This year, the One Book, One Community program, co-sponsored by the city of East Lansing and MSU, is not only offering students and community members a menu of literary work, but cinematic work as well.
One of the three selections this year, the film "Fruitvale Station" by director Ryan Coogler, is based on a true story of a 22-year-old black man who was killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer on a subway platform in Oakland, California.
At 7 p.m. on Sept. 2, Coogler will discuss the film at a special event at the Kellogg Center Auditorium. Admission is first come, first seated.
A number of free public film showings will take place on campus before and after Coogler's visit.
The film will be shown the following days:
- Aug. 27: The film begins at 7 p.m. in Brody Hall, room 112, followed by a discussion led by Alyssa Hadley Dunn, assistant professor of teacher education.
- Aug. 28: The film begins at 8 p.m. in Wells Hall, room B115, followed by a discussion led by Alyssa Hadley Dunn, assistant professor of teacher education.
- Sept. 4: The film begins at 7 p.m. in Wells Hall, room B115 (Campus Center Cinemas), in partnership with UAB and RHA.
This year’s OBOC program is coordinated in conjunction with MSU’s yearlong Project 60/50, which commemorates the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
This is the first time in the program’s 13-year history in which more than one selection was chosen and a non-written piece was featured: Graphic novel “March Book One” by U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell; the film “Fruitvale Station” directed by Coogler; and the memoir “The Grace of Silence” by award-winning journalist and National Public Radio contributor Michele Norris.
For more information on OBOC events, visit www.onebookeastlansing.com/.