CIFF Streams + Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are proud to present a free, online screening of Down a Dark Stairwell, accompanied by a pre-recorded conversation between Down a Dark Stairwell Director, Ursula Liang and moderated by Cleveland State University’s Film, Media Arts, and Communications Professor, Eric Siler.

About the Film: In November 2014, Akai Gurley, an unarmed Black man, was shot and killed by a police officer while walking down a dark stairwell in Brooklyn’s New York City Housing Authority Pink Houses. Peter Liang, a Chinese-American officer, was the person who shot the innocent Gurley, citing an “accidental discharge.” An all-too-familiar case of police violence against Black Americans became something different in the public eye due to Liang’s race. When he was the first cop to be convicted of manslaughter since 2005, some Chinese-American activists cried foul and rallied for Liang, insisting he was a victim of the same racist system that killed Gurley. Along with a multiracial coalition of activists, the Gurley family pushed against this narrative; someone needed to be held accountable for Gurley’s murder. Ursula Liang’s (no relation to Peter) journalistic documentary lends an empathic ear to two New York communities, both marginalized in different ways, as they navigate an uneven justice system. A nuanced look at this highly polarizing tragedy, Down a Dark Stairwell balances difficult conversations about race, justice, and organizing in hopes of better defining the ever-elusive concept of solidarity.

(In English. Closed captioning in English available.)

Year: 2020 | Country: United States | Running Time: 83 minutes