‘Nickel Boys’ to open Feb. 21 at Cinema Art Theater

The Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Cinema Art Theater will screen the Oscar-nominated drama, “Nickel Boys,” based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead. The film opens Friday, Feb. 21, coinciding with the Rehoboth Beach Black American Film Fest.

Elwood Curtis's college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he's sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner, and the two Black teens strike up an alliance, with Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival and Elwood clinging to his optimistic worldview.

Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appears worlds away from the Rev. Martin Luther King's burnished oratory. Despite Nickel's brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.

For more information, go to rehobothfilm.com.