Dorothy
T.C.
Simmi
Social Worker
Dahomey Man
Luann
Ben
Angi
An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.
A naive young woman moves from the South to stay with her aunt and uncle in Compton. As an outsider, she struggles at first to find her footing, but soon falls into the middle of a community of rebellious youth. She soon becomes more and more aware of the social injustices of the big city.
A young African-American man, living in Los Angeles without direction in his life, reluctantly agrees to be the best man for his brother, an upwardly mobile lawyer.
A hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's boxing team in an effort to secure an early parole and to establish his dominance over the prison's toughest gang.
In 1902, an African-American family living on a sea island off the coast of South Carolina prepares to move to the North.
Ashes and Embers is an original screenplay by Haile Gerima, about a Vietnam veteran, who, several years after the war, is struggling to come to terms with his role in the war, and his role as a Black person in America. He survives by working odd jobs in Washington, D.C. and living with his girlfriend and her son. When criticism of his alienated behavior come from her and a father figure too often, he runs to the streets or to his grandmother's rural house in Virginia. Her criticism and his memories of the past both send him fleeing again to Los Angeles, where he is surrounded by superficial people who have forgotten how to be compassionate human beings. It is here that the advice of his friends and grandmother combine to transform him from an embittered ex-soldier to a strong and confident man.
Daydream Therapy is set to Nina Simone’s haunting rendition of “Pirate Jenny” and concludes with Archie Shepp’s “Things Have Got to Change.” Filmed in Burton Chace Park in Marina del Rey by activist-turned-filmmaker Bernard Nicolas as his first project at UCLA, this short film poetically envisions the fantasy life of a hotel worker whose daydreams provide an escape from workplace indignities. —Allyson Nadia Field
An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.
In this meditative film the everyday lives of poor Ethiopian peasants are shown using documentary as well as storytelling techniques, with its drama arising out of the timeless yet persistent issues of their lives.
Eddie Warmack, an African American jazz musician, is released from prison for the killing of a white gangster. Not willing to play for the mobsters who control the music industry, including clubs and recording studios, Warmack searches for his mentor and grandfather, the legendary jazz musician Poppa Harris.
Charlie Banks, chronically unemployed, struggles to find dignity and a meaning for life in poorer districts of South Central Los Angeles.
Kotani Zenzaemon, a ronin who has a side job making brushes in a tenement house in the back alley, is watching Omine, who lives with him, from Kichizo, a resident of the same tenement house and a boatman. is asked to Kichizo and Mine have eloped and got married, but she feels empty in her boring daily life, and she wants to take a break by crossing the bridge over the river. On the other hand, Kichizo forbids him from crossing the bridge, fearing that his whereabouts will be known to others. Zenzaemon superimposes the appearance of these two people on the appearance of his former self and his wife, whom he killed himself.
Ah Hing is made pregnant by her master Fan Chun-kit. Fan soon leaves for his studies overseas while Ah Hing suffers gross prosecution and is reduced to becoming a prostitute. In a momentary slip of a struggle, Ah Hing commits manslaughter. Now a qualified lawyer, Fan acquits Ah Hing of the charge, and intends to marry her to redeem his negligence in the past. Ah Hing, however, is determined to pursue an independent life.
King Agnimitra is at war with the neighbouring state Vidharbha. He has two wikfes, Dharini and Iravati. The beautiful Malavika a fugitive in war lives in cognitive as Dharini's maid in Agnimitra's Court. Agnimiytra happens to see Malavika in a dance competition which was arranged by his friend Goutama (Vidooshaka). Love grows between Agnimitra and Malavika. They find a rendezvous under an Asoka Tree. Informed by the King's commandoes, Dharini and Iravati catch the lovers together, Malavika is imprisoned. Vidooshaka devices a scheme to free Malavika and she is freed. Parivrajika who knows the secret about Malavika's latent power advises her to kick the dried Asoka tree. The tree immediately blossoms. This coincides with the victory of Agnimitra in the war with the Greeks. The play concludes with the King marrying Malavika.
In the UK, one person dies each day due to gambling. The Unseen is about living with a gambling addiction. Narrated by the filmmaker from his autobiographical poem, "A Wheel That Spins". The wheel represents the wheel of life and a wheel of chance. The wheel keeps on spinning - morning, noon and night.