CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY | Criterion Channel Teaser

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The story of Black Americans is, in many ways, the story of America itself. Though the African American experience has long been relegated to the margins of the big screen, a vital cinematic legacy endures thanks to the work of pioneers like Oscar Micheaux (WITHIN OUR GATES), Charles Burnett (KILLER OF SHEEP), Jessie Maple (WILL), Madeline Anderson (I AM SOMEBODY), and Kathleen Collins (LOSING GROUND), as well as bracing contemporary voices like Adepero Oduye (TO BE FREE). Their stories of revolution, resistance, creativity, community, and everyday endurance offer a multifaceted vision of Black American identity across generations.

Features:
WITHIN OUR GATES (Oscar Micheaux, 1920)
THE BLOOD OF JESUS (Spencer Williams Jr., 1941)
NOTHING BUT A MAN (Michael Roemer, 1964)
A TIME FOR BURNING (Barbara Connell and Bill Jersey, 1966)
PORTRAIT OF JASON (Shirley Clarke, 1967)
KILLER OF SHEEP (Charles Burnett, 1977)
WILL (Jessie Maple, 1981)
CANE RIVER (Horace Jenkins, 1982)
A DIFFERENT IMAGE (Alile Sharon Larkin, 1982)
LOSING GROUND (Kathleen Collins, 1982)
SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY (George T. Nierenberg, 1982)
YOU GOT TO MOVE (Lucy Massie Phenix and Veronica Selver, 1985)
PARIS IS BURNING (Jennie Livingston, 1990)
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (Julie Dash, 1991)
A PLACE OF RAGE (Pratibha Parmar, 1991)
ALMA’S RAINBOW (Ayoka Chenzira, 1994)
THE WATERMELON WOMAN (Cheryl Dunye, 1996)
DRYLONGSO (Cauleen Smith, 1998)
COMPENSATION (Zeinabu irene Davis, 1999)

Shorts:
INTEGRATION REPORT 1 (Madeline Anderson, 1960)
BALDWIN’S NIGGER (Horace Ové, 1968)
BLACK PANTHERS (Agnès Varda, 1970)
I AM SOMEBODY (Madeline Anderson, 1970)
PAUL ROBESON: TRIBUTE TO AN ARTIST (Saul J. Turell, 1979)
TO BE FREE (Adepero Oduye, 2017)

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