Postmaster Brown as photographed by Arthur Rothstein in 1935.

Blue Ridge Community College will host a lecture about and showing of Richard Knox Robinson’s award-winning documentary “Rothstein’s First Assignment” on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Plecker Center auditorium.

“Rothstein’s First Assignment,” a story about documentary truth, centers on the photographic work of Arthur Rothstein, who was sent to Virginia in 1935 to photograph mountain residents before their removal to make way for Shenandoah National Park.  It was nominated for the special jury prize at Seattle’s International Film Festival in 2011.

“This subtle but powerful film establishes an important link between the inhumane practices of the American eugenics movement and Depression-era documentary photography. Robinson traces a chilling tale of deceit, cynicism, and stolen property that ruined lives in the process,” Carol Squiers, Curator of the International Center of Photography, writes about the film.

Robinson is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker based near Charlottesville, Virginia. His first film, “The Beekeepers,” premiered at Sundance in 2009 in the New Frontiers Shorts Program and went on to screen in Toronto and Telluride, winning Best Short Documentary at The Atlanta Film Festival. His still photography has been published and exhibited widely, appearing in numerous publications including Time, Smithsonian and National Geographic Traveler magazines.

The event, sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Committee and the Appalachian Environmental Learning Community, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact  (540) 453-2358.