‘Sinners’ Is Set in Clarksdale, Where There’s No Theater. Locals Are Asking for a Screening.

Tyler Yarbrough didn’t see Sinners once, but twice.

The film, which has made more than $200 million at the box office, is authentically Mississippi Delta through and through, he said. From the Chinese Delta history to the Black businesses, residents say director and filmmaker Ryan Coogler, who has Mississippi roots, did his homework.

On both visits to the movies, Yarbrough, who is from Clarksdale, Mississippi, had to drive nearly 80 miles to see the film, a luxury not afforded to many. There’s limited public transportation in the area and many lack the financial resources to afford a car in the majority Black town of 14,000 where the median income is $35,000. 

There’s no active movie theater in the small town. 

The Delta Cinema closed in 2003, one of a string of closures of downtown businesses that year, the Clarksdale Press Register reported. Constructed in 1918, the Paramount Movie Theater — formerly a segregated theater — has been acquired by youth nonprofit Griot Arts Inc., which plans to revamp the space as an arts education center. And the New Roxy, once a former Black movie theater in the New World District — the historic Black downtown — is now a music venue.

Read More: ‘Sinners’ Honored Juke Joints. Today, They’re Fighting to Stay Open.

Clarksdale serves as the centerpiece of the film, and much of America’s civil rights and blues history. However, many creatives, organizers, and businesses are often overlooked in the telling or production of these stories, Yarbrough said. 

The 26-year-old community activist jumped into action.

He started a petition in hopes of hosting a public screening and extending an invitation to Coogler, the cast, and the creative team “to walk the streets your vision reimagined, to meet the people whose real stories echo through every frame, and to experience firsthand the living, breathing legacy that inspired your work and the people who are sustaining and reimagining its future.”

In the week since Yarbrough started the petition, more than 5,500 people have signed it.

Yarbrough also told Capital B last week that a public forum with the Sinners team and Clarksdale residents would be meaningful. By this week, it seemed Hollywood was paying attention. Nothing is set in stone yet, but he said on Facebook that he and others are in an active conversation with Warner Bros.’ executives. He’s hoping the film can be a “springboard for powerful, homegrown conversations led by Mississipians – on our Creative Economy, or Blues Economy, and the future of Food and Agriculture in our regions, all themes that can be tied to the movie.”

Additionally, folks like Matthew Cherry, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker and director of Hair Love, and Hannah Beachler — the first Black person to win an Academy Award for Best Production Design, and who worked on Creed, Black Panther, and Sinners — have reshared the post, which has garnered more than 90,000 views.

The spotlight on the Mississippi Delta is welcomed among other local creatives, residents, and farmers who are working toward revitalizing the region. This investment could empower local folks to tell their own stories and benefit the community economically, residents say.

People with resources and power should be intentional about creating opportunities and giving back to communities in meaningful, tangible ways, said Jasmine Williams, founder of digital storytelling platform Sipp Talk and a resident of Jackson, Mississippi. She mentioned the possibilities of hosting workshops or youth convening on filmmaking, in addition to a screening. 

As one resident put it: “If you’re going to be talking about Mississippi, bring some money to Mississippi.”

At the very least, Yarbrough said he believes this could serve as a homecoming for Sinners, and other Black Americans, to return “home.”

“There needs to be a coming home to these Black creators who are making these million-dollar films and being connected with our folks on the ground,” he said. “I think it’s deeply important. And I think not only is it important for the folks who live here, but also for just Black America to like, really come home.”

This story has been updated.