Is education truly “the great equalizer”? Who is left out of that vision? How can education be used as a tool for liberation-- or oppression? This winter, Cinema 53 curator Eve L. Ewing unpacks the sordid story of race and education, and imagines the future of American schooling. Tonight, Ewing hosts a screening of The Homestretch (Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly, 2014, 90 min), which follows three smart, ambitious teenagers as they move through the milestones of high school while navigating a landscape of couch hopping, emergency shelters, transitional homes, street families and a school system on the front lines of this crisis. Film followed by conversation with Gina Miranda Samuels, Associate Professor at the School of Social Service Administration and a Faculty Affiliate of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at UChicago.

Cinema 53 is a screening and discussion series presenting conversation-provoking films by and about women and people of color. Curated by Arts + Public Life director Jacqueline Stewart.

Free and open to the public. Find out more here.