UC Merced film series marks 10th year

February marks the 10th anniversary of the UC Merced Human Rights Film Series, which this year is dedicated to a Merced community advocate, educator, mentor and civil rights leader.

The film series is meant to spark discussion about human rights, and to use film to highlight violence and inequality, according to a news release. This year’s series offering is in memory of Denard Davis, who died in September.

Human Rights Film Series organizers will screen a different film each Friday in February; all but one are shown at UC Merced in Classroom Office Building 120. The final film of the month is part of a reception at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, 645 W. Main St., with an appearance by filmmakers Karen Thorsen and Douglas K. Dempsey.

The showings are all free and open to the public. Organizers recently announced the lineup.

“3  1/2 minutes, 10 bullets”: 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at UC Merced. The film chronicles the murder trial of Michael Dunn, who fired gunshots into a car carrying four unarmed black teenagers in Jacksonville, Fla., killing one, 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

“Out in the Night”: 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at UC Merced. After four young African American lesbians are sexually and violently confronted on the streets of New York City, their race, gender identity and sexuality are criminalized in the mainstream news media and legal system.

“The House I Live In”: 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at UC Merced. An unflinching look at how the “War on Drugs” in the United States has disproportionately disenfranchised, incarcerated and impoverished African Americans.

“James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket”: 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at Merced Multicultural Arts Center, 645 W. Main St. The reception begins at 6 p.m. The life, works and beliefs of the writer and civil rights activist (1924-1987) are recounted: what it is to be born black, impoverished, gifted and gay in a world that has yet to understand that “all men are brothers.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2016 at 4:40 PM with the headline "UC Merced film series marks 10th year."