Noble Sissle's Syncopated Ragtime
2018 · 23m · Documentary · Music
Combining footage unseen since WWI with original scores from the era, this film tells the story of Noble Sissle's incredible journey that spans "The Harlem Hellfighters" of World War I, Broadway Theatre, the Civil Rights movement, and decades of Black cultural development.
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Adam Jacobs - Behind the Curtain
2021 · ★ 9
Adam Jacobs was the original "Aladdin" in Disney's smash Broadway musical, with a list of other hits like Les Miserables and Something Rotten, but this docu-concert – filmed as a special one-night-only performance – explores his emotional personal journey, from growing up as a Filipino American in California to landing the role of a lifetime.
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Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color
2021 · ★ 10
Alma W. Thomas lived a life of firsts: the first Fine Arts graduate of Howard University (1924), the first Black woman to mount a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1972), and the first Black woman to have her paintings exhibited in the White House (2009). Yet she did not receive national attention until she was 80.
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Bring Me to Light
2021
Sutton Foster takes over City Center—filling it with her indomitable spirit for a concert with her friends that celebrates their connections to the historic theater and reflects on the challenges facing all of us. Bring Me to Light reunites Foster with fellow Encores! cast members Raúl Esparza and Joaquina Kalukango, City Center alum Kelli O’Hara, and Wren Rivera—Foster’s student at Ball University. Together, they enliven City Center with the hope of what lies ahead through performances of music theater favorites from Anyone Can Whistle, Camelot, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Violet, The Wild Party, and more. Accompanied by Music Director Michael Rafter (piano) and Matt Hinkley (guitar), Bring Me to Light is directed by Leigh Silverman, with Jeanine Tesori serving as Creative Producer.
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Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
2017 · ★ 7.6
An in-depth look at the culture of Los Angeles in the ten years leading up to the 1992 uprising that erupted after the verdict of police officers cleared of beating Rodney King.
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Breath of Freedom
2014
In World War II. African-American GIs liberate Germany from Nazi rule while racism prevailed in their own army and home country. Returning home they continue fighting for their own rights in the civil rights movement.
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Appointment in Bray
1971 · ★ 4.6
In 1917, the First World War is raging. Julien is from Luxemburg, so instead of having to go to war he studies piano in Paris. One day his friend Jacques, also a musician and now a fighter pilot on the front, invites him to spend a few days in his family's empty house in Bray. The housekeeper, a beautiful stoic woman lets Julien in, but his friend is late and he is obliged to wait. In the meantime, he starts reminiscing of the pre-war days spent with his friend and Jacques' girlfriend Odile.
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The Son
2021
Using unpublished photos taken by Italian war photographer Enrico Sarsini, and the reconstruction of key events, this film examines the battle for a strategically-located church that was defended by Azerbaijani teenager Natig Gasimov. After his surrender and interrogation by Armenian forces, he was never heard of again. This film finds out what happened to Natig and who may be responsible. Filmed over a period of three years, filmmaker Karan Singh spoke to witnesses in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Italy and Russia in his search for the truth.
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Music Inn
2007 · ★ 10
During a decade rife with paranoia, in the middle of the McCarthy era, Music Inn was a bold experiment. Halfway between the Second World War and The Civil Rights Movement, Phil and Stephanie Barber created an oasis in the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts where aspiring musicians came to learn from the very best. Students and faculty, young and old, rich and poor, white, black, and brown convened together and learned from each other. Defying the surrounding environment, Music Inn harbored a racial and cultural harmony where music was all that mattered.
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