Post-screening discussion of James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket, between the film’s writer, coproducer, and director Karen Thorsen and Professor Jacqueline Goldsby.

September 22, 2016

The screening of James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket was followed by a discussion between the film’s writer, coproducer, and director Karen Thorsen and Professor Jacqueline Goldsby. As a filmmaker, Thorsen finds her inspiration and themes at the intersection of art and social justice. She tells stories about “game changers,” as she puts it, “artists and activists who shape history.” Price of the Ticket, her first feature-length documentary, was a worldwide hit. After its PBS debut in 1990, the film was screened and honored in such major venues as the Sundance, London, Berlin, and Tokyo Film Festivals. Recently, Thorsen launched a major fundraising campaign to restore and digitize the film. With that success, she now leads “The James Baldwin Project,” an initiative to establish school curriculum based on Baldwin’s writings in precollege classrooms across the United States. Jacqueline Goldsby is Professor of English and African American Studies at Yale University.