2019 FILM LIST
A Conversation With the Devil
Satire/Comedy/Horror (US), Dir. Jonathan I. Jackson. 7 mins.
In his first televised interview, Satan tries to set the record straight on his life and his view of death, clocks, the bible, Jesus, and humanity.
A Craftsman
Drama (US), Dir. Sanford Jenkins. 14 mins.
Overcome with grief, Herman, a skilled woodworker, builds a coffin that will be his final resting place. Until a neighbor visits.
Bakosó: AfroBeats in Cuba
Documentary (US), Dir. Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi. 52 mins.
What do “Está Rico” by Marc Anthony, Will Smith & Bad Bunny have in common with “Made For Now” by Janet Jackson x Daddy Yankee? They both use AfroBeats without crediting the genre’s origin. Bakosó is a film that does the opposite by following DJ Jigüe to his hometown of Santiago de Cuba to get inspiration from the new sounds.
Battledream Chronicles: A New Beginning
Sci-fi animation (FR), Dir. Alain Bidard. 24 mins.
Syanna, a young, Black girl from the Caribbean, wakes up as an amnesic in an Afrofuturistic world where she has been enslaved by the global colonial empire of Mortemonde. Every day, she is forced to play a dangerous video game in which players die.
60th Anniversary screening of Black Orpheus
Drama (FR), Dir. Marcel Camus. 1 hr., 40 mins.
A retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Academy Award winner in 1960 for Best Foreign Language Film.
Blood Runs Down
Drama (US), Dir. Zandashe Brown. 18 mins.
When a woman undergoes a frightening transition, her vigilant five-year old daughter must decide between saving her or protecting herself in this haunting tale of inheritance, daughterhood, and demons.
30th Anniversary Screening of Do the Right Thing
Drama (US), Dir. Spike Lee. 2 hrs., 5 mins.
Spike Lee’s tour de force from 1989. On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone’s hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Feathers
Drama (US), Dir. A.V.Rockwell. 19 mins.
Elizier, an emotionally-dejected new enrollee at The Edward R. Mill School for Lost Boys, must overcome memories of a tragic past and the present hazing by his peers in order to tackle larger issues dominating his young life.
Fed Up
Thriller/Comedy (US), Dir. Keema Mingo. 9 mins.
Three little girls seek revenge on the criminals who destroy their toys as they try to escape a bounty hunter.
Good Luck America
Narrative short/Music Video (US), Dir. Kamara Thomas. 7 mins.
Released on Election Day, ‘Good Luck America’ is an unexpectedly moving song that looks for transcendence in the discarded refuse of the American Dream.
Hair Wolf
Comedy (US), Dir. Mariama Diallo. 12 mins.
The staff of a black hair salon fend off a strange new monster: white women intent on sucking the lifeblood from black culture.
I’m Sorry
Drama (US), Dir. Marcellus Cox. 15 mins.
A drama about a man who spends his last free day before heading to prison apologizing to everyone near and dear to him for betraying their trust.
Introduction
Drama (US), Dir. Amber Delgado. 10 mins.
Fed up with living in the shadows, Joanna finds the confidence to be her true self in a small rural town in North Carolina.
Jinn
Drama (US), Dir. Nijla Mumin. 2 hrs.
Summer is a 17-year old carefree black girl, whose world is turned upside down when her mother, a popular meteorologist named Jade Jennings, abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person, prompting Summer to reevaluate her identity.
MOTHERS
Drama (US), Dir. Aurora Ferlin. 16 mins.
When the teenage son of Denise Matthews is murdered, she struggles not to surrender to her grief. Despite her husbands’ concerns, Denise is determined to confront the accused killer in court.
Mr. Soul!
Documentary (US), Dir. Melissa Haizlip. 1 hr. 55 mins.
Before Oprah, before Arsenio, there was Mr. SOUL. On the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, one fearless black pioneer reconceived a Harlem Renaissance for a new era, ushering giants and rising stars of black American culture onto the national television stage.
Other
Drama/Comedy (US), Dir. Xavier Neal-Burgin. 7 mins.
In the wake of tragedy and racial tension in Charlottesville, one black woman must find a way to navigate her life as the rest of the world seems unaffected.
Professional Black Girl, Season 2
TV/Online series, Dir. Yaba Blay.
Professional Black Girl, Season 2 is a transmedia project created to celebrate everyday Black Girl Magic, because yes, round-the-way girls got magic too!
Prototype
Sci-fi drama (US), Dir. Christopher Ortega. 19 mins.
A technician conducting empathy tests on androids stumbles across a life-changing secret when an unruly subject complicates her work.
Roots
Drama (UK), Dir. Jo Burrows. 7 mins.
With adolescence and womanhood fast approaching, Ella’s journey begins in the comfort of her own home. Though the accompaniment of music we are given a glimpse into Ella’s life on one summer’s day.
Showtime
Drama (US), Dir. Shawn Antoine II. 15 mins.
Darius and Hakeem dance on New York City trains to earn honest money and escape the crime-riddled streets of Harlem. A woman sees Darius dancing on the train and offers him an opportunity to audition for a Juilliard travel dance team.
Sight
Drama (US), Dir. Janeen Talbott. 15 mins.
Naji, a nonbeliever from a parallel earth, must make the ultimate sacrifice to save her tribe when supernatural forces bring a dark truth to light.
Solace
Drama (US), Dir. Tchaiko Omawale. 1 hr., 30 mins.
A 17year-old orphan is shipped off to her estranged grandmother and she plots her escape while navigating a foreign environment, new friendships and a hidden eating disorder.
The Hook (Saltbox)
TV/Online series. Shirlette Ammons & Saleem Reshamwala
The Land of Fish and Grits
TV/Online series. Justin Robinson
The Reservoir, Episode 2: Soul Survivor, Dir. Lana Garland. 10 mins.
Documentary (US), Dir. Lana Garland. 10 mins.
Pierce McKoy pursued a career as an R&B singer, only to have to fall back on the income he generated as a shoe-shine man.
The Revolution of the Fairytale
Documentary (UK), Dir. Fiona Compton. 50 mins.
The Revolution of the Fairytale is a creative Caribbean collective, coming together to rewrite fairytales from popular culture, incorporating unknown heroes from the Caribbean.
Utopia
Drama (US), Dir. Aimiende Negbenebor Sela. 15 mins.
Utopia is a surreal drama about an aspirational, blond young lady who wakes up from a coma in Uganda. And, no — nothing is as it seems.
Veer
Drama (NO), Dir. Sveinung Gjessing. 7 mins.
Veer is a poetic dance short film about ruling and being ruled.
Where the Water Runs
Sci-fi drama (US), Dir. Dubois Ashong. 25 mins.
Set during the worst drought in U.S history, Nasir Jones enjoys a career as a water transporter for the local government water facility that blatantly protects the financial interests of the wealthy and resourceful. Nasir soon finds himself torn and awakened to the moral contradictions of his community and personal life.
Which Durham
Documentary (US), Dir. Paul Newman. 6 mins.
A brief glance into the history of East Durham and the role it plays in the developing city of Durham today.
While I Breathe, I Hope
Documentary (US), Dir. Emily Harrold. 1 hr., 10 mins.
What does it mean to be young, Black, and a Democrat in the American South? While I Breathe, I Hope follows South Carolina politician Bakari Sellers as he runs to become the first African American candidate elected statewide in over a century.