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FILM LIBRARY: RACE RELATIONS

Boomtown
by Bryan Gunnar Cole

Blink Stars and Grim Reapers. Thunderkings and Predators. Do you know your fireworks? Just in time for July 4th comes Boomtown, a lively visit to the Suquamish Nation near Seattle, where selling fireworks has become a tradition for some Suquamish tribal members. For 30 years, this part of Indian country has sold fireworks that are officially banned off the reservation, attracting non-Indian buyers from near and far. And then on July 4th, the Suquamish tribe plays host to one of the most enjoyable and unpredictable fireworks shows around. In a place where federal, state and local policies routinely collide with Native sovereignty, Boomtown focuses on this animated enterprise, offering a special glimpse into contemporary Indian life, where Native tradition meets today's economic realities with uniquely successful results. A Native American Telecommunications (NAPT) Co-presentation (TBD).

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The Boys of Baraka
by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

African-American boys have a very high chance of being incarcerated or killed before they reach adulthood. In Baltimore, one of the country's most poverty-stricken cities for inner-city residents, the Baraka School project was founded to break the cycle of violence through an innovative education program that literally removed young boys from low-performing public schools and unstable home environments. "The Boys of Baraka" follows four boys as they travel with their classmates to rural Kenya in East Africa, where a teacher-student ratio of one to five, a strict disciplinary program and a comprehensive curriculum form the core of an extraordinary new journey in their transformation to men. Winner of an NAACP Image Award. A co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS). Produced in association with American Documentary | P.O.V.

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Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
by Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer

During his 60-year career as an activist, organizer and "troublemaker," Bayard Rustin formulated many of the strategies that propelled the American civil rights movement. His passionate belief in Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence drew Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders to him in the 1940's and 50's; his practice of those beliefs drew the attention of the FBI and police. But his open homosexuality forced him to remain in the background, marking him again and again as a "brother outsider." "Brother Outsider combines rare archival footage — some of it never before broadcast in the U.S. — with provocative interviews to illuminate the life and work of a forgotten prophet of social change." An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) Co-presentation.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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CHISHOLM '72 - Unbought & Unbossed
by Shola Lynch

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, she becomes the first black woman to run for President. Shunned by the political establishment, she's supported by a motley crew of blacks, feminists, and young voters. Their campaign-trail adventures are frenzied, fierce, and fundamentally right on! After the 2004 elections, her story reminds all Americans that, in Chisholm's words, "the institutions of this country belong to all of the people who inhabit it." An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) co-presentation. "Rather than seeming dated, Chisholm's moxie and commitment is a refreshing antidote to the opportunism and cynicism that rules the political roost today ... It's not only a historical document but an inspiring tale of someone who made a difference." - James Greenberg, The Hollywood Reporter

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Every Mother's Son
by Tami Gold and Kelly Anderson

In the late 1990s, three victims of police brutality made headlines around the country: Amadou Diallo, the young West African man whose killing sparked intense public protest; Anthony Baez, killed in an illegal choke-hold, and Gary (Gidone) Busch, a Hasidic Jew shot and killed outside his Brooklyn home. "Every Mother's Son" profiles three New York mothers who unexpectedly find themselves united to seek justice and transform their grief into an opportunity for profound social change. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.

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Farmingville
by Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini

The shocking hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers catapult a small Long Island town into national headlines, unmasking a new front line in the border wars: suburbia. For nearly a year, Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini lived and worked in Farmingville, New York, so they could capture first-hand the stories of residents, day laborers and activists on all sides of the debate. This timely and powerful film is more than a story about illegal immigration. Ultimately it challenges viewers to ask what the 'American dream' really means. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) co-presentation. An Active Voice selection. A 2004 Election Issue Special. This film is only available in our free lending library for Youth Views screenings.

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Flag Wars
by Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras

Shot over four years, Bryant and Poitras' "Flag Wars" is a poignant account of competing economic interests between two historically oppressed groups, seen through the politics and pain of gentrification. This story takes place in Columbus, Ohio. Black residents, working-class or poor and often elderly, fight to hold on to their homes and heritage. Realtors and gay home-buyers see the enormous, often run-down homes as fixer-uppers. The inevitable clashes expose prejudice and self-interest on both sides, as well as the common dream to have a home to call your own. Both provocative and elegiac, "Flag Wars" is a candid, unvarnished portrait of privilege, poverty, and local politics taking place across America. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) co-presentation. A Diverse Voices Project Selection.

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Hardwood
by Hubert Davis

The Academy Award-nominated "Hardwood" is a deeply personal filmic journey by director Hubert Davis, the son of former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis. Mel, now a coach for young basketball players in Vancouver, recalls falling in love at first sight with Hubert's mother, a white woman, at a time when racism seemed to make their union impossible. Despite their emotional bond — still resonating over 20 years later — Mel chose to marry a black woman, with whom he also had a son. The filmmaker unites both sides of his family, speaking movingly about the complex web of love, betrayal and family ties that bind them all. Through personal interviews, archival footage and home movies Davis delves into his father's past in the hope of finding his own future.

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In The Light of Reverence
by Christopher McLeod

Devils Tower. The Four Corners. Mount Shasta. All places of extraordinary beauty — and impassioned controversy — as Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist with very different ideas about how the land should be used. For Native Americans, the land is sacred and akin to the world's greatest cathedrals. For others, the land should be used for industry and recreation.

This film is only available in our free lending library for Youth Views screenings.

