George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute

Big Time

2024

Civil Rights Movement activist, TSSAA Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, swim coach, teacher, musical director, father, grandfather, and friend to many, Coach Sylvester Ford Sr. was known by many as “Big Time.” The nickname was given to him as a kid for his height, but “Big Time” showed time and time again why his nickname was about way more than his looks– it’s also because of how he showed up big for his community. Hometown Feature Audience Award winner at Indie Memphis 2024, Big Time chronicles the life of legendary Memphis basketball coach, Sylvester Ford Sr., while inspiring us all to live “big time” lives along the way.

A Distant Shore: African Americans on D-Day

2007

The role of African American soldiers during the World War II Allied invasion of Normandy.

You Can't Squeeze Blood Out Of A Turnip

Les Blank brings us the life and work of self-taught, visual artist Butch Anthony, who hails from the small town of Seale in Southeastern Alabama. Butch is a rare individual with a unique ability to see the potential in objects that others take for granted. He is considered one of the top naïve artists in Alabama, and, as his artwork is shown in museums around the country, he is becoming a national treasure. Blank’s camera follows Butch to various folk art festivals around the South, visiting the friends and artists who inspired him to create art. Blank also observes Butch’s life in Alabama’s rural landscape. From ‘coon hunting to “calling up” alligators and digging up fossils, Butch Anthony shows us a South not known to many outsiders.

The Order of Myths

2008 · ★ 6

In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.

Philoxenia

2021

Philoxenia is a short documentary highlighting the synergy between the Greek notion of philoxenia ("friend of the stranger") and Southern hospitality, as expressed through Birmingham, Alabama's Greek-owned restaurants. The film features six local favorite restaurants, two historians and, of course, a lot of mouthwatering dishes.

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

2004 · ★ 7.2

The story of Jack Johnson, the first African American Heavyweight boxing champion.

Jasper Mall

2020 · ★ 7.3

A year in the life of a dying shopping mall.

Nikola Tesla: The Genius Who Lit the World

1994 · ★ 7.4

Nikola Tesla is considered the father of our modern technological age and one of the most mysterious and controversial scientists in history.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

2018 · ★ 6.9

The life and career of the hailed Hollywood movie star and underappreciated genius inventor, Hedy Lamarr.

The Alabama Solution

2025 · ★ 6.9

Incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up in one of America’s deadliest prison systems.

John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office

2025 · ★ 6.7

The daring experimenter Dr. John C. Lilly dedicated his life to radical self-investigation and unlocking the mysteries of consciousness and communication. “My body is my laboratory” was the motto, and his research on the language of dolphins and whales – as well as psychedelics and sensory deprivation – assured his own cult status in 20th-century pop culture as the basis for Ken Russel’s Altered States and Mike Nichols’s The Day of the Dolphin. Directors Michael Almareyda and Courtney Stephens, along with narrator Chloë Sevigny, explore the life of a determined scientist and his experiments into the psychonautical unknown.

DOUBOUT OUBIEN MÔ

Since August 2024, in Martinique, a popular protest movement against the high cost of living has been reemerging under the leadership of the RPPRAC (Rassemblement Pour La Protection Des Peuples Et Des Ressources Afro-Caribéens – Gathering for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources). On the island, food prices are on average 54% higher than in mainland France.* Through various cultural figures, the people of Martinique are expressing their anger and seeking concrete solutions. *Source: Kiprix, Price comparison between supermarkets in the French overseas territories and mainland France.