Yoruba Richen

Promised Land

Yoruba Richen

Promised Land examines post-apartheid South Africa's efforts to bring about racial reconciliation through land redistribution. The film follows two black communities that are trying to get back land they say their ancestors were removed from during apartheid. The land is currently owned by white landowners and the film follows the mutli-year efforts of both groups to get and keep possession of the land. Through these two stories, the epic battle of over race and land is played out with very real consequences for all sides. The audience will see why many inside the country call the land issue the 'ticking time bomb' that has the potential to destroy the fragile racial compact that the new South Africa was built on.

The Green Book: Guide to Freedom

Yoruba Richen

Yoruba Richen, Delbert Hunt

In 1936, Victor H. Green (1892-1960) published The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that was both a travel guide and a survival manual, to help African-Americans navigate safe those regions of the United States where segregation and Jim Crow laws were disgracefully applied.

The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show

Yoruba Richen

Harry Belafonte, Whoopi Goldberg

For one week in February 1968, Johnny Carson gave up his chair to Harry Belafonte, the first time an African-American had hosted a late night TV show for a whole week.

Dykes, Camera, Action!

Caroline Berler

Desiree Akhavan, Cheryl Dunye

The film examines the ways that women directors have contributed to this genre and emphasizes the role that the media play in representation of sexuality and gender, underscoring the power that film has to shape our perceptions of one another. Visually, this documentary comes to life on screen through compelling and intimate original interviews, intercut with emotionally-charged archival footage, photographs, ephemera, inspired music, and film clips.

Crooked Lines

Jacqueline Olive, Yoruba Richen

Val Applewhite, Moon Duchin

Meet two women fighting against race-based gerrymandering in North Carolina: Val Applewhite, a plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court case, and Moon Duchin, a mathematician who empowers organizers to use data to advocate for fairly drawn electoral maps.

The New Black

Yoruba Richen

The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community's institutional pillar-the black church and reveals the Christian right wing's strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda. The New Black takes viewers into the pews and onto the streets and provides a seat at the kitchen table as it tells the story of the historic fight to win marriage equality in Maryland and charts the evolution of this divisive issue within the black community.

The Killing of Breonna Taylor

Yoruba Richen

Breonna Taylor

A New York Times investigation examines what happened at 3003 Springfield Drive in Louisville, Kentucky, just after midnight on March 13, 2020 when police executed a warrant that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor.

American Factory: A Conversation with the Obamas

Yoruba Richen

Barack Obama, Michelle Obama

Barack and Michelle Obama talk with the directors of the documentary American Factory about the importance of storytelling and the impact of their film.

How It Feels to Be Free

Yoruba Richen

Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone

Tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American female entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.