The Apollo

Sponsored by: VISIT Milwaukee

NOTE: 10/31 showing of The Apollo is a premium screening - 6-pack/10-pack/vouchers cannot be redeemed for this screening!

Producer Lisa Cortés and cast member Leslie Uggams in attendance for screening!

NOTE: Due to extenuating circumstances, Leslie Uggams will no longer be attending.

Ask a few music critics about the greatest soul album ever and someone will pick James Brown Live at the Apollo. Harlem's Apollo Theater is not just a landmark of Black American music and performance, but also a landmark of American culture. Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated) has created the definitive account of this American institution, using archival footage of classic performances, behind-the-scenes access to the theater and its staff, and new interviews with legends like Smokey Robinson and Jamie Foxx. Additionally, The Apollo follows the creation of a new stage adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates' celebrated Between the World and Me, underscoring how much the Apollo Theater still matters to the Black community, and how much it continues to trace the story of Black America.

 

"THE APOLLO goes a long way to ensuring that the memories created in this one-of-a-kind space will be neither fleeting nor forgotten." - Hollywood Reporter 

 

"A meditation of African-American identity as manifested in a 1,600-seat theater on 125th Street in Harlem, and a sometimes lyrical, often angry portrait of what happened inside those walls and what it meant." - The Wrap

 

"THE APOLLO feels like both a necessary lesson and a gift." Entertainment Weekly

 

 

Community Partners: ALIVE MKE, Media Circus, Milwaukee Preservation Alliance, Ko~Thi Dance Company, The Woodruff Group


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About Milwaukee Film

Milwaukee Film is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to entertaining, educating, and engaging our community through cinematic experiences. We operate the magnificent Oriental Theatre, a historic cinema palace committed to high-quality and accessible film and education programming. Since 2009, the annual Milwaukee Film Festival has brought together film fans and filmmakers to celebrate the power of cinema. Our education programs and Cultures & Communities platform provide avenues toward making our community a more empathetic and equitable place for everyone to live.

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