“Mississippi Damned,” a film by writer/director Tina Mabry, will be presented by the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts at ETSU on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center’s Martha Street Culp Auditorium.This film is the second to be screened at ETSU as part of the South Arts Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers.

Following the screening of her feature film, Mabry will engage in a discussion about the film and her work as a filmmaker.

A reception will take place afterward.

“Mississippi Damned” tells the story of three poor black kids in rural Mississippi who face the consequences of their family’s cycle of abuse, addiction and violence.

“They struggle to escape their circumstances and must decide whether to confront what’s plagued their family for generations or succumb to the same crippling fate, forever damned in Mississippi,” a description of the film states. “Bitterly honest and profoundly subtle, the film captures growing up in a world where possibilities and opportunities seem to die in the face of the suffocating reality of physical and sexual abuse, obsession and a myriad of destructive compulsions.”

Mabry is a native of Tupelo, Miss., and graduated from the University of Southern California with a master of fine arts degree in film production in 2005.

She co-wrote a feature screenplay that won Best Narrative Feature at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival in 2007, participated in the Film Independent Directors Lab with “Mississippi Damned” and was awarded the Kodak Film Grant.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a unique, interactive program that brings independent filmmakers and their films into communities throughout the nine-state region served by South Arts, a not-for-profit regional arts organization.

Founded in 1975, South Arts is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Special support for Southern Circuit is provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Mary B. Martin School of the Arts was created in February 2009 with a donation from James C. Martin in memory of his late wife, a graduate of ETSU and a supporter of the arts.

The school works with arts programs on campus and in the community, and schedules performances, exhibitions, lectures, film screenings and other activities.

The film screening, discussion and reception are free and open to the public.

Donations of canned food items will be accepted for distribution to a regional food bank or other charitable organization.

For more information or special assistance for those with disabilities, contact the Martin School of the Arts at 423-439-TKTS (8587) or ehleah@etsu.edu, or visit www.etsu.edu/cas/arts.

For more information on South Arts and its programs, visit www.southarts.org.

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