For Immediate Release                Brian Garrido (bgarrido@emelnitz.ucla.edu)
September 16, 1997                                 (310) 206-8588

EMMY AWARD WINNING ACTRESS ESTHER ROLLE
TO INTRODUCE OPENING NIGHT OF PAUL ROBESON FILM SERIES
AT UCLA FILM AND TELEVISION ARCHIVE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1998

LOS ANGELES - Emmy Award winning actress Esther Rolle will introduce the opening night of UCLA Film and Television Archive's film retrospective PAUL ROBESON: STAR OF STAGE AND SCREEN. The retrospective is a part of a city-wide and national centennial celebration commemorating the birth of actor, activist, writer and singer Paul Robeson.

Ms. Rolle's career has spanned almost three decades and includes diverse roles for the stage, film and television. She is perhaps best known for her work on Norman Lear's 70's sitcoms Maude and Good Times in which she played Florida Evans.

Her film work includes Academy Award-winner DRIVING MISS DAISY, ROSEWOOD, and HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT which also starred Maya Angelou. Ms. Rolle will star in Maya Angleou's directorial debut DOWN IN THE DELTA. The film also stars Alfre Woodard (PASSION FISH) and Wesley Snipes (BLADE) and is set for a 1998 Christmas release.

Opening night begins at 7:00 PM and highlights include Paul Robeson's THE EMPEROR JONES (1933), a highly criticized interracial collaboration between black and whites (black talent in front of the camera and white behind) and hailed as a strong depiction of a black man who refused to know his place in white society; BODY AND SOUL (1925, silent) Robeson's film debut with African American director Oscar Micheaux and BORDERLINE (1930, silent) a visually experimental silent feature. BODY AND SOUL and BORDERLINE will feature live musical accompaniment by Dean Mora.

Admission is $6 for the general public, $ 4 for students and seniors. Tickets are available one hour before showtime at the James Bridges Theater, located at the northeast corner of the UCLA campus, near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue. Parking is available for $5 in Lot 3.

For further information on the film series, please call (310) 206-FILM or visit our website at www.cinema.ucla.edu.

Additional information on the Paul Robeson festivities can be obtained through the Paul Robeson Centennial Committee by contacting Norma Foster, Charisma Communications, (323) 938-8410.

Programming at the UCLA Film and Television Archive is made possible by grants from the California Arts Council, the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, the John D. Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and other sponsors.