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The Last Conquistador
by John J. Valadez and Cristina Ibarra

Renowned sculptor John Houser has a dream: to build the world's tallest bronze equestrian statue for the city of El Paso, Texas. He envisions a stunning monument to Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate that will honor the contributions Hispanic people made to building the American West. But as the project nears completion, troubles arise. Native Americans are outraged — they remember Oñate as the man who brought genocide to their land and sold their children into slavery. As El Paso divides along lines of race and class in "The Last Conquistador," the artist must face the moral implications of his work. A co-production of Independent Television Service (ITVS). A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting, Native American Public Telecommunications and KERA Dallas/Fort Worth.

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Lost Boys of Sudan
by Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk

For the last 20 years, civil war has raged in Sudan, killing and displacing millions. "Lost Boys of Sudan" follows two young refugees from the Dinka tribe, Peter and Santino, through their first year in America. Along with 20,000 other boys, they lost their families and wandered hundreds of miles across the desert seeking safety. After a decade in a Kenyan refugee camp, nearly 4,000 "lost boys" have come to the U.S. As Peter and Santino set out to make new lives for themselves in Houston, their struggle asks us to rethink what it means to be an American. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.

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Mai's America
by Marlo Poras

A spunky Vietnamese teenager named Mai gets the chance of a lifetime — to study in the United States. Expecting Hollywood, she instead lands in rural Mississippi, a crazy quilt of self-proclaimed rednecks, cliquish teenagers, South Vietnamese exiles and transvestite soulmates. As she tries to fit in and to make ends meet, Mai discovers that "America" is both less and far more than she bargained for. From cosmopolitan Hanoi to the heart of the Deep South, Mai's unforgettable journey offers an outsider's glimpse inside America. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and National Asian-American Telecommunications Association (NAATA) (TBD) Co-presentation.

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My American Girls: A Dominican Story
by Aaron Matthews

In vivid verité detail, My American Girls captures the joys and struggles in a year of the lives of the Ortiz family, first-generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Matthews' funny and touching film captures the rewards and costs of pursuing the American dream. From hard-working parents who imagine retiring to their rural homeland to their American-born daughters caught between their parent's values and their own, the film encompasses the contradictions of contemporary immigrant life.

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Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story
by Eric Paul Fournier

Fred Korematsu was probably never more American than when he resisted, and then challenged in court, the forced internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his landmark Supreme Court case in 1944, but never his indignation and resolve. "Of Civil Wrongs and Rights" is the untold history of the 40-year legal fight to vindicate Korematsu — one that finally turned a civil injustice into a civil rights victory.

This film is only available in our free lending library for Youth Views screenings.

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A Panther in Africa
by Aaron Matthews

On October 30, 1969, Pete O'Neal, a young Black Panther in Kansas City, Missouri, was arrested for transporting a gun across state lines. One year later, O'Neal fled the charge, and for over 30 years, he has lived in Tanzania as one of the last American exiles from an era when activists considered themselves at war with the U.S. government. Today, this community organizer confronts very different challenges and finds himself living between two worlds — America and Africa, his radical past and his uncertain future. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.

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Revolution '67
by Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno

"Revolution '67" is an illuminating account of events too often relegated to footnotes in U.S. history — the black urban rebellions of the 1960s. Focusing on the six-day Newark, New Jersey outbreak in mid-July, "Revolution '67" reveals how the disturbance began as spontaneous revolts against poverty and police brutality and ended as fateful milestones in America's struggles over race and economic justice. Voices from across the spectrum — activists Tom Hayden and Amiri Baraka, journalist Bob Herbert, Mayor Sharpe James and other officials, National Guardsmen and Newark citizens — recall lessons as hard-earned then as they have been easy to neglect since. A co-production with the Independent Television Service (ITVS), in association with WSKG.

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Soldados: Chicanos in Viet Nam
by Charley Trujillo and Sonya Rhee

Based on the 1991 American Book Award winner of the same name, Viet Nam War veteran Charley Trujillo and producer Sonya Rhee's "Soldados: Chicanos in Viet Nam" is the first documentary to recount the harrowing experience of a generation of Mexican-American boys who fought in Viet Nam. Raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California, their first journey away from their rural hometown was to the war-torn rice paddies of Viet Nam. Profoundly changed by the experience, the soldados returned with a new conception of themselves and their country — and of the particular challenges facing them as Chicanos. A Diverse Voices Project Selection.

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Street Fight
by Marshall Curry

The 2006 Academy Award nominated "Street Fight" covers the turbulent campaign of Cory Booker, a 32-year old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law graduate running for mayor of Newark, N.J. against Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent twice his age. An urban David and Goliath story, the film chronicles the young man's struggle against the city's entrenched political machine, which routinely uses strong-arm tactics to hold onto power. The battle sheds light on important questions about democracy, power, poverty and race. When the mayor accuses the Ivy League-educated challenger of not being "really black," the campaign forces voters to examine how we define race in America. A co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

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Sweet Old Song
by Leah Mahan

Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong has been performing for most of his 91 years, ever since his father carved his first fiddle from a wooden crate. Sweet Old Song plays like one of the ballads that flow effortlessly from the funny and irrepressible Armstrong. At the film's center are the two great loves of Howard's life: his music and artist Barbara Ward, age 60. Their two-decade romance has been a creative partnership yielding new work and an outpouring of memories. Their experiences are captured in Armstrong's lively paintings and stories of nearly a century of American life. As they take on life's challenges, Howard and Barbara defy our most basic assumptions about what it means to grow older. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) Co-presentation.

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Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North
by Katrina Browne with Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray, Elizabeth Delude-Dix and Juanita Brown

First-time filmmaker Katrina Browne makes a troubling discovery — her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine fellow descendants set off to retrace the Triangle Trade: from their old hometown in Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba. Step by step, they uncover the vast extent of Northern complicity in slavery while also stumbling through the minefield of contemporary race relations. In this bicentennial year of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade, "Traces of the Trade" offers powerful new perspectives on the black/white divide. An official selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

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