(***) What does teenager Esther Oyetunji have in common with Oprah Winfrey, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Brad Pitt? They all were part of debate clubs. What does Oyetunji have that they don’t have? Two concurrent, Original Oratory championships at the National Speech & Debate Association’s (NSDA) competition. And she’s gunning for a third! This very illuminating […]
Seeds – 2025 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize
(***) Passing down generational and cultural wealth is the subject of this touching documentary about agrarian life. A chronicle that invites you into the homes and onto the fields of stalwart Black farmers. Nine years of recording in the deep American south has been sifted into 2h 3m of slow-moving, cinema verité style footage. Cinematographer […]
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(**1/2) “Disco is like the mom who gave birth to a couple of babies: Hip Hop and House Music.” If that’s the case, mom’s second child is getting its own bio. House music has been around since the 1970s, and most claim it originated in Chicago. In fact, an underground dance club called “Warehouse” is […]
Captain America: Brave New World
(***) He’s a Black superhero who can handle his business. A Captain America who puts villains in their place. At some point, Captain America, the Steve Rogers version with Chris Evans, passed his Vibranium shield to the new Captain America, played by Anthony Mackie. It was an easy transition with some key differences. The former […]
Love, Brooklyn — 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(**1/2) He loves her. He loves her not. She loves him, she loves him not. That’s why they broke up and he has a new lady on the side. TV series director turned filmmaker Rachael Holder has love and triads on her mind. That’s got to be the reason she’s teamed with first time screenwriter […]
Khartoum – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(***) Once upon a time it would be hard for Americans to imagine themselves in this position. As startled citizens of a destabilized country forced to flee. The crisis in Sudan started with a 30-year dictatorship, then an unstable civil government and military coup. Citizens ran from a country that imploded from a government ravaged […]
How to Build a Library – 2025 Sundance Film Festival
(**1/2) “I was actually trying to find books today by African authors and I could not,” says a patron of the Macmillan Memorial Library in Nairobi Kenya. The building was erected in 1931 by a white British American settler family. It’s desperately in need of some TLC and its founders would be shocked to know […]
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
(***) “In the beginning it was all about the music. Then it became all about other things,” says a former band member. That’s the path of many bright, famous musicians. Struggle. It’s all about the art. Breakthrough. Success. Excess. Downward spiral. Comeback. Fizzle under the weight of drugs, drink and celebrity. That’s the tale this informative […]
Ricky — 2025 Sundance Film Festival — Filmmaker Rashad Frett wins “Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic”
(**1/2) What is life like after being locked up in prison from age 15 to 30? How do you adjust to an outside world without the human development skills your contemporaries have? Writer/director Rashad Frett has a clue and fathoms it, along with co-screenwriter Lin Que Ayoung, in his intense, harsh reality, post-incarceration drama. Ricardo “Ricky” Smith […]
No Other Land
(****) “They shot my son in front of me. I lifted his head and his blood poured on me.” The people of Masafer Yatta are brave in the face of genocide. Their beautiful mountainous region, home of 20 ancient Palestinian villages on the West Bank, is being encroached upon. Homes and businesses are being demolished. Thankfully the […]
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