SFA’s Friday Night Film Series to screen ‘Seadrift’

Filmmaker Tim Tsai shoots on the deck of Captain Ron Galloway's boat in the filming of "Seadrift." Stephen F. Austin State University's Friday Night Film Series will screen "Seadrift" at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of the documentary film "Seadrift" at 7 p.m. Sept. 6 at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.

In 1979, a Vietnamese refugee shot and killed a white crab fisherman at the public town docks along the Texas coast in Seadrift. What began as a dispute over fishing territory erupted into violence and ignited a maelstrom of boat burnings, Ku Klux Klan intimidation, and other hostilities against Vietnamese refugees along the Gulf Coast, according to information at seadriftfilm.com.

Set during the early days of Vietnamese arrival in the U.S., "Seadrift" is a feature documentary that examines the circumstances that led up to the shooting and its dramatic aftermath, and reveals the unexpected consequences that continue to reverberate today.

The School of Art's Friday Film Series is sponsored in part by retired filmmaking Professor William Arscott. The Cole Art Center, SFA's historic downtown gallery, is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.