Black Is, Black Ain't marks 15 years since the release of Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins' debut feature Medicine for Melancholy (2008). This impactful film depicts the subtle romance between Micah and Jo, two Black San Franciscans who journey through the rapidly changing city, exploring their connection and grappling with love and Blackness. Our program will feature a thought-provoking public conversation between Black cinema scholar and MoAD's Cultural-Critic-in-Residence, Dr. Artel Great (San Francisco State University) and Hana Baba, host of the daily radio program "Crosscurrents" on NPR Station KALW in San Francisco. Together, Baba and Dr. Great will examine the cultural politics, cinematic vision, and understated influence of Medicine for Melancholy, while addressing the film's larger social themes that include: questions of class and identity, Black love and belonging, and community preservation and gentrification.

Hana Baba is a radio journalist- the longtime host of "Crosscurrents"- the daily newsmagazine on NPR station KALW in San Francisco. She is also a creator and host of the award-winning podcast "The Stoop," telling stories from across the Black Diaspora. Her work also appears on public radio programs on NPR, The World, and the BBC. Hana’s work has won awards from the National Association of Black Journalists , the San Francisco Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, Religion News Association, among others.

A Sudanese American, Hana enjoys exploring cultural intersections, and immigrant and diaspora life. She teaches journalism and podcasting, regularly speaks at industry conferences, and consults with underrepresented/misrepresented communities on how to enter media fields to affect change in current media narratives. She is passionate about the narrative around Africa, African peoples, and the Black diaspora.

Dr. Artel Great is the inaugural Cultural Critic-in-Residence at MoAD and the George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in African-American Cinema Studies and Assistant Professor of Critical Studies at San Francisco State University. He is also an Independent Spirit Award-nominated filmmaker and film and media scholar who has written on Black cinema and popular culture in both mainstream and academic publications.