Directed by Gordon Parks • 1969 • United States
Starring Kyle Johnson, Alex Clarke, Estelle Evans
The first film directed by an African American for a major American studio, THE LEARNING TREE is a personal triumph for director-producer-writer-composer Gordon Parks. Adapted from his own autobiographical novel, this deeply moving coming-of-age saga trace the journey of Newt Winger (Kyle Johnson), a young Black man growing up in small-town Kansas during the 1920s as he learns about love, fear, violent racial injustice, and, during an emotional murder trial, his own capacity for honor.
Directed by Gordon Parks • 1976 • United States
Starring Roger E. Mosley, Paul Benjamin, Madge Sinclair
Based on the true life story of legendary folk singer Huddie Ledbetter—popularly known as Lead Belly—this sprawling saga of struggle and perseverance follows the bluesman’s tumultuous journey ...
Directed by Gordon Parks • 1984 • United States
Starring Avery Brooks, Rhetta Greene, Petronia Paley
Gordon Parks directs the original film adaptation of abolitionist Solomon Northup’s 1853 autobiography “Twelve Years a Slave,” later the basis for the Academy Award–winning drama by Steve McQueen...
Directed by Gordon Parks • 1987 • United States
Gordon Parks turns his camera on his own life and art in this gorgeous, elegiac essay film, in which he interweaves his photography, music, and poetry into a lyrical self-portrait of a modern-day Renaissance man. Recounting his life’s journey—from ...
