Jessie's Window Mixing Nia Sugar Cane Alley

Tonight's program includes Jessie's Window and Mixing Nia, two contemporary tales of urban life in America and its unique challenges, plus Euzhan Palcy's moving feature Sugar Cane Alley, set in the shanty towns of rural Martinique. Cleveland-based filmmaker Michelle Davis's Jessie's Window is a potent drama questioning the price a young mother has to pay when trying to balance parenting with the demands of jobs, lifestyles, and relationships. (2003; 30 mins.)

Alison Swan's Mixing Nia focuses on a successful young copywriter who finds her racial identity when ordered to push a new brand of beer to ghetto kids. (1998; 92 mins.)

Euzhan Palcy's Sugar Cane Alley is set in the shanty towns of rural Martinique, where a bright boy dreams of a better life elsewhere. Palcy is the first black womenÛand only one of two to date--to direct a mainstream Hollywood film. (1983; 103 mins.)