You Don't Know My Name

The Heights Theater is bringing You Don't Know My Name to Minneapolis for two screenings on November 20 and 21. It's a documentary by Tommy Franklin, and the Saturday showing includes a Q&A with him afterward.

Franklin is both the filmmaker and the subject. He was separated from his incarcerated mother at birth, and the film follows his search for her identity and the ancestral bloodlines he uncovers along the way. A good part of the story is about the systems he has to navigate—the ones designed to keep him in the dark—so it's as much about the obstacles as it is about the family he's looking for. It runs 115 minutes and is presented in DCP format.

If you're interested in hearing from the person behind the camera, the Saturday screening is the one to go for. Franklin wrote and directed the film, and he'll be there in person to answer questions after the credits roll. It's a chance to hear him talk through the process of making a documentary that's so closely tied to his own life.

The first screening is Friday, November 20, at 7 PM, and the second is Saturday, November 21, at 1 PM. The Q&A is part of the Saturday showing, so if you want to hear from Franklin himself, that's the one to pick.