The Black List: Volume Two

BLACK SUNS: AN ASTROPHYSICS ADVENTURE is a documentary about chasing eclipses and science dreams. It chronicles the lives of two globetrotting African American astrophysicists, Dr. Alphonse Sterling and Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, as they follow the two solar eclipses that occurred in 2012. Dr. Alphonse Sterling of NASA, stationed in Japan, had early success in the US, but left his home country to further cultivate his wide-ranging interests. Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi of the Florida Institute of Technology, is a scientist who beat the odds of poverty, and a poor early education, to get where he is today. The film is hosted by award-winning cultural astronomer Dr. Jarita Holbrook.

The search of several young, white men for blues singers who have been missing for decades coincides with the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s.

Henry Browne, an African American farmer, and his family are profiled in this film. The important job of a farmer during times of war is highlighted, specifically his efforts growing peanuts and cotton. This role is made even more poingnant when they visit the eldest son who is a cadet in the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

Before George Floyd, before Breonna Taylor, before America knew about Black Lives Matter, there was Michael Brown, Jr. On August 9th, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed Brown. The community reacted in protest, anger, frustration, and fear. Six years later, a new story emerges - one filled with hope, love, and beauty.

Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line in 1947, but it took another generation of Black and Latino players to make the sport truly open to all. Playing in remote minor-league towns, these were the men who, before they could live their big-league dreams, first had to beat Jim Crow.

Out of Darkness is a full length three-part documentary by director Amadeuz Christ (Δ+), examining the untold history of African people, the African cultural contribution to the nations of the world, and the events that have contributed to the condition of African people today. Out of Darkness will explore the Nubian/Kushitic origins of Nile Valley Civilization, contact between Africa and the Americas since the times of antiquity, as well as the influence of the Moors in Europe leading to Europe’s intellectual Renaissance. In addition, the film will analyze the history of modern day racism, the concept of “white supremacy,” the impact of Hip Hop as a social movement, and the idea of nationhood. Out of Darkness is narrated by Prof. Kaba Kamene and co-stars Dr. Umar Johnson, Dr. Claud Anderson, Tim Wise, Prof. James Small, Dr. Joy DeGruy, Anthony Browder, Sabir Bey, Atlantis Browder, and Taj Tarik Bey.

Integration Report 1, Madeline Anderson's trailblazing debut, was the first known documentary by an African American female director. With tenacity, empathy and skill, Anderson assembles a vital record of desegregation efforts around the country in 1959 and 1960, featuring footage by documentary legends Albert Maysles and Richard Leacock and early Black cameraman Robert Puello, singing by Maya Angelou, and narration by playwright Loften Mitchell. Anderson fleetly moves from sit-ins in Montgomery, Alabama to a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. to a protest of the unprosecuted death in police custody of an unarmed Black man in Brooklyn, capturing the incredible reach and scope of the civil rights movement, and working with this diverse of footage, as she would later say, “like an artist with a palette using different colors.”

Orange Mound is a southeast Memphis neighborhood with a surprising legacy. With roots going back to the time of plantations and slavery, Orange Mound grew at the end of the nineteenth century out of the remains of that defunct way of life. It was one of the first communities in the United States to be built entirely by and for African Americans.

The moment where American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved hands in defiance on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics is one of the most memorable images in sports history. But there is a third man in the photo, the white Australian who finished second to Smith and ahead of Carlos in the 200 meters. His name is Peter Norman, and he stands in quiet solidarity with them. Norman’s story is retold in this film with passion and perspective.