In This Our Life

Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

James Baldwin: From Another Place

Turkey, 1973

Shot over three days in May 1970, this short documentary is a luminous portrait directed by Sedat Pakay, Turkish photographer and friend of Baldwin. Intimate and meditative, the film captures Baldwin in rare moments of ease and introspection as he moves through the vibrant, layered cityscape of Istanbul. The film “captures the profound paradox of Baldwin’s transatlantic vantage point,” writes scholar Magdalena Zaborowska, “how he both belongs and remains an outsider.”

DCP, b&w, 12 min. Director: Sedat Pakay. With: James Baldwin.

James Baldwin: From Another Place (outtakes)

Turkey, 2022

Drawn from recently restored outtakes over 50 years after James Baldwin: From Another Place was originally shot in Istanbul, the film reveals fresh dimensions of Baldwin and of Sedat Pakay as a filmmaker.

DCP, b&w, 10 min. Director: Sedat Pakay (outtakes edited by Brian Meacham). With: James Baldwin. Restored by the Yale Film Archive.

In This Our Life

U.S., 1942

​At the peak of her stardom, Bette Davis played Stanley Timberlake, a destructive sister in a Virginia family — one of several roles showcasing her flair for morally complex women. James Baldwin wrote Davis was “always on the edge of a great understanding,” seen here opposite Ernest Anderson’s dignified performance. Hattie McDaniel lends a quiet, commanding presence at a pivotal moment in her constrained yet trailblazing career. The film stood out for its rare, pointed critique of racial injustice.

16mm, b&w, 97 min. Director: John Huston. Screenwriter: Howard Koch. With: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Dennis Morgan, Ernest Anderson, Hattie McDaniel.

—Public Programmer Beandrea July