Film Screening + Q&A: Getting Back to Abnormal

Join us at the Full Frame Theater in Durham’s American Tobacco Campus for a provocative exploration of Southern race and politics on film, followed by a Q&A with Directors Paul Stekler and Andrew Kolker.

New Orleans’ long history of political dysfunction and complicated racial dynamics gets a new lease on life when Stacy Head, a polarizing white woman, wins a seat on the city council after the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Four years later, she needs black votes to get reelected. But will her record of blunt racial talk doom her chances? GETTING BACK TO ABNORMAL follows the unlikely odd couple of Head and her irrepressible black political advisor, Barbara Lacen-Keller, as they try to navigate New Orleans’ treacherous political scene. With its cast of only-in-New-Orleans characters, Getting Back to Abnormal is a provocative and amusing look at race in America, set against the backdrop of the city’s rich culture. The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival and was nationally broadcast on the PBS series POV in August 2014. You can view a behind-the-scenes discussion between the producers about portraying New Orleans on film here.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Southern Oral History Program, the Southern Documentary Fund, and Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies.