Filmmaker, writer and actor Kasi Lemmons, the director of "Eve's Bayou" and "Caveman's Valentine," will speak on "Magic Realism and African-American Gothic Melodrama" on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. in Room 3-270.
Lemmons, who grew up in Newton, received critical acclaim for her feature directing debut, "Eve's Bayou," which became the highest-grossing independent film of 1997. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, the film portrays the saga of a bourgeois black family in the 1960s-era South and uses elements of magic realism and hallucinatory imagery.
When "Caveman's Valentine" opened the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, Lemmons became the first African-American woman director to make a second movie for major theatrical release in the United States. The film tells the story of a mentally ill former Juilliard music student who lives in a cave in a New York park and decides to track down the killer of a young drifter. Like "Eve's Bayou," the film stars Samuel L. Jackson and blends the literal with the surreal.
Lemmons has acted in films including "The Silence of the Lambs," "Candyman" and "Vampire's Kiss." Most recently, she directed a tribute to Sidney Poitier for the 2002 Academy Awards telecast.
While at MIT, Lemmons will meet informally with MIT students to talk about her work in the film industry.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 6, 2002.
