The University of Iowa's Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) and McNair Scholars Program invite the public to a free screening of the film An Oversimplification of Her Beauty at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 7, in room 101 of the Becker Communication Studies Building on the UI campus.

The film—selected for this year’s Sundance Film Festival—is produced by SROP alumni Terence Nance and James Bartlett, who will attend the screening and participate in a public discussion afterward.

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty is written and directed by Nance, and stars Nance, Namik Minter, and Chanelle Pearson. Nance’s debut feature documents the relationship between Nance and a lovely young woman as it teeters on the divide between platonic and romantic. Utilizing a tapestry of live action and various styles of animation, Nance explores the fantasies, emotions, and memories that race through his mind during a singular moment in time.

Nance and Minter star as themselves in this fictionalized account of a true story.

Nance and Bartlett studied at the UI in 2003. Nance worked with Horace Porter, F. Wendell Miller Professor of English and American Studies and Departmental Executive Officer of African American Studies. Bartlett studied with Richard Brent Turner, Professor of African American Religious History.

The SROP and McNair Scholars Program are award-winning programs designed to provide promising underrepresented undergraduate students with in-depth research experiences. The programs are administered by the University of Iowa’s Office of Graduate Ethnic Inclusion (OGEI).

OGEI, the UI Chief Diversity Office and the UI Black Graduate and Professional Students Organization are sponsoring the event.