California Newsreel launches the first Complete Edition of Marlon Riggs’ seven films, the first time local streaming licenses have been available for them. Riggs’ classic work, Ethnic Notions,recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of its release. It is one of the most widely used tools promoting multicultural awareness on U.S. campuses. His courageous Tongues Untied on Black gay identity became a flashpoint in the Culture Wars of the 1990s. All seven of Riggs' films are now available as five individual DVDs including local streaming licenses.
To honor Marlon Riggs' important cultural legacy, two of this country's most prestigious institutions, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Museum of Modern Art, both located in New York City, organized screenings of and discussions around Riggs' work at the end of February 2013. A panel discussion at the Schomburg was streamed live and is archived here.
White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books examines 40 years of changing portrayals of Black masculinity in a significant area of popular culture - action comic books. This genre's reach and impact extended into other forms of cultural production, such as movies and animated TV series and continues to influence contemporary representations.
Anne Braden: Southern Patriot provides an in-depth portrait of the legendary Southern organizer and journalist whose life long activism exemplified what progressive white people can do to fight racism. She was labeled a “race traitor” by white supremacists and praised by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Manuscripts of Timbuktu introduces viewers to the thriving economic and cultural world of Timbuktu, which flourished from the 11th to the 18th centuries and influenced much of the world. The remaining artifacts there are severely endangered by threats from Islamic fundamentalists who have captured the city.
“Americans are dying and suffering…at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary.” That’s the conclusion of a recent Institute of Medicine report demonstrating how we live shorter lives and have poorer health than other rich nations. Among other things it calls for increased public awareness of the root causes. Screening Unnatural Causes has proven an effective resource for doing just that.
The Pew Research Center recently released an important report on the increase in racial wealth gaps in the United States. "The House We Live In," the third episode of Race - The Power of an Illusion, details how institutional discrimination has contributed to disparities in wealth between African American and white households. Click here to view the Pew report.
Formed in 1960, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was the vanguard organization of the Civil Rights Movement. Julian Bond says that "there is no parallel DVD collection examining the Movement. It offers the opportunity for students to study and research this vital and exciting history told by the people who made it." The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report on the dismal state of Civil Rights history education in the nation's schools. The SNCC collection provides educators a tool with which to fill this gap. In addition a book of testimony by women activists in SNCC, Hands on the Freedom Plough has been released in paperback.
In an effort to make North America's largest collection of African films more widely available, we are now offering these African feature films and documentaries at the greatly reduced price of $24.95 per DVD! California Newsreel's Library of African Cinema was launched in 1981 with 8 films from 5 different countries to provide film resources to educators and build an appreciation for African cinema. The collection has since grown to more than 70 DVDs from 25 countries, including classic feature films by by internationally renowned master filmmakers like Ousmane Sembene (Faat Kine) and Djibril Diop Mambety (La petite vendeuse de Soleil, Le Franc). Read an article in the Statesman about this uniquely "valuable collection" here.
