“This is a nightmare of a time. It really does test people’s character.” So says Dave Chappelle—comic, philosopher and social commentator—toward the beginning of his new documentary, This Time,This Place.

He’s talking about the Covid-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement spurred by the murder of George Floyd. About isolation and fear and anger, and the challenges we’re facing as individuals and a society.

The film, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival and screened August 1 at the Kennedy Center with in-person appearances by Chappelle and filmmakers Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert, is Chappelle’s response to that character test. And as he’s done with his standup, TV and film endeavors, in revealing his own musings he holds up a mirror to our own character.

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