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Movies & TV Toronto International Film Festival 2018

TIFF 2017: a documentary spotlights the urgent legacy of Lorraine Hansberry

The selection of documentaries playing at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival includes several titles delving into the lives and legacies of influential Black and African-American public figures, including Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart.

Directed by Tracy Heather Strain, the film looks at the impact of the Chicago-born playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry who is best known for the landmark A Raisin In The Sun. When it opened in 1959, she became the first African-American woman playwright to be produced on Broadway. Though she is best known for Raisin, Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart revisits her impact as a public figure, civil rights activist and queer woman who paved the away for many others following her death in 1965 at age 34.

Check out the above video for an interview with Strain about the film.

Following its festival run, the doc will air on PBS series American Masters in February.

Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart screens during TIFF on September 17 at 3 pm at Scotiabank 7.

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