Film Focus: A Look at BLACKED OUT

In 2017, a disturbing piece of children’s art was found at Irving Primary School in the progressive town of Highland Park, New Jersey. A group of student filmmakers from Highland Park High School tried to solve the mystery of who created it, how it was placed on the primary school’s famous Tile Wall, and why it was allowed to hang there for almost forty years.

This film was created as part of the Highland Park African American History Project (HPAAHP), a digital storytelling initiative by students at Highland Park High School, under leadership and direction of John Hulme, a local documentary filmmaker who is himself a graduate of that school. HPAAHP was supported by an NJCH Incubation Grant in 2016 and Action Grant in 2017. Blacked Out was featured in film festivals in Montclair, Hoboken, Harlem, and Vero Beach, where the film was met with considerable interest and acclaim. It was also featured in numerous community conversations about legacies of racism in Highland Park.

Join us on August 24, 2022, for a screening of the film and post-film discussion featuring John Hulme and some of the former students who created the film. The discussion will be facilitated by Purcell Carson, a filmmaker and editor who has worked on many lauded documentary films featuring New Jersey stories. Purcell also teaches a seminar in urban studies and film at Princeton University, where she is project director of a multi-year community-based documentary project, The Trenton Project.

The post-film discussion will be recorded and posted to the NJCH website following the in-person event.