Ryan Coogler’s new film “Sinners” has been delighting audiences throughout the country with its stylish take on vampires and the Mississippi Delta, except for the town where the film is set, Clarksdale, because it doesn’t have a movie theater.
After traveling almost 80 miles to see the film twice, 26-year-old Mississippi native Tyler Yarbrough launched a petition to get Warner Bros. and the film’s cast to host a screening of the blockbuster in the town of Clarksdale, Mississippi. While a firm date has yet to be set, Warner Bros. has responded.
The petition was born out of a grassroots effort that started on social media. As more folks began to see the film, Yarbrough started seeing growing chatter online from other locals about how there wasn’t a way to see it in Clarksdale. The town’s last movie theater, the Delta Cinema, closed in 2003. Soon, the conversation turned to action, with many wondering if a special screening could be arranged.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s write an open letter, inviting them down,’” Yarbrough told theGrio during a recent phone interview.
From there, he said on Monday, April 28, he sat down to pen an open letter petitioning Coogler and Warner Bros. to come to Clarksdale for “a homecoming.”
In the letter he wrote, “A homecoming not just for the film, but for the history, culture, and future that continue to define our city and to connect Mississippi creatives with you and your work.”
After roughly 48 hours online, racking in thousands of signatures, and a boost from filmmaker Michael Cherry and production designer Hannah Beachler, he heard from Warner Bros. and is currently in talks to coordinate a screening. The petition has since gained over 5,500 signatures. When he spoke to theGrio, he said a representative was coming out over the weekend to scout possible locations.
In all the excitement, the Mayor of Clarksdale told TMZ the screening would likely take place on Juneteenth at the Clarksdale High School football field. While that location is an option, it has yet to be confirmed.
“We’re trying to pull this [screening] off within four to six weeks,” he said. “When it comes to the actual cast coming down, it’s going to be a little bit harder, but we’re still trying to push for some of the cast and production teams to actually be in conversation with us.”
Warner Bros. did not immediately return theGrio’s request for comment.
Set during the Jim Crow era in the Mississippi Delta, “Sinners” depicts the region’s rich diversity and the complexity of the social conditions many had to endure. Despite being shot in Louisiana, the film has been lauded for authentically bringing the region’s culture and blues music to the big screen. Yarbrough and others hope the region it celebrates can benefit beyond increased recognition.
“We wanted this to be more than just a screening, and we still are trying to make it more than a screening,” he explained. “We [want] the cast and crew to be able to come down to really experience some of these juke joints that are disappearing but are still anchored in Clarksdale.”
Clarksdale plays a significant role in the film as the setting and has given much to American culture, including history and the blues. Yarbrough noted how often stories are lifted from the region and made into movies shot elsewhere. He’d love for the screening to involve a panel with the film’s cast and crew and local representatives from Clarksdale to discuss how Mississippi can attract more of these big-budget blockbuster films.
He added, “It wasn’t shot in Mississippi. There’s a reason for that.”
“One of our greatest assets is our stories, and it gets extracted, produced somewhere else, benefiting other people, not benefiting the workforce in Mississippi,” he continued. “How do we build that? That’s one of the conversations that needs to be had.”
Yarbrough has been encouraged by the momentum building around the petition. He said he felt “very good” about the initiative’s status.
“I think it’s really important for local folks to be connected to the power and all of this,” he said, not just discussing the music and culture that the film so expertly depicts.
“We need to be connected to that power when it comes to the land and agriculture,” he continued. “You got like this history, right, but you also got the stories … that many people don’t know.”
He added, “And there’s a reason why those stories are not in our collective consciousness, right? It is to disconnect us from that power, right? And so I see this as an opportunity to again connect locals to that power, to remind people that’s not in Mississippi —Clarksdale is still significant. I think Coogler has done it already, but I think it’s time to take it a bit further.”
