It’s not often you leave a vampire movie feeling smarter but that’s exactly what happened at the “Sinners and Its Wild Ride through Black History” event Thursday night at The Woodland. Presented by the Maplewood Film Society and the Maplewood – Division of Arts & Culture, over 300 people turned out to watch Ryan Coogler’s modern day masterpiece, Sinners, and hear Princeton’s Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the inaugural Professor of African American Studies and Public Affairs, in a conversation led by Trenesa Stanford-Danuser, chief communications officer and chief of staff at Catalyst.
Photo by Chad Hunt.
Sinners (currently nominated for a record-breaking 16 Academy Awards) tells the story of two twin brothers trying to leave their troubled past behind. They return to their hometown only to find a greater evil waiting for them. Set around a 1930 juke joint in a barn, the film seamlessly weaves from a joyful celebration of Black music to a genre-defying vampire battle.
Though the film was long, everyone stayed in their seats for the privilege of hearing Muhammad’s deeply researched insights that wove from the history of the blues to the economics of cotton sharecroppers to the symbolism of vampires as the promise of a unified culture.
Trenesa Danuser in conversation with Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad. Photo by Chad Hunt.
For all in attendance, one thing was clear: From the film’s many jump scares to its euphoric, sweeping musical scenes, Sinners is a film better enjoyed with a crowd. “Thank you so much for coming out tonight to experience this movie all together,” said Muhammad before the talk began.
Trenesa Danuser. Photo by Chad Hunt.
When asked what he felt was the message at the film’s core, Muhammad explained “it serves as context for what we talk about today as Black joy. Even in the midst of terrible suffering and oppression, Black people in those days, in those moments of release, and ecstasy, and joy, and music, were able to be human beings in the fullest sense of the world.”
Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad. Photo by Chad Hunt.
And joy was what was felt by all on Thursday at the Woodland. As Danuser admitted after the screening, “I nearly jumped out of my seat a couple of times… but I love vampires.”
Photo by Chad Hunt.
Angela Matusik, Maplewood Film Society. Photo by Chad Hunt.
Photo by Chad Hunt.
