Adventures in Assimilation Richard Dean Moss 1992, 8 min., Color, US In this engaging performance video, Moss experiments with his own choreography and dance, using movement within a fixed frame to express self-discovery and the aesthetics of identity....
Afro-punk James Spooner 2003, 66 min., Color, US AFRO-PUNK explores race identity within the punk scene. This film tackles hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people w...
All the Ladies Say Ana Garcia Producer: Ana "Rokafella" Garcia 2010, 45 min., Color, US Veteran b-girl Ana "Rokafella" Garcia's first documentary film ALL THE LADIES SAY features the work of female breakdancers in the United States, including Aiko, Baby Love, Beta, Lady Champ, Severe and...
amaurosis Tran T. Kim-Trang 2002, 28 min., Color, US Amaurosis is an experimental documentary about Nguyen Duc Dat, a blind, American Asian guitarist living in Little Saigon, California. Dat was a 'triple outcast': blind, Amerasian and an impoverished o...
Anomaly: A Documentary Film about Multiracial Identity Jessica Chen Drammeh Producer: Jessica Chen Drammeh & Sharon K. Smith 2013, 47 min., Color, US ANOMALY is an award-winning documentary film that provides a thought-provoking look at multiracial identity by combining personal narratives with the larger drama of mixed race in American culture. Th...
Arctic Hip Hop Randy Kelly Producer: Jacques Ménard & Micheline Shoebridge 2007, 44 min., Color, Canada In Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, an isolated community of 1500 mainly Inuit residents, Hip-Hop has been popular for many years. But it’s the glamourized gangsta lifestyle on display in music videos that man...
Asé Nicole Brooks 2012, 6 min., Color, Canada Dance film that celebrates the lives of enslaved Africans. As they are released from their daily work, they gather to prepare and participate in Sunday worship in solidarity with their Ancestors and f...
Blaze: The Truth Through Hip Hop Maurice Lynch 2006, 90 min., Color, US The Hip-Hop Christian movement has been uplifting youth by delivering positive religious messages that are not about drugs, sex, or hate but of hope and peace.
In a society where artists are glorif...
Blood Judy Singh 2005, 40 min., Color, Cuba BLOOD features popular Canadian-Jamaican dub poet d’bi.young, with performances by the Cuban female Hip-Hop Group Las Krudas. The film is part extraordinary music video (shot on locations around Havan...
Border Brujo Isaac Artenstein Producer: Cinewest 1989, 60 min., Color, US Border Brujo is a ritual-linguistic journey across the U.S./Mexico border written and performed by artist Guillermo Gómez Peña. In the guise of a cross-cultural shaman, Gómez Peña shifts into 15 diff...
Calypso @ Dirty Jim's Pascale Obolo 2005, 85 min., Color, Trinidad & Tobago Featuring the last of the great calypsonians, bringing them all together to sing such classics as “Rum & Coca Cola,” “Jean and Dinah,” and “Shame and Scandal in the Family,” to name a few, the film pr...
Calypso Dreams Geoffrey Dunn and Michael Horne 2004, 85 min., Color, Trinidad & Tobago An intimate portrait of some of the true calypsonians in Trinidad & Tobago, in performance and in conversation. Shot over three years in Port of Spain, Trinidad, the documentary includes such legendar...
El Charango Jim Virga & Tula Goenka 2006, 22 min., Color, Bolivia This short documentary is about a little instrument, a large silver mine and the highest city in the world. Cerro Rico in Potosi, Bolivia, was discovered by Spanish conquistadors in 1545, who enslaved...
Come With It, Black Man Tamara Tam-Cruickshank 2012, 103 min., Color, Trinidad & Tobago This documentary features music and performances of legendary calypsonian Dr. Leroy Calliste, better known as Black Stalin....
Cruisin' J-town Duane Kubo Producer: Visual Communications 1974, 24 min., Color, US This is the story of the formation of the popular jazz fusion band, Hiroshima, in the late 70s. The musicians reflect on their culture, musical influences, and the political movements of the 1960's ou...
Deft Changes: An Improvised Experience Alonzo Speight 1991, 10 min., Color, US Through short improvised sketches, this video explores the generational conflicts between a father and son who are each musicians. It features performances by guitarist Mark Whittfield, and the late m...
Democracy in Dakar Ben Herson, Magee McIlvaine & Chris Moore Producer: Nomadic Wax and Sol Productions 2007, 66 min., Color, US/Senegal "Democracy in Dakar" explores the transformative role of Hip-Hop in politics in Senegal, West Africa during the 2007 presidential election campaign. This documentary mixes interviews, freestyles, and ...
Desi Remix Chicago Style Balvinder Dhenjan 1996, 46 min., Color, US/UK Shot in Chicago and London this energetic documentary follows three very different Punjabi bands and their attempts to use their music as a bridge between the competing cultural influences of India an...
