Tonsler Park (Kevin Jerome Everson, 2017) + Q&A with the filmmaker [off-campus screening]

Join us for a special community screening at NorthStar Church of the Arts:

Tonsler Park
(Kevin Jerome Everson, 2017, 80 min, USA, B&W, 16mm transferred to digital)

-- Introduced by Prof. Elizabeth Webb (Duke Center for Documentary Studies); Q&A to follow with director Kevin Jerome Everson, moderated by Prof. Zakiyyah Jackson (Literature)

"November 8, 2016. Charlottesville, Virginia. At voting precincts around the city, everyday citizens exercise their right to vote. Filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson sets his camera in the center of these spaces, observing the civic process as it unfolds. Shot on 16mm black-and-white film, Tonsler Park immerses us in the routine operations and casual exchanges between participants. Focusing on mostly Black civil servants, we see workers at tables check voters in and share simple instructions. Constituents come and go. Sound originates from sources around the room, but the camera stays still, meditating on the people before it—even as other figures cross in front of the lens, the camera’s tight focus remains. This tirelessly observed and accumulative portrait encourages reflection as it documents in detail what would ultimately be a historic day for the United States, moving us to consider the democratic process, who it serves and who it marginalizes." - Sadie Tillery, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

"Art can be at its most powerful when a modest idea comes to signify a seismic shift, while retaining the integrity of its original intention. Tonsler Park ... is a film about the day that Donald Trump was unexpectedly elected as US President. It was shot in four different polling stations in Charlottesville, Virginia, one of them being Tonsler Park, an African-American neighbourhood that was named after Benjamin Tonsler, a local black school director who continued to teach African-American pupils during segregation. The film opens with the mainly African-American public officials swearing the oath of allegiance, part of their duty being 'to prevent fraud, deceit and abuse'. Importantly, the film puts African-American people to the fore in a democratic process that has systematically sought to exclude them." 
- Helen de Witt, Sight and Sound

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: 
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 7:00pm

An Evening with Kevin Jerome Everson

Join us for a special program of short films by Kevin Jerome Everson, curated by the filmmaker, with Q&A to follow.

Rubenstein Arts Center (2020 Campus Drive, Durham NC 27708)

[PDF flyer] [Facebook Event]

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

Made possible by support from the Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Foundation.