The Rhode Island Black Film Festival is proud to be joining the world in screening ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’ on Sunday, April 23, 3:30 p.m. as part of official selections for the annual Rhode Island Black Film Festival at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, 250 Brook Street in Providence. The Screening is sponsored by Brown University Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. NAMIC- New England.

Directed by Lisa Cortés’, ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’ tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman.

Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself.

Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything.

‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’ features an all-star cast, including Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Billy Porter and John Waters, among others.

This screening is free and along with all the screenings at the Rhode Island Black Film Festival, April 20-23. Go to the following link (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/582004891297) to sign up for the Film Festival.