movies & FILMS
REQUIRED VIEWING
Selma, a film that chronicles the marches of the Civil Rights Movement in Selma, an Alabama city that became the battleground in the fight for suffrage.
Just Mercy, tells the true story of lawyer Bryan Stevenson. After graduating from Harvard, Stevenson heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or those not afforded proper representation. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillian, who is sentenced to die in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite evidence proving his innocence. In the years that follow, Stevenson encounters racism and legal and political maneuverings as he tirelessly fights for McMillian's life.
The Hate U Give — a film based on the YA novel, offering an intimate portrait of race in America through the eyes of a girl between two worlds: the poor, mostly black, neighborhood where she lives and the rich, mostly white, prep school she attends.
If Beale Street Could Talk — Set in early-1970s Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk is a timeless and moving love story of both a couple's unbreakable bond and the African-American family's empowering embrace, as told through the eyes of 19-year-old Tish River.
Moonlight (Netflix) — In this acclaimed coming-of-age drama, a young man who grows up poor, Black and gay in a rough Miami neighborhood tries to find his place in the world.
12 Years A Slave — the true story of Solomon Northup, an African-American freeman who, in 1841, was snatched off the streets of Washington and sold. It’s at once a familiar, utterly strange and deeply American story in which the period trappings long beloved by Hollywood — the paternalistic gentry with their pretty plantations, their genteel manners and all the fiddle-dee-dee rest — are the backdrop for an outrage.
Do The Right Thing — One of Spike Lee's most fully realized efforts— and one of the most important films of the 1980s. This powerful visual feast combines humor and drama with memorable characters while tracing the course of a single day on a block in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. It's the hottest day of the year, a scorching 24-hour period that will change the lives of its residents forever.
BlacKkKlansman — uses history to offer bitingly trenchant commentary on current events and brings out some of Spike Lee's hardest-hitting work in decades along the way. Tells the story of Ron Stallworth, the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department, who sets out on a dangerous mission to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan.
Sorry To Bother You — In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, which propels him into a macabre universe of "powercalling" that leads to material glory.
Get Out — Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined.
Hidden Figures — the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, three brilliant African-American women working at NASA who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world.
Strong Island (Netflix) — In April 1992, a 24 year-old Black teacher, William Ford, was killed a white man. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. Strong Island chronicles the arc of his family across history, geography and tragedy — from the racial segregation of the Jim Crow South to the promise of New York City; from the presumed safety of middle class suburbs, to the maelstrom of an unexpected, violent death.
Fruitvale Station — Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, director Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station follows the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who is shot and killed by BART officers, as well as the effects of his tragic death on the city and the nation.
Malcolm X — Anchored by a powerful performance from Denzel Washington, Spike Lee's biopic of legendary civil rights leader Malcolm X brings his autobiography to life with an epic sweep and a nuanced message.
ADDITIONAL FILMS
Self-Made: The Enduring Legacy of Madam C.J. Walker — a Netflix miniseries that tells story of Madam C.J. Walker, the trailblazing African American haircare entrepreneur and cultural icon who was America's first female self-made millionaire.
Seven Seconds (Netflix) — The death of a 15-year-old African American boy in Jersey City sets off a police cover-up and a search for the truth.
Queen & Slim — While on a forgettable first date together in Ohio, a Black man and woman are pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. The situation escalates, with sudden and tragic results, when the man kills the police officer in self-defense. In fear for their lives, the man, a retail employee, and the woman, a criminal defense lawyer, are forced to go on the run.
Mudbound (Netflix)— Set in the rural American South during World War II, Mudbound is an epic story of two families pitted against one another by a ruthless social hierarchy, yet bound together by the shared farmland of the Mississippi Delta.
Hollywood — follows a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers in post-World War II Hollywood as they try to make it in Tinseltown. Each character offers a unique glimpse behind the gilded curtain of Hollywood's Golden Age, spotlighting the unfair systems and biases across race, gender and sexuality that persist to this day.
Miss Virginia (Netflix) — the true story of education advocate Virginia Walden Ford, a single mother who fought against the systems threatening to destroy her son and thousands of young black men just like him.
Blindspotting — Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his childhood best friend work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men's friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in.
Marshall — tells the story of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, as a young lawyer in conservative Connecticut defending a black chauffeur charged with sexual assault and attempted murder of his white socialite employer. Muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall partners with a courageous young Jewish lawyer, and together they mount the defense in an environment of racism and Anti-Semitism. The high profile case and the partnership with Friedman served as a template for Marshall's creation of the NAACP legal defense fund.
Detroit — a gripping story, delivered by a stunning cast, of one of the darkest moments during the civil unrest that rocked Detroit in the summer of '67.
Clemency — a prison warden is forced to confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.
Monsters & Men — One night, in front of a bodega in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood, Manny Ortega witnesses a white police officer wrongfully gun down a neighborhood street hustler, and Manny films the incident on his phone. Now he's faced with a dilemma: release the video and bring unwanted exposure to himself and his family, or keep the video private and be complicit in the injustice? Well-acted and visually stylish, Monsters and Men tells its timely story with compassion and complexity.
Little Fires Everywhere — Based on Celeste Ng's 2017 bestseller, Little Fires Everywhere follows the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and an enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. The story explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the ferocious pull of motherhood -- and the danger in believing that following the rules can avert disaster.
