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Monday, Oct. 30, 2023 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App. Wearing snapback caps and Air Jordans, the Reality Poets aren’t typical nursing home residents. In "Fire Through Dry Grass," these young, Black and brown disabled artists document their lives on lockdown during Covid, their rhymes underscoring the danger and imprisonment they feel. In the face of institutional neglect, they refuse to be abused, confined, and erased.
This year’s slate includes true stories of Black space pioneers, victims of deepfake porn, and the first female Episcopal priests. Plus: Errol Morris’s portrait of a certain British spy novelist.
The raw and immersive film, which was awarded Best Feature Documentary at the 12th BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia in August, chronicles the ordeal faced by the nursing home’s residents, whom authorities treated as collateral damage and cannon fodder during the COVID-19 pandemic.