A Community Called Orange Mound

Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart(en)

On March 11, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s 'A Raisin in the Sun' opened on Broadway and changed the face of American theater forever. As the first-ever black woman to author a play performed on Broadway, she did not shy away from richly drawn characters and unprecedented subject matter. The play attracted record crowds and earned the coveted top prize from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. While the play is seen as a groundbreaking work of art, the timely story of Hansberry’s life is far less known.

Democracy Is ...(en)

The film is a controversy on democracy. Is our society really democratic? Can everyone be part of it? Or is the act of being part in democracy dependent to the access on technology, progression or any resources of information, as philosophers like Paul Virilio or Jean Baudrillard already claimed?

Information Violence(en)

Africa Light / Gray Zone(en)

"Africa Light" - as white local citizens call Namibia. The name suggests romance, the beauty of nature and promises a life without any problems in a country where the difference between rich and poor could hardly be greater. Namibia does not give that impression of it. If you look at its surface it seems like Africa in its most innocent and civilized form. It is a country that is so inviting to dream by its spectacular landscape, stunning scenery and fascinating wildlife. It has a very strong tourism structure and the government gets a lot of money with its magical attraction. But despite its grandiose splendor it is an endless gray zone as well. It oscillates between tradition and modernity, between the cattle in the country and the slums in the city. It shuttles from colonial times, land property reform to minimum wage for everyone. It fluctuates between socialism and cold calculated market economy.

The Flag(fr)

A furious, iconoclastic attack on power and the media in a modern France where Islamophobia has become mainstream and inequality is growing from the suburbs to the boulevards.

James Baldwin Abroad(en)

Showcasing three short films by American writer James Baldwin, wherein he muses about race, sexuality and civil rights, among other topics, in Istanbul, Paris and Great Britain.

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson(en)

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

Boblo Boats: A Detroit Ferry Tale(en)

For over 85 years, steamship Ste. Claire transported generations of Detroiters to Boblo Island, an amusement park nestled in the waters between the US and Canada. When the vessel comes under threat of ruin, a doctor, psychic and amusement park fanatic unite to save their beloved steamship from the scrapyard. Interweaving local lore and mythology, "Boblo Boats" explores the whitewashed history of amusement parks and one crew's crusade to bring back the memories.

The Groveland Four(en)

July, 1949: four young black men are wrongly accused of rape by a 17-year-old farm wife in rural Lake County, Florida. The case of “The Groveland Four” included a race riot, torture, multiple murders, two trials and a Supreme Court reversal. Though widely covered by the national press, the case has been largely forgotten... even though it helped lay a foundation for the Civil Rights Movement.

Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution(de)

The free, almost naive view from the perspective of a child puts the "68ers" in a new, illuminating light in the anniversary year 2008. The film is a provocative reckoning with the ideological upbringing that seemed so progressive and yet was suffocated by the children's desire to finally grow up. With an ironic eye and a feuilletonistic style, author Richard David Precht and Cologne documentary film director André Schäfer trace a childhood in the West German provinces - and place the major events of those years in completely different, smaller and very private contexts.

I Will Dance(en)

Follows the young people of Selma, Alabama's RATCo (Random Acts of Theatre Company) as they journey to New York City to share their story of hope, resilience, and overcoming.

News Without A Newsroom(en)

As local newsrooms vanish, "News Without a Newsroom" explores journalism's uncertain future in the digital age. Through powerful stories and expert insights, the film examines the collapse of traditional media, the rise of misinformation, and the fight to preserve truth, trust and accountability in an era of disruption.

Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris(en)

In 1970, a British film crew set out to make a straightforward literary portrait of James Baldwin set in Paris, insisting on setting aside his political activism. Baldwin bristled at their questions, and the result is a fascinating, confrontational, often uncomfortable butting of heads between the filmmakers and their subject, in which the author visits the Bastille and other Parisian landmarks and reflects on revolution, colonialism, and what it means to be a Black expatriate in Europe.

Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood(de)

Exceptionally talented actor and bridge-builder between black and white, a political icon and artist at the same time: that was Sidney Poitier. He made Hollywood history in 1964 when he became the first black man to win an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role − and thus became the first international black superstar. He grew up in poor circumstances in the Bahamas − with only a few years of schooling. Despite this humble start, Sidney Poitier became a film legend committed artistically and politically against all odds. What compromises did he have to make? What shaped him? This documentary gives an intimate insight into the eventful life of the actor and director, who died in January 2022 at the age of 94.

DuSable to Obama: Chicago's Black Metropolis(en)

The history of Chicago's African-American community told like never before -- through the voices of its leading citizens, scholars, artists, politicians, and business leaders.

Joan Baez: I Am a Noise(en)

Since her debut at the age of 18, musician, civil rights campaigner and activist Joan Baez has been on stage for over 60 years. For the now 82-year-old, the personal has always been political, and her friendship with Martin Luther King and her pacifism have shaped her commitment. In this biography that opens with her farewell tour, Baez takes stock in an unsparing fashion and confronts sometimes painful memories.

Controlling Britney Spears(en)

Britney Spears has said that her conservatorship had become “an oppressive and controlling tool against her”. This New York Times investigation reveals much of how it worked, including an intense surveillance apparatus that monitored every move she made.

Cannabis : Une enquête de Mathieu Kassovitz et Antoine Robin(fr)

In many countries, cannabis legislation is becoming more relaxed, whether for therapeutic reasons or to combat illegal trafficking. In France, the country with the highest number of cannabis users in Europe, this issue is still a subject of debate. To understand why some countries are legalizing it and how they regulate its use, Mathieu Kassovitz and Antoine Robin spent a year investigating ten different countries. This documentary explores the organization, successes, and failures of this legislation and questions the adaptability of these different models to France.

Black Is the Color: African-American Artists and Segregation(fr)

Black Is the Color highlights key moments in the history of Black visual art, from Edmonds Lewis’s 1867 sculpture Forever Free, to the work of contemporary artists such as Whitfield Lovell, Kerry James Marshall, Ellen Gallagher, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Art historians and gallery owners place the works in context, setting them against the larger social contexts of Jim Crow, WWI, the civil rights movement and the racism of the Reagan era, while contemporary artists discuss individual works by their forerunners and their ongoing influence.

The Musicians' Green Book: An Enduring Legacy(en)

Stories and music of Black artists who relied on an underground travel guide to navigate the injustices of racial segregation while on the road. The Negro Travelers’ Green Book was a directory of lodgings, restaurants, and entertainment venues where African Americans were welcomed. Features performances and interviews with vocalists, musicians, activists, historians, and others.