Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power
★ 7 · 2004 · 54m · Documentary · History
Rob Williams was an African-American living in Monroe, North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s. Living with injustice and oppression, many African-Americans advocated a non-violent resistance. Williams took a different tack, urging the oppressed to take up arms. Williams was stripped of his rank as leader of the local NAACP chapter, but he continued to encourage local African-Americans to carry weapons as a means of self-defense. Wanted on a kidnapping charge, Williams and his wife fled to Cuba. His radio show Radio Free Dixie could be heard in some parts of the United States.
More Like This
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2015 · ★ 7
The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity; but this is an essential story, vibrant, human; a living and breathing chronicle of a pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
More info →Impressões do Brasil
1987
"Impressões" rescues the history of the Brazilian press since 1808, when the "Correio Brasiliense" clandestinely reached Rio de Janeiro after being edited in London by Hipólito José da Costa, and spans until 1986. It's the first documentary to depict the history of the Brazilian journalistic press.
More info →
Community Patrol
2018 · ★ 10
It’s been widely reported that Detroit is making a comeback, but long-term residents of Detroit’s mostly black neighborhoods aren’t seeing much benefit. Crime, lack of opportunity and infrastructure problems still persist. Community Patrol explores neighborhood self-policing through the eyes of Minister Malik Shabazz, a long-time Detroit activist and community organizer. Determined that more black men don’t end up in jail or killed, the minister confronts drug offenders directly rather than reporting them to the police.
More info →
Tongues Untied
1990 · ★ 6.6
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.
More info →
Positive Force: More Than a Witness - 30 Years of Punk Politics in Action
2014
Punk activist collective Positive Force emerged in 1985, rising from the ashes of Revolution Summer. This feature-length film by Robin Bell skillfully mixes rare archival footage (including electrifying live performances from Fugazi, Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses, Anti-Flag, and more) with new interviews with key PF activists like co-founder Mark Andersen and supporters such as Ian MacKaye, Ted Leo, and Riot Grrrl co-founder Allison Wolfe. Covering a span of 25 years, More Than A Witness documents PF's Reagan-era origins, the creation of its communal house, FBI harassment, and the rise of a vibrant underground that burst into the mainstream amidst controversy over both the means and the ends of the movement. In the best punk fashion, PF volunteers have applied creative DIY tactics and radical critiques to issues of homelessness, racism, corporate globalization, sexism, and war while struggling to constructively address conflicting dynamics and visions within the group itself.
More info →
Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark
2014 · ★ 7
Take an in-depth look at the life and talent of the trailblazing musician who conquered racial barriers to leave an indelible mark on the jazz world.
More info →
May Day (Newsreel #29)
1969
This film documents a rally in San Francisco sponsored by the Black Panther Party. Kathleen Cleaver, Bobby Seale, and other speakers addressed thousands of protesters demanding more rights for African Americans and calling for the release of Huey P. Newton.
More info →
Influenza 1918
1998 · ★ 7.7
Influenza 1918 is the story of the worst epidemic the United States has ever known. Before it was over, the flu would kill more than 600,000 Americans - more than all the combat deaths of this century combined.
More info →
Death of a Lion
2026
A former leader in the Black Lion Party for International Solidarity shares his story of found family, loss, and transcendence. Shot over the course of two months, this short documentary provides a glimpse into the dynamics of modern American revolutionary movements. Jeremias' film captures a very brief, but important period of transition for the Black Panther Party in the 2020s.
More info →
The Color of Fear
1994 · ★ 7.6
Diversity trainer Lee Mun Wah assembles a diverse group of eight American men to talk about their experience of race relations in the United States. The exchange is sometimes dramatic as they lay bare the pain that racism in the US has caused them.
More info →
Hotet Mot Demokratin - om Göteborgskravallerna 2001
2002 · ★ 9
On June 14, 2001, during the ongoing EU summit, the police surrounds Gothenburg political center. This is the prelude to the most violent confrontations between police and protesters in Sweden for decades. The threat to democracy is a film about the events that preceded what is increasingly starting to resemble a major assault on democracy. The film follows the preparation of the extra-parliamentary left for the protests against the summit and reflects thoughts and ideas on how, as an individual and a collective, one can make his voice heard in today's society.
More info →