebrate at this point in time is when they actually took a hold and took their destiny in their own hands to make sure that these films happened," said Simone Sanders, president of TABPHE Corpus Christi.
The festival will kick off at Alamo Drafthouse in Corpus Christi on Monday Jan. 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A social hour will start at 3:00 p.m. with the movie Shaft at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $25 and include an appetizer, drink and popcorn.
A film will air every Saturday at 5:00 p.m. from January till the end of February through Black History Month.
To buy tickets, you can click here.
