Directed by Ulysses Jenkins • 1980 • United States
In 1972 and ’73, Ulysses Jenkins and the collective from Venice, California, known as Video Venice News documented the Watts Summer Festival—a major Black cultural event established in 1966 to commemorate the Watts Rebellion that jolted the Los Angeles community the year before. In addition to capturing an electrifying performance by the funk band War, this historically important tape examines the issue of covert surveillance that has long defined the relationship between the state and the Black community in America.
Up Next in Celebrate Black History
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Losing Ground
Directed by Kathleen Collins • 1982 • United States
Starring Seret Scott, Bill Gunn, Duane JonesOne of the first feature films directed by an African American woman, Kathleen Collins’s LOSING GROUND tells the story of a marriage between two remarkable people, both at a crossroads in their lives...
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Say Amen, Somebody
Directed by George T. Nierenberg • 1982 • United States
One of the most acclaimed music documentaries of all time is a joyous, funny, deeply emotional ode to gospel music and African American culture. Featuring the father of gospel, Thomas A. Dorsey; its matron, Willie Mae Ford Smith; and earth-...
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You Got to Move
Directed by Lucy Massie Phenix and Veronica Selver • 1985 • United States
Starring Myles Horton, May Justice, Bernice Johnson ReagonThis galvanizing documentary tells the story of individuals who have dared to change the world for the better, and of Tennessee’s world-renowned Highlander Folk Sc...
