About the Exhibition

Movies have the power to shape public awareness. Socially conscious films can spotlight inequities, ignite important conversations, and amplify the voices of marginalized people and communities. Impact/Reflection weaves together film stills and excerpts, posters, archival photographs, and more to highlight filmmaking as a conduit for critical reflection and cultural change.

Unsurprisingly, many of the films featured are documentaries. Documentary filmmakers engage with the world at large and often leverage the immediacy of the moment, finding the story in real time. In some instances, they become part of the narrative, contributing to the activism on screen. Navigating sometimes dangerous situations, potentially combative individuals or groups, or other constraints is, from the documentarians’ viewpoint, simply what it takes to capture and convey real-life stories. Narrative filmmakers who address social issues are also committed to using the art form to educate and inform, often basing their movies on actual people and events. Their films, dramatized for heightened effect, reflect on nonfiction topics. With a focus on arcs of injustice and alarming trends, the documentary and narrative feature films explored in Impact/Reflection resonate with each other across decades. Examined together, they show how, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “the line of progress is seldom straight.” The gallery is structured around four social impact areas that will rotate over time—Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and gender equity, labor relations, and climate change.

This gallery is curated by Senior Exhibitions Curator Jenny He.