Viewing Topic: African AmericanView All
Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story

by Dante James and Charles Hobson

Based on the book by William Shack, Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story looks at the impact of African American performers and musicians during the great jazz era in Paris.

Great Performances

Have You Heard From Johannesburg

by Connie Field

This five-part series chronicles the history of the global anti-apartheid movement that took on South Africa’s entrenched apartheid regime and its international supporters who considered South Africa an ally in the Cold War.

Independent Lens

Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

by Llewellyn Smith, Christine Herbes-Sommers, and Vincent Brown

Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness examines the life and work of the Jewish anthropologist Melville Herskovits, whose writings challenged prevailing notions of race and culture.

Independent Lens

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

by Byron Hurt

Take an in-depth look at masculinity in rap music and hip-hop culture — where creative genius, poetic beauty, and mad beats collide with misogyny, violence, and homophobia.

Independent Lens, Women and Girls Lead

Upcoming screenings Watch it online

Homecoming ... Sometimes I Am Haunted by Memories of Red Dirt and Clay

by Charlene Gilbert

“This is the story of my family, this is the story of black farmers in the 20th century, this is the story of land and love.”

Homegoings

by Christine Turner

Homegoings is a moving portrait of a man and a people — and of the faith, hope and history that sustain them in the face of death. Seen through the eyes of funeral director Isaiah Owens, the beauty and grace of African American funerals are brought to life. Filmed at Owens Funeral Home in New York City's historic Harlem neighborhood, Homegoings takes an up-close look at the rarely seen world of undertaking in the black community.

POV

The House I Live In

by Eugene Jarecki

From director Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) comes an unflinching look at how the War on Drugs has disproportionately disenfranchised, incarcerated, and impoverished African Americans.

Independent Lens

The Interrupters

by Steve James

A look at a group of men and women — most of them former gang leaders and ex-cons — that are trying to "interrupt" shootings and protect their communities from the violence they once employed.

Women and Girls Lead, Frontline, Diverse Muslim Voices

Watch it online

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

by Tamra Davis

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend, the iconoclastic artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in this examination of a brilliant life cut short.

Independent Lens

Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew

by Brian Gerber and Matthew Buzzell

Overcoming Kallman's Syndrome, prejudice, self-destruction and powerful enemies in the music industry, rediscovered jazz legend Jimmy Scott recounts his rise and fall and rise again as one of the most distinctive vocalists of our time.

Independent Lens

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