“Small Steps – Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood” and Movies of Color Black South Cinema: A Portrait of Independent African-American Filmmaking
NR, 218 min.
Narrated by Louis Gossett Jr..

The first film (1998, 56 min.) is a TV documentary made by AMC, which combines archival footage, contemporary interviews, and clips from studio films to provide an overview of the history of African-American performers on the Hollywood screen. The second documentary (2002, 162 min.) turns to an even less-studied topic: the history of black independent filmmakers in the American South, with special attention paid to the work of mavericks Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams. The films The Blood of Jesus and Go Down Death will follow.

This article appears in January 26 • 2007.

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