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Pete Seeger: The Power of Song


            A documentary of the early days of graffiti, its origin, the evolution of "tagging" and "gettin up"and makin "all city" ... and the aggressive change in "style" ... the fight to be"king of the line"
and the ongoing battle with the publics negative opinions,
and the non-stop struggle with the law. A great documentary
with alot of footage from pieces on trains that have been destroyed long ago ....
    

Style Wars


            From 1968-1973, America got SOUL! television's first all-black entertainment/variety show. The film celebrates the groundbreaking PBS series from its genesis to its eventual loss of funding against the backdrop of a swiftly changing political and social landscape, while profiling Ellis Haizlip, the charismatic man behind one of the most culturally significant and successful television shows in U.S. history.Ellis Haizlip was the producer and host of SOUL!, the first black arts television showcase of its kind. Conceived in 1968 as the first "black Tonight Show," SOUL! launched as a local, New York broadcast. By 1973, Haizlip had produced over 130 Emmy Award-winning, nationally-broadcast shows for WNET/PBS featuring a staggering array of A-list guests: Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Earth, Wind & Fire, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni and Muhammad Ali. Even a 16 year-old Arsenio Hall made his television debut performing magic tricks.Part nightclub, part salon, SOUL! offered classic live performances by up-and-coming soul, jazz, and world musicians, juxtaposed with in-depth interviews featuring actors, literary figures, prominent politicians and intellectuals. Haizlip championed early acts such as Ashford and Simpson, Roberta Flack, Al Green, Billy Taylor, Bill Withers and Patti LaBelle, pairing them alongside Toni Morrison, Muhammad Ali, Cicely Tyson, The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Jesse Jackson, Merry Clayton and more.Produced by Melissa Haizlip and Sam Pollard, the film offers a behind-the-scenes look at this revolutionary program, from its initial conception to its final broadcast, including the very public battle to keep it on the air despite a shifting political landscape. Directed by Melissa Haizlip and Samuel D. Pollard, edited by Giovanni Autran, Annukka Lilja and Blair McClendon with supervising editor Doug Blush, Mr. SOUL! features rare archival performances and new interviews with many of the African American icons of the twentieth century.SOUL! captured a seminal moment in American broadcast history, a turning point in an era of immense struggle. It marked the emergence of undiluted black culture and entertainment on television, and the advent of 20th century black pop music. Mr. SOUL! presents a vivid portrait of this largely unknown yet enormously influential television series and the remarkable man who brought his personal vision of inclusion and social change to people across America.
    

Mr. Soul!

4 Little Girls

Two Trains Runnin'

Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me

Slavery by Another Name

Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes

The League

Citizen Ashe

Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela

The Pleasures of Being Out of Step

Griot

On the Shoulders of Giants: The Story of the Greatest Team You Never Heard Of

Chisholm '72

Black Art: In the Absence of Light

MLK/FBI

Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys

Jungle Fever


            Brooklyn, New York 1969. A group of four boys walk up to Bleek Gilliam (Zakee L. Howze)'s brownstone rowhouse and ask him to come out and play baseball with them. Bleek's mother insists that he continue his trumpet lesson, to his chagrin. His father becomes concerned that Bleek will grow up to be a sissy, and a family argument ensues. In the end, Bleek continues playing his trumpet, and his friends go away.20 years later. The adult Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) is performing on the trumpet at a busy nightclub with his jazz band, The Bleek Quintet. They make up of trumpeter Bleek, saxphone player Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes), pianist Left Hand Lacey (Giancarlo Esposito), drummer Bottom Hammer (Bill Nunn), and bass player Rhythm Jones (Jeff "Tain" Watts). Giant (Spike Lee), whom is the Quintet's manager and one of Bleek's former childhood friends, is waiting in the wings, and advises him to stop allowing his saxophone player Shadow Henderson to grandstand with long solos.The next morning Bleek wakes up with his girlfriend, Indigo Downes (Joie Lee). She leaves to go to college classes, while he meets his father by the Brooklyn Bridge for a game of catch, telling him that while he does like Indigo, he likes other women too and is not ready to make a commitment. Later in the day while he is practicing his trumpet, another woman named Clarke Bentancourt (Cynda Williams) visits him. She suggests he fire Giant as his manager; he suggests that they make love (which he refers to as 'mo better'). She bites his lip and he becomes upset about it, saying, "I make my living with my lips," as he examines the bleeding bottom lip.Giant is with his bookie, betting on baseball. Then he goes to the nightclub and argues with the doormen about what time to let the patrons into the club. He meets Bleek inside with the rest of the band, except for the pianist, Left Hand Lacey, who arrives late with his French girlfriend and is scolded by Giant. Later Giant goes to the club owners office, points out how busy the club has been since Bleek and his band began playing there, and unsuccessfully attempts to renegotiate their contract.The next morning, Giant meets his bookie (Ruben Blades), who is concerned that Giant is going too deep into debt. Giant shrugs it off, and places several new bets. He then stops off at Shadow's home to drop off a record. Shadow confides in him that he is cheating on his girlfriend. This leads to the next scene where Bleek is in bed with Clarke, and she asks him to let her sing a number at the club with his band, to which he declines.Bleek and Giant are fending off requests from the other members of the band, especially Shadow, for a raise due to the bands success at the club. Bleek goes to the club owners to see about more money, which they refuse, reminding him that it was Giant who locked him into the current deal.That night at the club, both Clarke and Indigo arrive at the club to see Bleek. They are wearing the same style dress, which Bleek had purchased for them both. Bleek attempts to work it out with each girl, but they are both upset with him over the dresses, and though he sleeps with them each again they leave him (after he calls each of them by the others' name). However, tension rises with Shadow, who has feelings for Clarke.Bleek and Giant go for a bike ride, where Bleek insists to Giant that he do a better job managing and bringing in money. Giant promises to do so, then asks Bleek for a loan to pay off his gambling debt. Bleek declines, and later Giant is apprehended by two loan sharks Madlock (Samuel L. Jackson) and Rod (Leonard L. Thomas) who demand payment. Giant can't pay and gets his fingers broken. Later Giant tells Bleek that he fell off his bike on the ride home, but Bleek does not believe him. Giant asks the other band members for money and Left loans him five hundred dollars. When loan sharks stake out Giant's home, he goes to Bleek for a place to stay. Bleek agrees to help him raise the money, but fires him as manager.Bleek misses both his girlfriends, leaving messages for each, but Clarke has begun a new relationship with Shadow. Bleek finds out about it, and fires Shadow from the band. The loan sharks track Giant down at the club before Bleek can come up with the money, take him outside and beat him while Bleek plays. Bleek goes outside to intervene, and gets beaten as well. Additionally, one loan shark (Madlock) takes Bleek's own trumpet, and smacks him across the face with it. This not only puts Bleek in the hospital, but it also permanently injures his lip, making him unable to continue playing trumpet.Months later, Bleek reunites with Giant, who has gotten a job as a doorman and stopped gambling. He drops into see Shadow and Clarke, who are now performing together with the rest of Bleek's former band. Shadow invites him on stage, and they play together. Bleek still has scars to his lips, and is unable to play correctly. He walks off the stage, gives his trumpet to Giant, and goes directly to Indigo's house. She is angry with him because she hasn't heard from him in over a year. She tries to reject him, but agrees to take him back when he begs her to save his life.A montage flashes through their wedding, the birth of their son, Miles (Jelani Asar Snipes), and Bleek teaching his son to play the trumpet. In the final scene of the movie, Miles (Arnold Cromer) is ten years old, and wants to go outside to play with his friends. Indigo wants him to finish practicing his trumpet lessons. However, Bleek relents and allows his son to leave and play. This final scene uses exactly the same dialogue as the (almost identical) opening scene, with changes only in the delivery of the dialogue leading to an alternate conclusion.
    

