As those who have been following us since 2010, the year in which our curatorial work related to art in many of its forms began, are well aware, every time we thought it was necessary we urged to take a position.
We did so by showing you the works of artists whose battles, political opinions and criticism we share.
Our aim has always been to inform and today more than ever we feel this urgency.
To do so we decided to entrust this task to 9 documentaries and interviews that illustrate the powerful history of black culture in America and the concept of “white privilege”, hoping to contribute with our research to the understanding and fight of phenomena that are difficult to digest.
Eyes on the Prize (1987-1990)
Eyes on the Prize is an American television series and 14-part documentary about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The documentary originally aired on the PBS network and it also aired in the United Kingdom on BBC2. Created and executive produced by Henry Hampton at the film production company Blackside and narrated by Julian Bond, the series uses archival footage, stills and interviews by participants and opponents of the movement. The title of the series is derived from the title of the folk song “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” which is used as the opening theme music in each episode.
A total of 14 episodes of Eyes on the Prize were produced in two separate parts. The first part, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965 and the second part, Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965–1985.
Watch all the episodes here.
Freedom Riders (2010)
THREATENED. ATTACKED. JAILED. COULD YOU GET ON THE BUS?
Freedom Riders is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws in order to test and challenge a segregated interstate travel system, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.
From award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Wounded Knee, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, The Murder of Emmett Till) Freedom Riders features testimony from a fascinating cast of central characters: the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the Rides firsthand. The two-hour documentary is based on Raymond Arsenault’s book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.
The Black Power Mixtape 1967 – 1975 (2011)
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the US drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement-Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them-the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this lush collection was found languishing in the basement of Swedish Television. Director Göran Olsson and co-producer Danny Glover bring this footage to light in a mosaic of images, music and narration chronicling the evolution one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Music by Questlove and Om’Mas Keith, and commentary from prominent African- American artists and activists who were influenced by the struggle — including Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, and Melvin Van Peebles — give the historical footage a fresh, contemporary resonance and makes the film an exhilarating, unprecedented account of an American revolution.
Hidden Colors (2011)
Hidden Colors is the name of an ongoing documentary filmseries directed by Tariq Nasheed and produced through King Flex Entertainment, to explain and describe the marginalizing of African Americans in America and the world. The first four films were funded by separate Kickstarter campaigns, and the fifth film was funded using Indiegogo.
Watch all the episodes here.
Hidden Colors: The Untold History Of People Of Aboriginal, Moor, and African Descent
Hidden Colors 2: The Triumph of Melanin
Hidden Colors 3: The Rules of Racism
Hidden Colors 4: The Religion of White Supremacy
Hidden Colors 5: The Art of Black Warfare
Dark Girls (2011)
Dark Girls is a fascinating and controversial documentary film that goes underneath the surface to explore the prejudices that dark-skinned women face throughout the world. It explores the roots of classism, racism and the lack of self-esteem within a segment of cultures that span from America to the most remote corners of the globe. Women share their personal stories, touching on deeply ingrained beliefs and attitudes of society, while allowing generations to heal as they learn to love themselves for who they are.
White Like Me (2013)
White Like Me, based on the work of acclaimed anti-racist educator and author Tim Wise, explores race and racism in the U.S. through the lens of whiteness and white privilege. In a stunning reassessment of the American ideal of meritocracy and claims that we’ve entered a post-racial society, Wise offers a fascinating look back at the race-based white entitlement programs that built the American middle class, and argues that our failure as a society to come to terms with this legacy of white privilege continues to perpetuate racial inequality and race-driven political resentments today.
13TH – XIII Emendamento (2016)
The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
Oprah Interviews The Exonerated Five (2019)
Oprah Winfrey sits down with the exonerated men behind “When They See Us” to discuss the ongoing cycles of racism and injustice in our country, and the need for change.
Hello, Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea (2019)
The pleasure is all Chelsea’s. “Hello, Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea” follows comedian Chelsea Handler as she confronts and explores her personal and cultural impacts around white privilege. Handler travels around the country speaking with a wide range of people on the topic of race including fellow comedians Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, and W. Kamau Bell, anti-racism writer and activist Tim Wise, a Republican women’s group in Orange County, CA, college students at an open mic night, and her former high school boyfriend in New Jersey.
Cover photo credit: Black Lives Matter protest in New York City, July 10, 2016. Benedict Evans/Redux
