Film Studies

A series of biblical stories are told from a black perspective. Unlike many Hollywood biblical epics, this sensitive, thoughtful film brings to the scriptures a profound level of understanding.

In a small Mississippi town, only a young boy and an old woman stand between an innocent black man and a lynch mob.

Set in Chicago, Native Son tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young black man who accidentally murders his employer's daughter while performing his duties as chauffeur. The combined forces of institutional racism and condescending white liberalism pursue Thomas to an unhappy end.

In 1976, complex political and emotional forces are set in motion when a young man returns to the race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age during the Black Power movement.

A collection of silent and sound films originally produced from 1915 to 1946 featuring African Americans.

Based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York who was kidnapped in 1841 and forced into slavery in Louisiana.

An updated remake of John Ford's 1935 film, The Informer. Dublin becomes the Cleveland ghetto and the Irish Republicans are replaced by black revolutionary fighters. Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Tank Williams is an unemployed and itinerant steelworker who turns over his militant friend Johnny to the police for the $1,000 reward, resulting in an underground all-points bulletin to exact vengeance on the squealer.

A uniquely delicate and moving road movie, Barking Water uses the ruggedly beautiful backdrop of rural Oklahoma to tell the story of a proud Native American attempting to reconnect with his estranged family.

The film takes place in 1740. While the French colonists are using the Hurons to fulfill their war purposes, the Delaware are fighting on the side of the English troops. Only Chingachgook, a young Delaware, and his fair-skinned friend Deerslayer realize that the whites intend to expel and exterminate Indians altogether.

Shot on location in the Wichita Mountains of southwest Oklahoma in 1920, this rediscovered film was restored by the Oklahoma Historical Society. It features an all Native American cast of 300 Kiowa and Comanche Indians, including White Parker and Wanada Parker (children of Quanah Parker). Focusing on a romantic rivalry, the story also features a battle scene, buffalo hunting, and dances. The restored version includes a modern score and titles.

As in many Native families, Lena Mahikan grew up in the cycle of abuse. Her father was an alcoholic until he killed himself when Lena was 10. Her mother, only 14 years her senior, was consumed by gambling. By the time Lena was 15 she was pregnant and, before giving birth, was kicked to the curb by her mom. For 13 years Lena has been living poverty stricken in Toronto, struggling to make ends meet, being chased by her own demons. The cycle continues and Lena is now watching helplessly as her own daughter, Peeka spirals out of control, landing herself in the ER following a drug overdose. As her final attempt at survival, Lena decides to return home and face her own mother and a past she's tried desperately to escape.

When Mollie's boyfriend Jack dies on the reservation, she is asked to leave the reservation by her boyfriend's sister for not being one of their own, aside from Mollie's son. Mollie is forced to pack up her belongings and her children and move to northern California, right into a gang infested neighborhood.

An eye-opening account of what it is like to be a vulnerable teenager in the modern world. Through the eyes of Larry Sole, a First Nation teenager filled with bravado and angst, comes the story of three unlikely friends isolated in a small rural town discovering what they can of life and love and racial tensions, in a world by a dark mystery from his past.

Following a bloody conflict between her clan and that of the "men from the land of ice", Maïna, the daughter of Grand Chief Mishtenapuu, sets off on a mission to rescue a captured boy - little knowing her actions will result in the poignant meeting of two of America's founding nations.

This revelatory documentary brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular music in North America. Focusing on music icons like Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Taboo (The Black Eyed Peas), Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Jesse Ed Davis, Robbie Robertson, and Randy Castillo, RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World shows how these pioneering Native American musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives. ...

With an older brother in jail and living with their single mother on Pine Ridge Reservation, Johnny and his sister Jashuan's lives develop new challenges when their absentee cowboy father suddenly dies. The loss prompts Johnny to strike out for Los Angeles, but would mean leaving behind his beloved sister.

Virgil First Raise wakes in a ditch on the hardscrabble plains of Montana. He stumbles home to his ranch on the reservation only to learn that his wife, Agnes, has left him. Worse, she's stolen his beloved rifle. Virgil sets out to find her, beginning an odyssey of inebriated intrigues with a mysterious "Airplane Man," a beautiful barmaid, and two dangerous Men in Suits. His quixotic, modern-day vision quest moves Virgil ever closer to oblivion until he discovers a long-hidden truth about his identity. But is it too late?

This film documents the representation and involvement of the Chinese in American cinema from the silent era to the 21st century. While celebrating their contributions to American filmmaking a haunting and telling undercurrent of racism and stereotypes weaves its way in, suggestive of the difficulties that Chinese men and women found working in Hollywood--particularly in the early years. As a historical footnote, Dong also makes film history by rediscovering and editing in footage from what is alleged to be the first Asian-American film ever made: the 1916 The Curse of Quon Gwon directed by Marion Wong.

Describes racial and gender stereotyping of Asian women in U.S. motion pictures as well as other filmic media, with Reloaded updating the original documentary by noting the effects of globalization and a changing population within the past 25 years. Includes interviews with actresses and other Asian American women who describe their experiences of such stereotyping.

A story of an extraordinary teenager on a journey to the universal power of family, friendship and love. After the death of his popular brother Chaz, Nick who suffers from Aspergers syndrome, struggles to carry on. Nick's parents have their own problems coping with the loss, but Chaz's best friend Randy takes Nick under his wing. As Chaz's family comes to understand his secret life, they will be forced to reconcile the boy they thought they knew with the man he really was.

In this hilarious and whip-smart performance, Kristina takes a surprisingly raucous approach to addressing the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American Women -- she tries to single-handedly save them all with her show! She fails fantastically at the task, creating the hysterical laughter that descends into a sobering coda.

Film examining how efforts to profit from Hispanic American culture have contributed to the shaping of its contemporary identity. The documentary's focal point is comedian George Lopez, an icon and advocate for Hispanic Americans' move into the mainstream. Features conversations with members of the Hispanic American youth market. Also includes interviews with Lopez and other Hispanic Americans.

Four Hispanic high school students organize a robotics club. With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts and big dreams, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics champion, MIT.

In 1955, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean and a massive crew descended on the Texas town of Marfa to begin production on Giant. Now, 60 years later, Children of Giant explores the film’s still timely examination of racial prejudice.

The controversial subject of teens and race in L.A., focusing the attention on a crew of Latino skate punks from the ghetto neighborhood of South Central.