A Conversation with Filmmaker and Activist Astra Taylor

Join us on Thursday, May 28 at 7:30 as we host a conversation with filmmaker and activist Astra Taylor, moderated by Programming Director Brian Ackerman. In 2019, Astra joined us at the JBFC to talk about her film What Is Democracy? when it played in our Global Watch series. For this Q&A, the conversation will be focused around the new documentary, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. We are currently showing the film on our Virtual Marquee platform, so be sure you’ve screened it before this event!

Guarantee your space in the audience and register for this free virtual Q&A now!

A note from Programming Director Brian Ackerman: Capital in the Twenty-First Century felt to me like a natural documentary for this daunting moment of distress and uncertainty. Based on the surprise bestselling book of the same name by economist Thomas Piketty, this new film chronicles the evolution of capitalism from the Middle Ages to today. Director Justin Pemberton crafts a very savvy and cinematic jaunt through history, and it provides an opportunity for us to take stock of how we got here, and where—in this moment of breathtaking historical disjunction—we might go.

On Thursday, May 28th we’ll have a Zoom conversation with Astra Taylor, who I’ve been hoping to welcome back to the Burns after her wonderful appearance last year with her own film What Is Democracy?, as well as her brilliant book, “Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone.” Astra is a filmmaker, an activist, a musician, and co-founder of The Debt Collective, which is dedicated to organizing public awareness and action around predatory debt practices. She is also a prolific writer whose politico-economic thinking can be found in The New Yorker, The Nation, The Baffler, The New Republic, The London Review of Books, and others. I want to underscore that this is not Astra Taylor’s film, but I’m excited by the idea of using this film as a springboard for discussing the immensity of this historical moment, it’s profound implications, and—dare we say—possibilities.

Guarantee your space in the audience and register for this free virtual Q&A now!

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