Filmmaker’s program planned at library this weekend

WASHINGTON — Longtime film professional Steven Berry will hold a series of brief programs at the Washington Public Library Saturday, including a script-writing workshop, a PowerPoint presentation on the “cyclization” of Black films, and a retrospective screening of Berry’s work in front of and behind the camera.

“It’s a fairly interesting mix,” Berry said. “It’s for anybody interested in film, television, script-writing … or anyone who’s bored with nothing better to do! It don’t matter to me, long as I’m not speaking to an empty room.”

A current Coralville resident who grew up in Des Moines before becoming a professor emeritus at Washington, D.C.’s Howard University Department of Media, Journalism & Film, Berry’s held a handful of events in Washington, Iowa in the last few years.

Over the last two year’s, Berry’s work has been featured at Farm to Film Fest, he’s taken part in local Juneteenth celebrations, and he filmed an interview with the late George DeVaughn, a highly respected figure in Washington.

Other members of Berry’s family have been featured in local interviews and art gallery displays, despite not being locals. Steven Berry said he’d come to greatly appreciate the community.

“The interest and the opportunity that Washington has provided, I’m very appreciative of,” he said. “The people of Washington, Iowa, they’ve been very, very wonderful.”

Berry’s “Write, Teach, & Screen” event is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Washington Public Library on Saturday, April 5.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com