Advancing the role of the arts in sparking meaningful dialogue about contemporary issues, this fall’s “Director’s Dialogue” features the powerful and timely documentary Cincinnati Goddamn. Supported by our Film/Video Studio Program, the film captures the personal trauma and civic unrest that followed the deaths of 15 African American men at the hands of Cincinnati police from 1995 to 2001. The screening will be followed by a compelling discussion with filmmakers April Martin and the Wexner Center’s own Paul Hill.

Told through news reports, first-person accounts, and cinema verité footage, Cincinnati Goddamn focuses on the killings of Roger Owensby, Jr. and Timothy Thomas, the protests and riots that followed their deaths, and the efforts to reform the Cincinnati Police Department in response. The film lays bare the emotional toll that the deaths took on their families as they struggled to achieve justice for their sons. Interviews with activists, city leaders, and Department of Justice officials also trace the development of the historic model of reform known as the “Collaborative Agreement,” which is now widely used in police departments throughout the United States and has been frequently mentioned in the media following recent events in Ferguson, New York, and Baltimore.

Martin is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and photographer who has participated in multiple programs at the Wexner Center. Hill joined the Wexner Center for the Arts Film/Video Studio Program in 1996 as an editor, working on hundreds of projects, while also making his own documentaries.

Free.

Contact: 614-292-3535