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Black Perspectives

From Harlem jazz reunions to West African family epics, this slate of stunning films honors Black life across generations through intimate dramas and landmark queer classics.


14th

Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay investigates the 14th Amendment, exploring its many facets, from who gets to belong in America to the rights they’re entitled to.

Ana, en passant

Fernanda Salgado

Following her grandmother’s death in Paris, a young woman travels to Brazil where she encounters her exact double in this lyrical animated drama.

Ben’Imana

Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo

In this stunning, intimate portrait of defiance and forgiveness, a Rwandan genocide survivor’s convictions are tested by her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy.

Black Perspectives Shorts: Love with No Place to Go

Various

From a contemporary, animated folktale to extraterrestrial activity with a religious bent, bold imaginations rule this program. Although these films differ in genre and approach, the throughline connecting them is the universal experience of grief, both the pain of losing loved ones and the eventual acceptance of the surprising paths life can take.

Chocolate Babies

Stephen Winter

In 1990s NYC, a group of HIV-positive queer activists wage fierce guerrilla warfare on corrupt politicians in this sharp, militant comedy-drama.

Clarissa

Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri

Adapting Mrs. Dalloway to modern Lagos, this evocative drama captures post-colonial class tensions, memory, and desire across a single momentous day.

Congo Boy

Rafiki Fariala

A Congolese teen refugee in Bangui fights to protect his family and hold onto his musical dreams through rap amid growing civil precarity.

Dao

Alain Gomis

Parallel timelines weave together a contemporary French wedding and an ancestral funeral in Guinea-Bissau for a West African diasporic family.

Finding Your Laughter

Arlieta Hall, Brittany Alsot

In this joyful, moving documentary, Chicago comedian Arlieta uses improv comedy techniques to care for her father as he battles Alzheimer’s.

Liz Here Now

Sterling Macer Jr.

Aunjanue Ellis Taylor mesmerizes as a devoted caregiver shielding two white children from domestic dysfunction in this deeply affecting 1960s-set drama.

Marie Madeleine

Gessica Généus

In coastal Haiti, a fiercely independent sex worker and an evangelical preacher’s son navigate desire, Vodou roots, and rigid religious dogma.

Once Upon a Time in Harlem

William Greaves, David Greaves

This sublime snapshot of a 1972 cocktail party filled with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance reveals the complexities of the world-renowned artistic movement.

Three Colors: Pan-African

Elijah Davis, Allison A. Waite, Tyler Holmes

Three stories connect across the Pan-African flag as an injured athlete, an evicted mother, and a sitcom star fight to survive modern Black America.

The Watermelon Woman

Cheryl Dunye

A video clerk unearths the hidden history of a 1930s Black actress in Cheryl Dunye’s landmark queer comedy.

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