Chapel Hill Public Library celebrates MLK Jr. Day with film screening

On Thursday night, the Chapel Hill Public Library held a free showing of the movie “Selma” as part of its four-part Black Cinema Film Series. 

In time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Robyn McGlotten, a library experiences assistant, wanted to facilitate a shared event for the Orange County community to partake in the library's resources and to highlight the importance of Black history and cinema. 

Thursday night was the first night of the series. “Selma” is a story not only about Martin Luther King Jr. and his efforts in the Jim Crow South to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but a love story — a union between Black History Month and the month of love, McGlotten said. In March, the library will show “Hidden Figures” to coincide with Women's History Month. 

Marjorie Scheer attended the screening with her friend Rhea Colmar and partner Mahimino Vargas after Colmar saw a post on the library's Instagram page. The free film showings are great opportunities for those interested in learning more about Black history, Scheer said.

“I feel like honoring Martin Luther King and being in solidarity with his vision is more important than ever,” she said. 

The film series is just one initiative that McGlotten and the rest of the library staff are planning for and around Black History Month. 

“I'm hoping that the wider Chapel Hill community will be enthused about learning about the diversity of our community, learning more about their neighbors and their stories and how the stories of their neighbors impact their own stories,” McGlotten said. “And then also how the diverse community of Chapel Hill and Carrboro can see themselves reflected in those stories.” 

A major initiative for the library is getting the word out to the community. Hannah Kanwischer, the library's marketing and communications coordinator, creates compelling graphics to inform people about the library's upcoming events.

Libraries are valuable spaces for facilitating community, Kanwischer said, but they can only be valuable when people know about the stories and events available to them.

“There's been a lot of discussion about the loneliness epidemic and people looking for community,” Kanwischer said. “And we're really trying to be that third space as a library where people can see themselves represented and can join in community. A lot of people think, ‘Just watch a movie at home,’ but watching a movie with your community for free at the library with free popcorn, I think it's really valuable.”

A considerable part of the motivation of the film series is serving not just the kids of the community but also the adults. 

“A lot of libraries kind of put adult programming and focus on adults to the wayside,” Kanwischer said. “So that's something that we've really delved into more this year. And films are something that we've heard that adults want.”

McGlotten said that the library provides both literature and film, both working together to tell stories across time — especially since many films based off of literature transform the material based on the time period the film is made in and the filmmaker's vision. In this way, films can be a valuable way of analyzing and understanding Black history. As a supplement to this series, book displays and book lists pertaining to Black history and cinema will also be available. 

“That's part of the immense value of a public library is infusing the community with an excitement about not just reading a physical book, but learning and sharing stories,” McGlotten said. “And so, making those stories available and accessible to people and letting them know that those stories are here within their reach is kind of my motivation for wanting to have this program here at the library.”

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