Directed by Brian Storm • Documentary • 2008 • 18 minutes
Decades before American Idol and America's Got Talent captured the attention of millons on TV, the world renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem started hosting its popular Amateur Night, which launched the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Jimi Hendrix, among many other famous African American artists. Still as vibrant and popular today as it was in 1934, one night a week the stage becomes an amateur's battleground, where emotions run high and dreams are both made and broken.
Up Next in African-American Docs
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No Time To Waste
Directed by Carl Bidleman • Documentary • 2020 • 52 minutes
NO TIME TO WASTE celebrates legendary 98-year-old park ranger Betty Reid Soskin's inspiring life, work and urgent mission to restore critical missing chapters of America's story. The film follows her journey as an African American woman...
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Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Directed by Marlon Riggs • Documentary • 1992 • 38 minutes
Through music, poetry and quiet, at times, chilling self-disclosure, five positive black gay men speak of their individual confrontation with AIDS, illuminating the difficult journey black men throughout America have made in coping with ...
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Ethnic Notions
Directed by Marlon Riggs • Documentary • 1986 • 58 minutes
Unflinching, unsettling, and essential, this Emmy-winning documentary examines the devastating legacy of black stereotypes throughout American history, from the slavery era to the present. Drawing on a wide variety of media—from minstrel...
