Chuck D

Director Alan Smithee comes to Hollywood to make a movie. Due to a variety of factors, he decides to disown it and direct it under a pseudonym. Unfortunately, the Director's Guild requires that if a director disowns a movie in this fashion, he *must* use the official Director's Guild pseudonym...which happens to be Alan Smithee. Ironic because the actual director of this movie chose the pseudonym as well. (imdb)

In this incisive documentary, filmmakers Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod explore the creative, ethical and legal implications of sampling -- a technique by which hip-hop artists use snippets of other performers' compositions in their own tracks. Is sampling a fair use of other artists' work to create a brand new music form, or is it copyright infringement, plain and simple? Chuck D., George Clinton and other musical heavy hitters weigh in. (Netflix)

A documentary on rap music and its rise to global prominence.

A documentary that chronicles how a generation of artists, thinkers, and activists used their creativity as a response to the reactionary politics that came to define our culture in the 1980s.

One man changed history. One machine, created by the Nazis, helped him do it. One film tells the story of how the world of music was changed forever. (imdb)

A Jewish parole officer becomes a reading teacher for illiterate teens at a New York City high school and has a hard time motivating his students.

Executive Produced by Public Enemy's Chuck D, Hustlers Convention is a documentary film on the forgotten roots of rap. The film centres around the life and times of Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets and the forgotten influence of his seminal record Hustlers Convention. Hustlers Convention is an album that changed the face of music. It gave the streets a voice and was recited in inner cities across America. Despite being largely forgotten, it still resonates with meaning today. (hustlersconventionfilm.com)

A look at the life and work of Oscar Micheaux, a pioneer of the African-American film industry.

How the squalid streets of '70s New York gave birth to music that conquered the world - punk, disco and hip hop - inspired by the Velvet Underground, loft parties and the Bronx. (bbc.co.uk)

Police killings of unarmed black and brown men and women have brought relations between law enforcement and communities of color to an all-time low. What is happening? How can we solve this epidemic? USE OF FORCE is a documentary that delves into the fatal encounters between police and people of color in America. The film will highlight the personal stories of victims like George Floyd, Philando Castile, Eric Garner and others who have been killed by the police. The documentary will take an in-d