Mo' Better Blues

Bamboozled

Maynard

ACORN and the Firestorm


            Ice-T, living a sweet, hobo lifestyle, is approached by some rich white dudes and offered a job "assisting" a bunch of other rich white dudes on a "hunting trip" in the Rockies. Failing to consider past relationships between poor black people and rich white people, he accepts their offer, only to find that by "assisting" the white dudes really meant "running for his life", and by "hunting trip" they really meant "hunting trip". It's a laugh-a-minute as we watch Ice-T use all of his street wiles and urban cunning to escape a gang of armed and gouty job-creators while running through the jungle.
    

Surviving the Game

The Talk: Race in America


            In Manhattan, New York City, Judy, also known as Girl 6 (Theresa Randle), is at a very awkward audition with Quentin Tarantino. Judy seems to grin and bear it. Tarantino reveals that the film Judy is auditioning for is "the greatest romantic, African-American film ever made. Directed by me, of course." However, Judy grows suspicious of the audition, when "Q.T.", tells her that "Wesley, Denzel, and Fishburne" are signed up to play supporting roles. Judy seems to keep her cool until it is requested that she remove her blouse so "Q.T." and his assistant can see her breasts. She reluctantly complies, but not for long. She walks out on the audition.Her agent (John Turturro) is furious. Having worked hard to get Judy her audition with such a prestigious director, he quickly and angrily drops her from his roster of clients. Her melodramatic acting coach (Susan Batson) is also extremely displeased. When Judy tells her why she did not go through with the audition, the acting coach still does not see any reason why Judy should have walked out. This, topped with the fact that Judy has not paid her rent in a very long while, forces her to drop Judy from her roster of clients as well.Now unable to secure acting work, Judy must find a way to make ends meet. She tries a number of jobs: passing out fliers, waiting tables at a club, etc. At one point she agrees to be an extra on a movie set. However, it is cold and unpleasant, as is the director. Judy is sick with a cold, and still trying to secure work. While reading a newspaper, she sees an ad for a "friendly phone line", as well as one with the headline, "mo money, mo money, mo money". She circles them both.This brings her to a meeting at a phone sex office. She meets the boss (Jenifer Lewis), who seems to be an assertive but friendly woman. The two click and the "audition" goes over just fine. The boss, now known as Lil, says that although she can't promise anything, she'll put in the good word for Judy. Judy also goes to another meeting, but the boss there wants her to do more visually related work, so she declines. Then, she attends another meeting, at a strip club/phone sex line with a relaxed boss (Madonna). She would take the job, but the content allowed for on-line discussion is a bit too heavy for her taste. She decides to stick to her original application with Lil.We now look in on Judy's dissolved relationship with her kleptomaniac ex-husband (Isaiah Washington), as well as her relationship with her baseball-memorabilia obsessed best friend, Jimmy (Spike Lee). Jimmy is reliant on his collection for money, but until it accumulates enough age to be worth money, he gets his rent money from Judy.Throughout the film, the phone sex line, having been secured at Lil's company, begins to take its mental toll on the newly christened Girl 6. She has to pretend to be white for all her clients unless they specifically request a black girl. She trusts her clients too much at times, and even agrees to meet one of her callers at Coney Island, but when he sees that she is not white he passes by her bench and ignores her when she calls out to him and pretends he isn't the man she was meeting. It is visible to everybody, especially Lil and Jimmy, that Judy is having a breakdown. The movie culminates in a dark sequence in which she enters a snuff fantasy with a caller (Michael Imperioli). It becomes serious when she discovers the caller knows where she lives. Running upstairs for shelter with Jimmy, she decides that it is time to leave the phone sex career behind and get her acting career in motion. Finally reconciling with her ex, she decides to move to Los Angeles.Oddly enough once in California, Judy attends another audition in which she experiences the same problem as the one with "Q.T." She again walks out. However, it is clear that Girl 6 has reclaimed her dignity, and will find work sooner or later. On that hopeful note, the film comes to a close.
    

Sam Pollard

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