Precious Memories: Strolling 47th Street

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.

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

A web documentary that explores Montreal’s incredible contribution to jazz music history through the legendary black musicians of Little Burgundy – the neighbourhood that was a hub of musical creativity, private clubs and speakeasies from the Jazz Age 1920s to the Golden Era of Jazz in the 1940s and 50s. Oscar Peterson, Oliver Jones, Norman Marshall Villeneuve, the Sealey Brothers, Nelson Symonds, and Louis Metcalf are among the greats who lived or played in "Burgundy".

Afrocantos

During a decade rife with paranoia, in the middle of the McCarthy era, Music Inn was a bold experiment. Halfway between the Second World War and The Civil Rights Movement, Phil and Stephanie Barber created an oasis in the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts where aspiring musicians came to learn from the very best. Students and faculty, young and old, rich and poor, white, black, and brown convened together and learned from each other. Defying the surrounding environment, Music Inn harbored a racial and cultural harmony where music was all that mattered.

Tarik Shah, supremely talented Muslim American jazz bassist, endured 15 years of unjust imprisonment. Shah toured with jazz legend Betty Carter and was invited to play at President Bill Clinton's inauguration, only to be unfairly targeted by the FBI after 9/11. This is the inspirational true story of his music, resilience, and unconquerable spirit

The young American Pablo Menéndez came to Cuba to study Music at the National School of Art. Here he formed a family and became one more Cuban. Member of the Sound Experimentation Group of ICAIC and promoter of the teaching of the electric guitar in Cuba, he is, together with his group Mezcla, one of our most original musicians.

Chicago 1969: Activists from the Black Panthers, Young Lords, and Young Patriots united African Americans, Latinos, and poor whites to confront police brutality and unfair housing practices in one of America’s most segregated cities. A timely story of collective action, The First Rainbow Coalition tells this little-known chronicle of political struggle with insight and urgency using archival footage and interviews with those who lived it.

Documentary short showcasing the genius of jazz greats Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Cozy Cole, and Milt Hinton, among others.

The Vatican media documentary about the roots of Robert Francis Prevost in his native United States. It follows an itinerary that begins with his childhood in Dolton, through the memories of his brothers Louis and John, and continues among schools and universities, communities and parishes, featuring the voices of confreres, teachers, classmates, and longtime friends. A production of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Apostolate El Sembrador Nueva Evangelización (ESNE), broadcast on the official channels of Vatican Radio – Vatican News.

A Cor do Cinema

On Chicago's South and West sides, the scourge of guns and gangs is destroying countless lives. Taking matters into their own hands, two men dedicate their lives educating, empowering and healing young Black men at high risk for being victims—or perpetrators—of deadly gun-violence.

In this special documentary that inspired a two-season television series, scientists and other experts speculate about what the Earth, animal life, and plant life might be like if, suddenly, humanity no longer existed, as well as the effect humanity's disappearance might have on the artificial aspects of civilization.

A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Woodstock Jazz Festival, Woodstock NY, 1981 was a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Creative Music Studio. With performances by Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Anthony Braxton, Lee Konitz, Miroslav Vitous,

Between segregation and cosmic revelation, The Magic City traces the birth of Sun Ra, where a city becomes myth and a man, a galaxy.

VALKYRIES

A young student filmmaker in an attempt to shoot a documentary gets lost in New Orleans. Out of fear of making a mistake, he ends up making hundreds of mistakes.

The regulars of Chicago's Southside Rink show off the style and personality of the place they have called home for generations.

Chicago is filled with Architectural wonders from the famous to the hidden treasures waiting to be discovered! Join Geoffrey Baer as he explores seven of the best Chicago has to offer! The seven wonders include: Amazing Hotels, The Ferris Wheel, Heavenly Buildings, Scraping the Sky in Style, Architecture for Animals, That Tiffany Town, The Making of Millennium Park and so much more!