In this full-day conference on November 15, the Black Film Center/Archive convenes an interdisciplinary group of scholars and moving image archivists in the IU Cinema to discuss the new methodologies and questions emerging through recent scholarship in early black film, and to consider how we render a film as an object of study in transformative digital environments. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, is scheduled to present the keynote address. Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Office of Digital Humanities. Conference details can be found at www.indiana.edu/~bfca. In support of the conference, two silent films will be presented with live accompaniment by Philip Carli. Special thanks to Brian Graney. Screenings are free, but ticketed. The Flying Ace (1926) Directed by Richard E. Norman November 15 - Friday - 7:00 p.m. In ‘Six Smashing Reels of Action,’ The Flying Ace tells the story of World War I flyer-hero Captain William Stokes who returns home to solve the mystery of a missing paymaster and save the life of the beautiful Ruth Sawtelle. Featuring an all-black cast, The Flying Ace is the only full-length film surviving from Richard Norman, a prominent director and distributor of silent race films in the 1920s. The film was restored in 2010 by the Library of Congress from an original nitrate negative donated by the director’s son, Captain Richard Norman, Jr. (35mm. 65 min. Not Rated.) Within Our Gates (1919) Directed by Oscar Micheaux November 16 - Saturday - 3:00 p.m. Through his young protagonist, Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer), Oscar Micheaux critically examines the lines between races, classes, and North and South in his earliest surviving film. The complex and twist-filled narrative follows Sylvia as she crosses between North and South, recovering from a broken engagement by finding new purpose in a rural school for African American children and new love with Dr. Vivian. Long thought lost, a single nitrate print was discovered under its Spanish release title, La Negra, at the Filmoteca Española and reconstructed by the Library of Congress. (35mm. 79 min. Not Rated.) 44 Early Black Film Tickets: (812) 855-1103