Black Lives

Black Lives

OVID.tv is proud to present a large selection of films about contemporary Black lives - from documentaries ranging in topics from Harlem's Apollo Theater and performer Okwui Okpokwasili to an allegorical fable by John Akomfrah.

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Black Lives
  • The Five Demands

    Directed by Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss • Documentary • 2023 • 74 minutes

    THE FIVE DEMANDS is a riveting story about the student strike that changed the face of higher education forever. In April 1969, a small group of Black and Puerto Rican students shut down the City College of New York, a...

  • Roberta

    Directed by Antonino D'Ambrosio • Documentary • 2022 • 87 minutes

    Directed by award-winning filmmaker Antonino D'Ambrosio, this is the long overdue documentary about the legendary Roberta Flack. Of course she is well known the world over for “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and "Killing Me Soft...

  • Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route

    Directed by Pam Sporn • Documentary • 2018 • 82 minutes

    In Detroit 48202 we take a journey with Wendell along his route, which winds through the center of what was, once upon a time, a vital and thriving city. We listen in on his conversations with his customers – the resilient Detroiters who sh...

  • A Reckoning in Boston

    Directed by James Rutenbeck • Documentary • 2022 • 84 minutes

    Kafi Dixon and Carl Chandler enrolled in a rigorous night course in the humanities at a community center in their Boston neighborhood of Dorchester.

    Kafi, 44, sharp, witty and restless, dropped out of school at 15. She had her first ...

  • The Rink

    Directed by Sarah Ema Friedland • Documentary • With Gralen Stephon Vereen, Mickey "Bonesaw" Taylor,the Garden State Roller Derby Girls • 2014 • 53 minutes

    Branch Brook Park Roller Rink in Newark, New Jersey is one of the few remaining urban rinks of its kind. This concrete structure is nestled ...

  • Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll

    Movie

    George Harrison famously claimed, "No Lead Belly, no Beatles." Revered by countless musicians - the 1st record Janis Joplin ever bought was Lead Belly. The definitive bio, with historic performances and extraordinary archive access. The folk/blues icon from childhood through prison to worldwide f...

  • The Last Angel of History (John Akomfrah)

    Directed by John Akomfrah • Documentary • 1996 • 45 minutes

    John Akomfrah, director of Seven Songs of Malcolm X, returns with an engaging and searing examination of the hitherto unexplored relationships between Pan-African culture, science fiction, intergalactic travel, and rapidly progressing c...

  • CodeSwitching: Race & Identity in the Suburban Schoolhouse

    Directed by Mike Mascoll • Documentary • 2020 • 54 minutes

    An educated citizenry is said to be the backbone of democracy and a crucial bulwark in an increasingly interconnected and hyper-competitive world. Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act helped weave equal education for all ...

  • Bullets in the Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story

    Directed by Terrence Fisher, Daniel Howard • Documentary • 2005 • 23 minutes

    Terrence Fisher, a teen living in the Louis Armstrong housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, has had seven of his friends shot and killed with guns. Terrence is not a gang member or a drug dealer˜just a normal...

  • The Flashettes

    Directed by Bonnie Friedman • Documentary • 1977 • 20 minutes

    Focusing on their hopes and aspirations, this upbeat film movingly shows how the rigorous training helps to produce more than just muscle, but a positive self-identity and pride. Andre, a young man, returns to his community after coll...

  • 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...

  • When A Farm Goes Aflame

    Directed by Jide Tom Akinleminu • Documentary • 2021 • 112 minutes

    A young Nigerian leaves his village at the end of the 1960s and goes to Denmark to study. There he meets his future wife. Together they move to Nigeria and start a family. But 16 years later, circumstances in a politically tense ...

  • Kigali Shaolin Temple

    Directed by Claire Mollard and Magali Chirouze • Documentary • 2013 • 52 minutes

    Kigali Shaolin Temple is a kung-fu club in Rwanda started by a group of orphans from the genocide. They find fulfillment in passing on their skills and teaching young Rwandans the values of sharing, tolerance and mu...

  • The Nine Muses

    Directed by John Akomfrah • Documentary • 2010 • 94 minutes

    Structured as an allegorical fable set between 1949 and 1970, THE NINE MUSES is comprised of nine overlapping musical chapters that mix archival material with original scenes. Together, they form a stylized, idiosyncratic retelling of t...

  • Where I Became

    Directed by Kate Geis • Documentary • 2024 • 87 minutes

    Where I Became weaves the stories of 14 South African women who, though hailing from diverse backgrounds, all grew up under the oppressive system of Apartheid. When offered the opportunity to leave South Africa and study at Smith College un...

  • American Santa

    Directed by Avi Zev Weider • Documentary • 2023 • 24 minutes

    Black Santas are local heroes, spreading joy and love to children and families at a bustling mall during the Christmas season. But even during this special time, the ugly shadow of bigotry falls on the season’s true spirit.

  • Jaha's Promise

    Directed by Patrick Farrelly, Kate O’Callaghan • Documentary • With Jaha Dukureh • 2017 • 80 minutes

    Jaha’s Promise tells the story of a young woman who returns home to campaign against the brutal practices that almost destroyed her life. Jaha Dukureh was subject to female genital mutilation as ...

  • Marlon Riggs

    7 items

    “If you’ve never heard of Marlon Riggs, you’ll wonder why the hell not. How could an artist this smart, this prescient, this frank, transparent, curious, ruminative and courageous — this funny — escape your notice? Why haven’t these trenchant, masterful video essays, with insinuatingly tangy name...

  • Softie

    Directed by Sam Soko • Documentary • 2020 • 96 minutes

    Boniface “Softie” Mwangi has long fought injustices in his country as a political activist. Now he’s taking the next step by running for office in a regional Kenyan election. From the moment Boniface decides to run, telling his wife, Njeri, ...

  • My Brooklyn

    Directed by Kelly Anderson • Documentary • With Jamel Shabazz, Craig Steven Wilder, Kelly Anderson • 2012 • 76 minutes

    My Brooklyn follows director Kelly Anderson's journey, as a Brooklyn gentrifier, to understand the forces reshaping her neighborhood. The film documents the redevelopment of Ful...

  • Marcus

    Directed by Patrick Savey • Documentary • With Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Miles Davis • 2014 • 97 minutes

    Patrick Savey plunges us into Marcus’s world, capturing the New York roots of the legendary bass player, following his path like the pebbles of Tom Thumb, as he meets mast...

  • Black Is the Color: A History of African American Art

    Directed by Jacques Goldstein • Documentary • 2017 • 52 minutes

    In 1969, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York mounted a major exhibit called “Harlem On My Mind.” There was just one thing wrong: the show had no work by African-American artists.

    The “Harlem on My Mind” fiasco is emblematic ...

  • Love & Diane

    Directed by Jennifer Dworkin • Documentary • 2003 • 155 minutes

    Jennifer Dworkin’s groundbreaking documentary LOVE & DIANE presents a searingly honest and moving examination of poverty, welfare and drug rehabilitation in the United States today. Filmed in New York City over a five-year period, D...

  • An Apollo Legend

    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 Bro...