Diamonds in the Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution Brett Mazurek 2009, 53 min., US/Uganda From the ashes of four decades of war, AIDS and corruption in Uganda, The Bataka Squad artists, Babaluku and Saba Saba, rise to forge a revolutionary path using music. They are on a mission to empower...
Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê Carolina Moraes-Liu Producer: Carolina Moraes-Liu and Chung Liu 2010, 20 min., Color, Brazil/US EBONY GODDESS: QUEEN OF ILÊ AIYÊ follows three women competing to be the carnival queen of Ilê Aiyê, a prominent and controversial Afro-Brazilian group with an all-black membership. The selection is b...
Favela Rising Jeff Zimbalist & Matt Mochary Color, Brazil Their music fueled a movement. His message fought a war.
FAVELA RISING documents a man and a movement, a city divided and a favela (Brazilian squatter settlement) united. Haunted by the murders of ...
Fire Burn Babylon Sarita Siegel 2012, 53 min., Color, UK An inquiry into the transformations of culture and place when a spiritually vivid past meets the intransigent reality of a Western city. Rastafarians Lyndon, I-Shaka and Elroy reinvent themselves as r...
Follow Your Heart: China's New Youth Movement Duncan Jepson 2007, 89 min., Color, China A revealing documentary on the work and life of successful and independent Chinese Hip-Hop artists and their cultural influence in a society rapidly changing from communism to consumerism. Clashing wi...
Frekuensia Kolombiana Vanessa Gocksch 2006, 58 min., Color, Colombia FREKUENSIA KOLOMBIANA profiles the grassroots Hip-Hop scene in Colombia, exploring the popularity of all the elements--MCing, breakdancing, graffiti, and DJing--and their relation to the political and...
From Mali to Michigan: A Musical Bridge Louise Bourgault Producer: Louise Bourgault & Robert Thomson 2006, 28 min., Color, US/Mali A documentary about musical collaboration in the global age, From Mali to Michigan follows African World Music pop diva and griotte (traditional female bard) Naïny Diabaté during her 2005 visit to the...
Frontier Life Hans Fjellestad Producer: Ryan Page 2003, 92 min., Color, US/Mexico A feature-length documentary that explores beyond Tijuana s sin-city heritage and searches for the heart and identity of a city that is much more than a cantina-strewn throwback to the Old West. It a...
Gershwin & Bess: A Dialogue with Anne Brown Nicole Franklin Producer: EPIPHANY Inc. 2010, 36 min., Color, US In 2004 at her home in Oslo, Norway, soprano Anne Wiggins Brown sat down with tenor Dr. William A. Brown (no relation) of the Center Black Music Research for an on-the-record conversation about origin...
Graffiti Verite' 1: Read the Writing on the Wall Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2005, 45 min., Color, US An award-winning documentary that explores the eclectic world of Hip-Hop and the urban graffiti artist. GRAFFITI VERITE’ is the first up-close and personal expose’ into the graffiti art world as exper...
Graffiti Verite' 10: Hip-Hop Dance: Moving in the Moment Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2010, 75 min., Color, US Whether you call it breakin’, bboyin’, bgirlin’ or simply Hip-Hop dance, what we witness here is authentically funky and soulful. These dancers strive to be “in the moment.” When it’s good, what’s exp...
Graffiti Verite' 11: Don't Believe Da Noize!: Voices from Da Hip-Hop Undaground Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2010, 55 min., Color, US This documentary is an exploration of the creative expressions in contemporary American Hip-Hop. It focuses on the innovation, movement, and the raw and unfiltered personalized “truth” of some of the...
Graffiti Verite' 2: Freedom of Expression? Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2005, 57 min., Color, US Flying high above Los Angeles, GV2 looks down on the streets, introducing us to the artists who “tag” the walls of our cities with spraycans while we sleep.
GV2 features 19 graffiti artists and rev...
Graffiti Verite' 3: A Voyage Into the Iconography of Graffiti Art Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2005, 54 min., Color, US This experimental documentary probes the socio-political context that distracts the average person from appreciating the significance of graffiti’s historical and artistic impact.
In GV3, Bryan for...
Graffiti Verite' 4: Basic Techniques for Creating Graffiti Art on Walls & Canvas Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2005, 68 min., Color, US This documentary is the ultimate step-by-step program on spray can art. Outsiders get a rare glimpse into the outstanding art and eclectic personalities behind the controversial graffiti art movement...
Graffiti Verite' 5: The Sacred Elements of Hip-Hop Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2005, 42 min., Color, US GV5 is a portrait of the educational value and therapeutic aspect of the four elements of contemporary Hip-Hop: DJing, break-dancing, rappin’ and graffiti art.
“Hip-Hop, if used creatively, can giv...
