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REMIX: The Black Experience in Film, Media, and Art
REMIX is a year-round series examining the legacy of institutional racism and the black experience in film, media, and art. Join us for programs that will challenge perceptions, inspire dialogue, and celebrate the richness and breadth of cinema that is too often overlooked.
In My Father's House
Oct. 7
Set against the crumbling landscape of Chicago’s south side, this documentary film captures a yearlong journey from homelessness and alcoholism…
The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution
Oct. 15
The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution
Change was coming to America and the fault lines could no longer be ignored — cities were burning, Vietnam was…
Sustainable Soul Food
Oct. 18
Fried chicken, fatback, collard greens, and pigs feet— when we think of soul food, we think of comfort, family, and…
Second Coming
Dec. 16
Starring Idris Elba
A touching family drama set in present day London, Second Coming is the story of Jackie (Nadine Marshall), a mother…
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Jan. 18
Martin Luther King Day Celebration
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Jacob Burns Center present a special Martin Luther King Day…
Buck and the Preacher
Jan. 28
Starring Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte
“After playing Hollywood’s first black Western hero in Duel at Diablo (1966), Sidney Poitier blazed new trails when he took over the…
What's Motivating Hayes?
Jan. 31
“[Jonathan] Demme does something special in his mini-doc…he shows us who Hayes is, independent of the Syngenta scandal. What it…
The Defiant Ones
Feb. 10
Starring Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis
“I was spawned during the Roosevelt era, a time of great change. I still believe in getting people to think,…
The Black Calhouns
Mar. 2
Film: Cabin in the Sky
In her new book, The Black Calhouns, Gail Lumet Buckley—daughter of performer and activist Lena Horne—delves deep into her family…
Burning an Illusion
June 27
In 1981, minority communities across England took to the streets to protest police brutality, institutional racism, and unemployment. Burning an…
When We Were Kings
July 17
“I don’t have to be who you want me to be; I’m free to be who I want.” (Muhammad Ali) Charismatic,…
The Hard Stop
July 18
“A riot is the language of the unheard.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.) A wave of riots broke out across England…
She's Gotta Have It
Aug. 1
30th Anniversary Screening!
The release of She’s Gotta Have It heralded a new era in independent cinema and formally introduced the world to Spike…
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
Sep. 22
Special Preview Screening
When Maya Angelou died in 2014, President Obama said that the prolific and visionary singer, dancer, activist, poet, and writer…
Losing Ground
Jan. 16
Reel Talk with Ja’Tovia Gary
Kathleen Collins’s funny, brilliant, and personal Losing Ground should have ranked high in the canon of indie cinema, but the film was…
I Am Not Your Negro
Feb. 9–16
Nominated for Academy Award—Best Documentary Feature!
I Am Not Your Negro examines what it means to be black in America through the prism of James Baldwin’s…
O.J.: Made in America
Feb. 20
Nominated for Academy Award—Best Documentary Feature!
O.J.: Made in America is a riveting 8 hour Oscar–nominated documentary that revisits the trial of the century. Drawing upon…
Fences
Feb. 24–Mar. 2
Nominated for 4 Academy Awards!
Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Actor, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. …
This African-American Life: An Evening with Hugh Price
June 5
Q&A JBFC Chairman Emeritus Hugh Price moderated by JBFC Board Member John Nonna
Please join us for a film screening and discussion in honor of Hugh Price’s new memoir This African-American Life. In…
A Raisin in the Sun
Jan. 15
Reel Talk with Mia Mask
In honor of MLK Day, please join us for a screening of this timeless classic. Featuring star-making performances from the…
For Ahkeem
Feb. 8
Q&A filmmaker Landon Van Soest and Director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program Dennis Parker moderated by Creative Culture Fellow Crystal Kayiza
For Ahkeem follows the life of Daje Shelton, a seventeen-year-old black girl living in North St. Louis. After being expelled…
The Rape of Recy Taylor
Feb. 26
Q&A filmmaker Nancy Buirski and Coordinator of Community Engagement and Education at My Sisters’ Place Kymberly McNair moderated by BAM Associate VP, Cinema Gina Duncan
On September 3, 1944, Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper was making her way home from church when…
'63 Boycott & The Chicago Mixtape
Apr. 29
Q&A The Chicago Mixtape filmmaker Paola Piers-Torres, ‘63 Boycott producer Tracye Matthews & Professor of Media Studies and Film at The New School Michelle Materre
Please join us for an evening of short films exploring the marriage of arts, education, and activism in communities of…
Killer of Sheep
June 21
“An American masterpiece, independent to the bone” (New York Times), Charles Burnett’s 1978 drama examines mid-’70s life in L.A’s Watts…
Jinn
July 19
Q&A filmmaker Nijla Mu’min with film writer Tayler Montague
Summer is a carefree teenager whose world is turned upside down when her mother abruptly converts to Islam. Though initially…
He Got Game
Aug. 16
Released 20 years ago, He Got Game stars Denzel Washington (in his third collaboration with Spike Lee) as a prison…
Take This Hammer
Jan. 21
In the spring of 1963, prolific author/activist James Baldwin set out to assess “the real situation of Negroes in the…
Chi-Town
Feb. 21
Q&A filmmaker Nick Budabin, executive producer Terry Minogue, and community leader Patrice Moore
“This is a beautifully photographed, thoroughly engrossing, sobering but also inspirational piece of work.” (Chicago Sun-Times) Chi-Town follows Keifer Sykes…
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Feb. 25
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
How does one express the world of individuals whose lives and humanity originate in exploitation? In this unconventional lyrical portrait…
Lost Boundaries
Mar. 24
In collaboration with Vassar College’s conference “Quiet as It’s Kept: Passing Subjects, Contested Identities” and Professor Mia Mask, we present…
Devil in a Blue Dress
Mar. 25
Introduction by Vassar Professor Mia Mask
In collaboration with Vassar College’s conference “Quiet as It’s Kept: Passing Subjects, Contested Identities” and Professor Mia Mask, we present…
Shadows
Mar. 26
In collaboration with Vassar College’s conference “Quiet as It’s Kept: Passing Subjects, Contested Identities” and Professor Mia Mask, we present…
Imitation of Life
Mar. 27
Introduction by Vassar Professor Hiram Perez
In collaboration with Vassar College’s conference “Quiet as It’s Kept: Passing Subjects, Contested Identities” and Professor Mia Mask, we present…
Personal Problems
May 21
Introduction by author, activist, and professor Ishmael Reed
“Personal Problems retains a vitality and an integrity that practically bounds off the screen.” (New York Times) This entirely African…
Mother of George
June 27
Danai Gururia (AMC’s The Walking Dead, Black Panther) and veteran actor Isaach De Bankolé (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, White…
Boyz n the Hood
July 18
To honor the legacy and influence of the late filmmaker John Singleton, who passed in April at 51, we’re showing…
Douvan Jou Ka Levé
Aug. 15
Reel Talk with journalist Michèle Montas
Based on her own experience and interweaving poetic narration with interviews, this personal documentary by Haitian filmmaker/actress Gessica Généus—the title…
The Learning Tree
Nov. 14
Reel Talk with Mia Mask
50th ANNIVERSARY Celebrated photographer Gordon Parks was the first African-American to direct mainstream studio films. While he’s best known for…
Two Shorts by Madeline Anderson
Jan. 20
Q&A filmmaker Madeline Anderson via Skype
Trailblazing filmmaker Madeline Anderson, often credited with being the first black woman to produce and direct a televised documentary film,…
The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975
Feb. 13
A wall-to-wall immersion in “a tangy raw stew of history” (Entertainment Weekly), courtesy of an extraordinary trove of documentary footage…
The Watermelon Woman
Mar. 12
Re-released for its 20th anniversary in a pristine 2K HD restoration, The Watermelon Woman is the story of a 20-something…
Test Pattern
Feb. 19–Apr. 8
Test Pattern follows an interracial couple whose relationship is put to the test after a Black woman is sexually assaulted and…
Amazing Grace
July 27
Crafted from never-before-seen footage originally shot in 1972, Amazing Grace documents the recording of Aretha Franklin’s seminal and acclaimed gospel…
Our Song
Aug. 22
Our Song is a clear-eyed, unsentimental look at three teenage girls (played by Kerry Washington, Anna Simpson, and Melissa Martinez)…
Midnight in Paris
Aug. 23
Shot in 2012—two years before the water crisis began—this charming, warmhearted film focuses on six Flint, Michigan, teenagers and their…
This series is presented with generous support from:
This series is presented with generous support from:
