An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.
In 1902, an African-American family living on a sea island off the coast of South Carolina prepares to move to the North.
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.
An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.
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.
Charlie Banks, chronically unemployed, struggles to find dignity and a meaning for life in the impoverished Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts.
The story of Dorothy and her husband T.C. He is a discharged Vietnam veteran who thought he would return home to a "hero's welcome." Instead he is falsely arrested and imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Her life revolves around the welfare office and a community facing poverty and unemployment. As a result of the film's events, both the main characters become radicalized and Dorothy eventually turns to violence.
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.
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.
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
Filmed in response to the LAPD’s shooting of Eulia Love in 1979, Gidget Meets Hondo opens with stills taken by Bernard Nicolas of a demonstration against Love’s killing. Nicolas’ Gidget is a self-absorbed young white woman who remains clueless to the violence erupting around her, ultimately to her own peril. The film asks whether such police brutality would be tolerated if the victim were a middle-class white woman.
An upcoming psychological horror film, written by David Sark, wherein strange visions and harsh realities are discovered.
At a college in Rome, a professor, nicknamed “Dodo” is in a deep depression. His stunningly beautiful wife has just left him for another man. Dodo wants her back very badly and has erotic daydreams about her. A beautiful young student in his class asks him for a ride home and seduces the lucky man, but still he wonders about his wife and her lover.
Three struggling couples embark on a transformative journey at a couples retreat, aiming to mend the cracks in their relationships.
A Japanese journalist in Afghanistan, whose wife dies in an explosion, tries to overcome his sorrows and goes to Egypt on a mission to cover the discovery of a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. As a gang tracks him down for locating the tomb, he falls in love with the girlfriend of the gang's boss who looks like his wife.
Fifteen years after the death of her brother, villainous Kathryn Merteuil seeks to manipulate her nephew, Bash, and gain control of the family business Valmont International. (A sequel to the 1999 movie, this was the pilot for a NBC series that did not get produced.)
A short film that tells the story of a man sharing a love letter about longing for someone he has never met. It explores the sense of loneliness, and poses a question: do we need another person in life to feel complete or are we missing a connection with ourselves?
Govardhan, a devoted architect from Hyderabad, juggles supporting his extended family while seeking a partner who understands his commitments. When he discovers Indu thesis on his family, he challenges her, leading to unexpected twists as they navigate misunderstandings and eventually find love amidst sacrifice and understanding