Graffiti Verite' 6: The Odyssey: Poets, Passion & Poetry Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2006, 78 min., Color, US GV6 features 31 multi-ethnic, award-winning, published and highly respected poets. Their creations are a seamlessly woven, uniquely honest, visual tapestry that synthesizes one-on-one poetry readings,...
Graffiti Verite' 7: Random Urban Static: … Spoken Word Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2008, 120 min., Color, US GV7 probes the reality of spoken word poets, or, poets that write for the stage. Spoke Word poetry, often flavored with Hip-Hop, connects with today’s youth because the poetics of this art form speak ...
Graffiti Verite' 8: The Fifth Element: The Art of the Beat-Boxer Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2010, 45 min., Color, US Combining throat-based effects that create a “wall of sound,” the job of the human beat-boxer is to compose a flawless soundscape.
GV8 explores the history of beat-boxing and its claim as its own ...
Graffiti Verite' 9: Soulful Ways: The DJ Bob Bryan Producer: Bob Bryan 2010, 45 min., Color, US Watching a great DJ spin is analogous to watching a professional musician perform. As composer and producer Glenn Towery says, “DJs have to understand the dynamics of music to understand the beat”.
...
Hiphopistan: Representing Locality in a Global City Çiğdem Akbay 2007, 25 min., Color, Turkey HIPHOPISTAN is a documentary film that examines the impact of Hip-Hop culture on Istanbul youth and reveals how young Turkish rappers, DJs, break-dancers, and graffiti artists creatively blend popular...
I Love Hip Hop in Morocco Joshua Asen & Jennifer Needleman Producer: Rizz Productions, Inc. 2007, 80 min., Color, US/Morocco This feature-length documentary follows the creation of Morocco's first-ever Hip-Hop festival, from inception all the way to the stage. Along the way we meet DJ Key, a self-taught turntable prodigy wh...
I'm British But… Gurinder Chadha 1989, 30 min., Color, UK This unique look at Asians in Britain offers first-hand views of second generation Asians, adding archival footage and invigorating Bhangra and Bangla music--traditional Punjabi songs updated with hip...
The Insatiable Season Mariel Brown 2007, 52 min., Color, Trinidad & Tobago It’s January 2006 and Brian Mac Farlane’s carnival workshop is quiet and practically empty – littered with left-over costumes and a couple of hangers-on from last year’s carnival. The atmosphere begin...
Inside Out in the Open Alan Roth 2001, 60 min., Color, US INSIDE OUT IN THE OPEN focuses on the revolutionary, avant-garde developments in Jazz that evolved in the early 1960's, expanding the boundaries in rhythm, sound, harmonics, and collective improvisati...
Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi 2005, 50 min., Color, US/Cuba INVENTOS explores the burgeoning Hip-Hop scene in Cuba. In spite of the US trade embargo against Cuba, the Hip-Hop movement is flourishing with popular innovative groups such as EPG&B, Grandes Ligas, ...
Is It Sweet? Tales of an African Superstar in New York Jesse W Shipley Color, US Reggie Rockstone is a celebrity rap musician in Accra, Ghana, where he inspired a young generation of musicians and continues to draw huge crowds. But when he comes to New York to play for the Ghanaia...
Know Your Enemy Art Jones 1990, 27 min., Color, US Using the controversy surrounding the rap group Public Enemy, KNOW YOUR ENEMY critiques the mass media's bias against rap music and culture. Interviews combined with performance footage, and archival ...
La Bruja: A Witch from the Bronx Felix Rodriguez 2005, 50 min., Color, US Art, labor and family blend in this intimate documentary about performance artist Caridad De La Luz, better known as 'La Bruja'. Born and raised in the Bronx, this daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants ...
Living the Hiplife Jesse W Shipley 2007, 61 min., Color, US/Ghana This film is a musical portrait of street life in urban West Africa. It follows the birth of Hiplife music in Accra, Ghana, a mix of various African musical forms and American hip hop. Archival footag...
Lockdown, USA Michael Skolnik & Rebecca Chaiklin 2006, 84 min., Color, US In 1973, New York State enacted the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which are the harshest drug control measures ever passed in any democratic nation. President Reagan declared the National “War on Drugs” in 1...
Mas Man Dalton Narine 2010, 56 min., Color, Trinidad/US Mingling traditional Carnival elements with abstract ideas, Emmy Award winner Peter Minshall goes chic to chic with upper crust art in Trinidad’s annual spring festival. The film captures his flair fo...
Media Assassin Art Jones 1989, 17 min., Color, US A politically charged analysis of hip-hop culture that challenges the media portrayal of hip-hop as violent and noisy, rather than as a statement of identity and empowerment....
Mr. Devious John Fredericks 2006, 73 min., South Africa MR. DEVIOUS is an exploration of the life and impact of South African Hip-Hop artist Mr. Devious on the youth and community of Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. The film traces Mr. Devious' intro...
