Celebrate Juneteenth with this beautifully restored film based on Fannie Hurst’s best-selling novel, which boldly confronts the complexities and contradictions of racial identity, economic exploitation, and the limits of the American dream.

Imitation of Life explores the friendship between two struggling single mothers: one (Claudette Colbert) a working-class white woman who ascends to the top of the business world, the other (Louise Beavers) her Black housekeeper, whose life is shattered by the rejection of her rebellious, white-passing daughter (Fredi Washington). It is this latter relationship—attuned to America’s bitter racial realities and heartbreakingly enacted by trailblazing Black performers Beavers and Washington—that lends the film its transcendent emotional power.

Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes.
Parker Hall – Drennan Auditorium, Keene, NH