An Evening with Kevin Jerome Everson

Join us for a special program of short films by Kevin Jerome Everson. 
Q&A to follow with the filmmaker, moderated by Prof. Franklin Cason (Art, Art History & Visual Studies) 

Presented by the Experimental Film Lab at the Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke Center for Documentary Studies, and Screen/Society

Program Description

Three Quarters features two magicians in Philadelphia practicing their sleight of hand tricks. (Kevin Jerome Everson, US, 2015, 4:37, 16mm transferred to digital, b&w, silent)

In the Winter of 1963 edition of the 6th volume of the magazine The New Morality, William Demby (1922-2013) published a rare theatrical text that was not produced.  The Angel in the Death Cell is a sobering and nuanced refection of the death penalty and the incarceration of Black youth. It relies upon the musical influences of jazz improvisation, dance-based movement, surrealist like readings and the formal elements of Greco-Roman theater to tell the tale of a young Johnny who, while awaiting his death at the hands of the state, is visited by an angel. (Kevin Jerome Everson, US/Italy, 2026, 21:45, Italian language with English subtitles, color)

Boyd v. Denton is the name of the landmark case that closed the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield Ohio in 1990. (Kevin Jerome Everson, US, 2024, 2:45, b&w, no dialogue)

Eason is part of the one-hundred anniversary of the great Black migration in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, is loosely based on the life of James Walker Hood Eason (1886-1923) a long-time member of the UNIA of Philadelphia (Kevin Jerome Everson, US, 2016, 15:00, color)

Tunk has William Wanky Everson placing bets on his hand, color pair and high spade. (Kevin Jerome Everson, US, 2024, 3:11, color, silent)

West Lounge is about an unfortunate event in Columbus, Mississippi told by an unreliable narrator. (Kevin Jerome Everson, US, 2023, 5:16, color)

Traveling Shoes is based on the hit record by the Ohio based gospel group, The Brown Singers. (Kevin Jerome Everson, US, 2019, 7:00, b&w) 

Kevin Jerome Everson (b. 1965 Mansfield, OH, lives and works in Charlottesville, VA) is the Commonwealth and Ruffin Foundation Distinguished Professor of Studio Art and Director of Studio Arts at University of Virginia. Everson's art practice encompasses printmaking, sculpture, photography and film, including 13 features and over 300 solo & collaborative shorts. He is the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Berlin Prize, Heinz Award, Alpert Award, & Rome Prize, & grants and commissions from Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation & Creative Capital among others.

Related Event: 
Sunday, April 12, 2026 6:00pm

Screening of Tonsler Park (Kevin Jerome Everson, 2017)

Northstar Church of the Arts (220 W Geer Street, Durham NC)

Tonsler Park films four different polling stations in Charlottesville, Virginia over the course of Election Day in the United States, November 8th, 2016 - one of them being Tonsler Park, an African-American neighborhood that was named after Benjamin Tonsler, a local black school director who continued to teach African-American pupils during segregation.

[PDF flyer] [Facebook Event]

Screen/Society screenings are free and open to the public.

Parking Info:  https://artscenter.duke.edu/parking

COVID-19 Info: https://cinematicarts.duke.edu/covid-19-information