Musica Gustavo Paredes 1985, 59 min., Color, US This film is an odyssey through the eyes, words and music of individuals who pioneered Afro-Cuban music in the United States. The video offers a rich overview of a wide number of musical styles from ...
Nas: Time Is Illmatic One9 & Erik Parker Producer: One9 & Erik Parker 2014, 74 min., Color, US Twenty years after the release of Nas’s groundbreaking debut album ‘Illmatic,’ NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC takes us into the heart of his creative process. Returning to his childhood home in Queensbridge, N...
The Other Side of the Water: The Journey of a Haitian Rara Band in Brooklyn Jeremy Robins and Magali Damas 2010, 52 min., Color/BW, US/Haiti Part carnival, part vodou ceremony, and part grassroots protest, Haitian “Rara” is one of the most breathtaking and contested forms of music in the Americas. The Other Side of the Water follows a gro...
The Other Side of the Water: The Journey of a Haitian Rara Band in Brooklyn (72) Jeremy Robins and Magali Damas 2010, 72 min., Color/BW, US/Haiti Part carnival, part vodou ceremony, and part grassroots protest, Haitian “Rara” is one of the most breathtaking and contested forms of music in the Americas. The Other Side of the Water follows a grou...
Percussion, Impressions and Reality Allan Siegel Producer: Third World Newsreel 1978, 30 min., Color, US This is the first comprehensive U.S. film to explore the origins and growth of traditional Puerto Rican music. Interviews with musicians living in New York reveal how traditional music is used as a so...
Punta Soul Nyasha Laing 2008, 39 min., Color, Belize Punta Soul is the intergenerational story of an inspiring musical journey told through its intimate portraits of Garifuna musicians such as Andy Palacio. The Garifuna, an afro-indigenous people exiled...
Red Detachment of Women People's Republic of China Producer: People's Republic of China 1968, 105 min., Color, China This film presents the famous ballet from China. It is a blend of traditional Western theatre, Peking opera, folk dance, calisthenics, and acrobatics. It tells the story of a women's military unit dur...
Respect is Due Cyrille Phipps Producer: Third World Newsreel Workshop 1992, 10 min., Color, US In keeping with the doctrines of Wall Street and Madison Avenue, sex sells rap music. In this video, Black youth examine the ways women of African descent are frequently portrayed in rap lyrics and mu...
Ritual Rhythms: Candombe Mabel Maio 1999, 48 min., Color, Uruguay This documentary explores the history and modern reality of candombe, the drum music of Uruguay's black parade bands. It is a way of life that was born in the musical gatherings of slaves in urban mar...
Rock Me, Goong Hay Shelton Ito Producer: Third World Newsreel Workshop 1992, 5 min., Color, US The Goong Hay Kid is the fictional Chinese rapper created and played by Alvin Eng. ROCK ME, GOONG HAY combines hip-hop styling with a forceful protest against stereotypes....
Scene Not Heard Maori Karmael Holmes 2005, 45 min., Color, US Right from the beginning of the hip hop movement, Philadelphia's artists have made major contributions as emcees, grafitti artists, dancers, and especially as deejays. Native talents such as Will Smit...
Shaman Llego Frank Perez Producer: Third World Newsreel Workshop 1992, 17 min., Color, US This documentary profiles the "Shaman Repertory Theatre", a community oriented group based in Spanish Harlem. Through sketches from performances and interviews with troupe members, this piece illustra...
Slave Routes: Resistance, Abolition and Creative Progress Jayne Cortez Producer: Manthia Diawara 2009, 100 min., Color, US From the 1400s to the 1800s millions of Africans were forcefully removed from Africa and shipped across the Atlantic to the so-called "New World". In 1808, the passage of the Transantlantic Slave Trad...
A Song for Ourselves Tadashi Nakamura 2009, 35 min., Color, US A SONG FOR OURSELVES is an intimate journey into the life and music of Asian American Movement troubadour Chris Iijima. Struggling to make sense of their father’s early death, Iijima's teenage sons l...
Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes Mark James Producer: Reshma B / Mark James Color, Jamaica STUDIO 17: THE LOST REGGAE TAPES tells the compelling story of the Chin’s, The Chinese Jamaican family behind “Studio 17”. Located in downtown Kingston, Studio 17 became a legendary recording studio r...
Unity: Hip Hop’s Next Chapter Mark Holmes & Mark Holt 2011, 47 min., Color, Canada For years now various platforms and reports have been developed and issued to discover how our schools and institutions can improve upon such essential developmental components for our youth such as s...
The World Saxophone Quartet Barbara McCullough 1980, 5 min., Color, US A glance at an innovative quartet of jazz saxophonists, Hamiet Bluiet, Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, and David Murray, both in concert and conversation....
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