Ethnic Notions

Year after year hundreds of thousands of fans line the route of the Tour de France, cheering on their heroes and willing them to victory, while millions of viewers worldwide tune in on their televisions. Academy Award-winning director Pepe Danquart, fascinated by the spectacle of the three week race, chose to focus on the courage, the pain and the fear of the riders of the Tour. Training his lens on German superstar sprinter Eric Zabel and his loyal domestique Rolf Aldag, Danquart captures the thrill of the race and the teamwork behind the stars of the peleton. He also shines light on the Tour's supporting cast - the director sportifs, masseurs, and, of course, the wildly enthusiastic fans. Reveling in the stunning landscape - from the Alps to the Pyrenees to the Massif Central to Paris - and with a nice dollop of Le Tour's history, HELL ON WHEELS transcends the sport it celebrates to reveal an astonishing human endeavor.

Afonsinho, Paulo Cézar Caju and Nei Conceição started their careers in the mid-1960s, a time of strong political repression in Brazil. Originally teammates of a celebrated generation of the Botafogo football team superstars, they did not give up their freedom when the military dictatorship decided to take control of the field.

As beautiful and sleek as it is deadly, 52 Blocks merits special conservation efforts as the United States' only existing native martial culture, as it is indeed, the jazz of the martial arts world. Across the African diaspora, there are manifestations of African-derived warrior-dances, capoeira in brazil, mani in Cuba, ladja in Martinique, pinge in Haiti- yet the US offshoot has remained esoteric, because it was suppressed throughout slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow and then obscured in the criminal justice system. The history, interviews and training of the martial arts style that created Breakdance and boxing greats like Mike Tyson.

A cruise ship and 3,000 men – it is a universe without heteros and women that usually remains a mystery to the outside world. Once a year the Dream Boat sets sail for a cruise exclusively for gay men where most passengers are united by the wish to live life authentically as themselves in a protected place.

Teenager Olivia Oras has 20,000 Instagram followers. The documentary follows a year of her life.

For the first 50 years of film history, the newsreel was a fixture in American movie theaters. From 1911 to 1967, these shorts proved an influential source of information – and misinformation – for generations of American moviegoers. Television news and public affairs programs became a great improvement over the scanty information offered by the newsreels. This documentary offers insight into a medium which has disappeared.

The Indian Act, passed in Canada in 1876, made members of Aboriginal peoples second-class citizens, separated from the white population: nomadic for centuries, they were moved to reservations to control their behavior and resources; and thousands of their youngest members were separated from their families to be Christianized: a cultural genocide that still resonates in Canadian society today.

Jeffery Robinson's talk on the history of U.S. anti-Black racism, with archival footage and interviews.

Shots fired inside a club frequented by black Brazilians in the outskirts of Brasilia leave two men wounded. A third man arrives from the future in order to investigate the incident and prove that the fault lies in the repressive society.

Eight years in the making, The Joe Show is a shocking and wildly entertaining documentary about America’s most controversial Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, and his ringmaster’s approach to modern media, politics and law enforcement. Joe's desire for fame changes democracy forever and the voters cheer as ratings soar. The Joe Show explores how Joe uses media and his role as Sheriff to make himself the most famous law enforcement officer in the world. Racism, sex crimes, illegal immigration, first amendment rights, deaths at the hands of his employees – even Obama’s birth certificate – are all issues Joe faces and spins. Featuring Larry King, Steven Seagal, Hugh Downs, Ted Nugent, Dan Ariely and Noam Chomsky A movie that will engage and enlighten both Joe’s detractors and supporters, the Joe Show takes a hard yet balanced look at how democracy can survive when persuading voters becomes more important than protecting them.

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.

VH1 uncovers the frightening allure and danger of skinhead rock, a key recruitment tool in the U.S. white power movement. You'll hear from the bands and their fans, and learn the remarkable story of George Burdi, a hate rock pioneer who now plays in a multicultural band in Toronto. We'll also examine the rock against racism movement, revealing a battle for the hearts and minds of young music fans.

As the first part of our investigation, the CORONA.FILM prologue will delve into the science behind the pandemic. Starting at the very beginning, we shine a light on the responses. The aim is not to point the finger; our aim is to tell the whole story in all its complexity, as we believe that justice cannot prevail if only one side of the story is told.

Robert McChesney lays the blame for the US's current state of affairs squarely at the doors of the corporate boardrooms of big media, which far from delivering on their promises of more choice and more diversity, have organized a system characterized by a lack of competition, homogenization of opinion and formulaic programming.

As a new chapter begins in this country, THE BLACK LIST offers a dynamic and never-before-heard perspective from achievers of color. This series of inspired - and inspiring - observations on African-American life in the 21st century forms a roll call of some of the most compelling politicians, writers, thinkers and performers ever to tackle their fields of endeavor. Watch the interview-portraits and get a sharper snapshot of where this country has been and where it's headed.

Controversy erupts over a New-Deal-era mural of the namesake of San Francisco’s George Washington High School. The thirteen-panel artwork "The Life of Washington" by Victor Arnautoff offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide.

In 1971, after being rejected by Hollywood, Bruce Lee returned to his parents’ homeland of Hong Kong to complete four iconic films. Charting his struggles between two worlds, this portrait explores questions of identity and representation through the use of rare archival footage, interviews with loved ones and Bruce’s own writings.

Exploring the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all.

When an academic unearths a forgotten history, residents of the small township of Pukekohe, including kaumātua who have never told their personal stories before, confront its deep and dark racist past.

This feature documentary is a profile of Canadian press tycoon Roy Thomson, whose single-minded attention to business brought him riches, power, and even a baronetcy in England. A native of Timmins, Ontario, Thomson had a tremendous career as publisher, television magnate, financier, and owner of many newspapers, including leading London dailies. The film is a frank study of an equally frank man.