Research Guides: Juneteenth Virtual Film Festival 2022: Titles

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Celebrating Black History with films from the Kathryn A. Martin Library!

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About Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a United States federal holiday. It commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African American people. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, but the order was not enforced by confederate states until the end of the Civil War. Texas was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery and the announcement of emancipation, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas, took place on June 19, 1865.

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The links below take you to the Library Catalog. Look for the link next to View Online and watch the film. You may be asked to login to gain access to the video.

MLK/FBI
Publication Date: 2020
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as an American hero: a bridge-builder, a shrewd political tactician, and a moral leader. Yet throughout his history-altering political career, he was often treated by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies like an enemy of the state. In this virtuosic film, award-winning editor, and director Sam Pollard lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance that dogged King's activism throughout the '50s and '60s, fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover. [107 minutes]
Afraid of Dark : Exploring Black Masculinity
Publication Date: 2014
"Why is everyone so afraid of black men?" In her new documentary, "Afraid of Dark", filmmaker Mya B. attempts to answer this question. The documentary challenges stereotypes, and their resulting worldview, through candid interviews of black men -- who span the spectrum of age and background -- to illustrate through their own words and personal reflections the difference between how society perceives black men and how they define themselves.
The Amazing Nina Simone
Publication Date: 2015
She was left out of Civil Rights history, erased by jazz critics, and forgotten by most Americans because no one knew how to categorize her greatness. But throughout the 1960s, Nina Simone was both loved and feared for her outspoken vision of Black Freedom. Her musical proclamations like "Mississippi Goddam", and her iconic style created an alternative voice that continues to empower with its unrelenting appeal for justice.
Baadasssss!
Publication Date: 2004
Mario Van Peebles' candid portrait of his father Melvin's struggle as a young, black director during the society-shifting early '70s. Determined to make a film that matters, Melvin (played by son Mario) deals with two-faced backers, a rag tag crew, threatening creditors and various shades of Hollywood hypocrisy. Obsessed and with everything on the line, including his failing eyesight and family, his only choice is to stick to his guns and do whatever it takes to get his neo-blaxploitation epic Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song to the audience for which it was envisioned. [109 minutes]
The Black Panthers : Vanguard of the Revolution
Publication Date: 2016
Revisit the turbulent 1960s, when a new revolutionary culture emerged with the Black Panther Party at the vanguard. Stanley Nelson tells the vibrant story of a pivotal movement that feels timely all over again. [1 hour 55 minutes]
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
Publication Date: 1998
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords is the first film to chronicle the history of the Black press, including its central role in the construction of modern African American identity. It recounts the largely forgotten stories of generations of Black journalists who risked life and livelihood so African Americans could represent themselves in their own words and images. [87 minutes]
Dirt and Deeds
Publication Date: 2015
Dirt And Deeds in Mississippi reveals the extraordinary story of a Delta community called Mileston in which 100 sharecropping families gained control of 10,000 acres of some of the best land in the state as a result of a radical New Deal era experiment in the 1930’s and in turn, became leaders of the movement in the 1960s. The film also presents new information about the infamous case of the three young activists murdered during Freedom Summer in 1964. [1 hour 23 minutes]
A Film Called Blacks Can't Swim
Publication Date: 2019
When African-American swimmer Simone Manuel won a 2016 Olympic Gold Medal she inspired a new generation of minority swimmers in America so the myth that 'Blacks Can't Swim' is exactly that a myth; but where does this rumour originate from? A short film (34 minutes) directed by award winning filmmaker Mysterex.
Homecoming
Publication Date: 1999
Homecoming is the first film to explore the rural roots of African American life. It chronicles the generations-old struggle of African Americans for land of their own which pitted them against both the Southern white power structure and the federal agencies responsible for helping them. Director Charlene Gilbert weaves this history together with a fond portrait of her own Georgia farming family into what she calls, "A story of land and love."
I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin; Raoul Peck
Publication Date: 2016
Explores the continued peril America faces from institutionalized racism. In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent Now, in his incendiary new documentary, master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. [94 minutes]
Ida B. Wells a Passion for Justice
Publication Date: 1989
Documents the dramatic life and turbulent times of the pioneering African American journalist, activist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader of the post-Reconstruction period. [55 minutes]
Kiki
Publication Date: 2016
A captivating look into the daily lives of a group of LGBTQ youth who comprise the "Kiki" scene as they prepare for and perform at fierce and exuberant ballroom competitions in NYC. [1 hour 34 minutes]
A Litany for Survival : The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
Publication Date: 1995
An epic portrait of the eloquent, award-winning Black, lesbian, poet, mother, teacher and activist, Audre Lorde, whose writings -- spanning five decades -- articulated some of the most important social and political visions of the century. [53 minutes]
Mother of George
Publication Date: 2013
Adenike and Ayodele (The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira and veteran actor Isaach De Bankolé) are a Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn. Following the joyous celebration of the their wedding, complications arise out of their inability to conceive a child - a problem that devastates their family and defies cultural expectations, leading Adenike to make a shocking decision that could either save her family or destroy it. By acclaimed director Andrew Dosumnu (Restless City).
Soul Food Junkies : A Film About Family, Food & Tradition
Publication Date: 2012
Filmmaker Byron Hurt, inspired by his father's lifelong love affair with soul food even in the face of a life-threatening health crisis, discovers that the relationship between African-Americans and dishes like ribs, grits, and fried chicken is deep-rooted and culturally based. At the same time, he moves beyond matters of culture and individual taste to show how the economics of the food industry have combined with socioeconomic conditions in predominantly black neighborhoods to dramatically limit food choices.
Tell Them We are Rising
Publication Date: 2017
A haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries - and path of promise toward the American dream - Black colleges and universities have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field. They have been unapologetically Black for more than 150 years. [82 minutes]
While I Breathe, I Hope
Publication Date: 2019
While I Breathe, I Hope is a feature documentary film that explores what it means to be young, black, and progressive in the American South through the experiences of South Carolina Politician Bakari Sellers. [1 hour 11 minutes]