THE NEW BLACK, by Yoruba Richen is now available on iTunes!

Click here for more information!

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-new-black/id991557803

#BaltimoreUprising; William Greaves Memorial; Haiti Film Fest; Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution KIckstarter Continues, and More!

Color of Change:

Demand that Governor Hogan Appoint Maryland's Attorney General
to Assist in the Case to Help Secure Justice for Freddie Gray

(click pix to sign the petition)

#BaltimorePolice: A Reign of Terror

It has been more than two weeks since Baltimore police killed Freddie Gray and no officer has been fired, arrested, or prosecuted. Local officials don't even have answers to the most basic questions: Why did police violently arrest Gray? Why was this healthy 25-year-old's voice box crushed, his spleen ruptured and 80% of his spine severed after 45 minutes with Baltimore law enforcement?

The lack of accountability for Gray's killing is unacceptable and the solution to Baltimore's policing crisis is not martial law or more militarized policing. Right now, we need widespread public pressure to ensure the necessary leadership and independent oversight to bring Gray's killers to justice and overhaul the Baltimore Police Department. Without independent oversight it's unlikely that Gray's killers will be held accountable. Local district attorneys work too closely with police on a day to day basis to hold them accountable - and they almost never do.

Tell Governor Hogan and Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby to bring in Attorney General Brian Fosh to help secure justice for Freddie Gray.

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WILLIAM GREAVES MEMORIAL

Celebrating His Life, His Art and His Legacy

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

515 Malcolm X Blvd, NYC

*TONIGHT* Thursday, April 30, 2015

7pm - 9PM EDT 

(click pix for details)

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture 

in collaboration with the Greaves Family invite you to:

William Greaves: Celebrating His Life, His Art and His Legacy, a public tribute for pioneer filmmaker William Greaves and his leadership in film and television.The evening will feature several guest speakers and performers who have worked with or been inspired by Greaves' art and legacy.

 Director, producer and writer William Greaves began his career as a featured actor on Broadway and in motion pictures. His work behind the camera has earned him over 70 international film festival awards including an Emmy and four Emmy nominations. In 1980 he was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, and in the same year he was the recipient of a special homage at the first Black American Independent Film Festival in Paris.  In 1986, he received an Indy -- the special Life Achievement Award -- from the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers. He was recently honored by the National Black Theater and Film Festival with its first award for Lifelong Achievement in Film

and for Contributions to Black Theater.

Greaves has produced and directed television, documentaries and feature films over the course of his career.  For two years, he served as executive producer and co-host of the pioneering network television series BLACK JOURNAL, for which he was awarded an Emmy.  His recent film, Ralph Bunche:  An American Odyssey, a 2 hour documentary which aired prime-time on PBS, was shown in competition at Sundance and has won a Gold Award from two International Film Festivals.   

Among his other outstanding documentary films are From These Roots, an in-depth study of the Harlem Renaissance which has won over 20 film festival awards and has become a classic in African American history studies and Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice, which has won 19 film festival awards and was nominated for a 1990 NAACP Image Award.  Greaves also served as Executive Producer of Universal Pictures Bustini Loose, starring Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson, and produced, wrote and directed three feature films --Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One; The Marajuana Affair; and Ali, The Fighter, starring Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.   

Retrospectives of William Greaves work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

* * *

HAITI FILM FESTIVAL Presented by Haiti Cultural Exchange May 8 - 15 *Opening Night Party at DROM NYC* in partnership with the Black Documentary Collective (BDC) (click banner for fest lineup & ticket info) HCX is proud to announce the Third Biennial Haiti Film Fest taking place in venues throughout the city and kicking things off with the Haiti Film Fest Opening Night on Thursday, May 7th at DROM NYC.  Hosted by Haitian radio personality, Carel Pedre of CHOKARELLA; featuring short films Freedom by Matthew Brown and La Veuve by Wood-Jerry Gabriel, with performances by Sanba Zao of Lakou Mizik and Ioan Delice, New York's newest and hottest underground rap artist.

* * * Firelight Media's Kickstarter Campaign "Stretch Goal" to bring Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution to theaters across the country! Donate until Wednesday, May 6th! (click below to donate) Check out this message from Director, Stanley Nelson With less than a week to go, to go we have reached our goal of $50,000 to support a theatrical release of The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution! Thanks to your generous support we'll ensure this powerful history reaches diverse audiences in 13 cities this fall - including Oakland, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Philadelphia. The crisis of police brutality, poverty and political disenfranchisement have pushed ordinary people to call for change. Just this week we saw residents come together to heal Baltimore, and meet the needs of the most vulnerable people affected by the violence and curfews. That spirit of empowerment has inspired us to dream bigger with this film. If we raise an additional $7,000 by May 6 we will host a free screening in Ferguson, and with more resources we will work to bring the film to theaters in additional cities like St. Louis and Cleveland. Please help us bring this powerful story to even more cities! As the Panthers say, All Power to the People!  Thank you! http://theblackpanthers.com/  #BlackPanthersDoc @panthersdoc * * *

Click image below to learn how you can help our Baltimore family: *** Haiti Film Fest is ALHaiti Film Fest is ALMOST HERE! Have you purchased  your tickets to Opening Night yet?  http://bit.ly/1AGVJ4c #HaitiFilmFest #HCX #nightlife The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution by Stanley Nelson and Laurens Grant Support the Theatrical Release KICKSTARTER Campaign Whether they were right or wrong, good or bad, The Black Panther Party remain powerful and enduring figures in our popular imagination.  The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution weaves voices from varied perspectives who lived this story-- police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters, detractors, those who remained loyal to the party and those who left it. * * * BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez Directed by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater  and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon At Full Frame Documentary Film Festival!   Poet, playwright, teacher, activist. Mother, daughter, wife. Mentor to legions of poets and hip-hop artists. Champion for peace.   Sonia Sanchez is all of these, and more. BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez is a feature-length, performance-packed documentary about the renown poet and activist's contribution to the world of poetry, her singular place in the Black Arts Movement, and her role in American culture over the last 50+ years.  Deemed "a lion in literature's forest" by Maya Angelou, Sonia confronts all forms of injustice, exploring a wide range of global and humanist themes, particularly the struggles and triumphs of people of color in America.  Includes appearances by Questlove, Imani Uzuri, Tallib Kweli, Ursula Rucker, Ruby Dee, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Jessica Care Moore, Bryonn Bain and more. * * *

As 2014 comes to a close, we want to CONGRATULATE all of our BDC members who continue to make great strides in their work, and say a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of our BDC friends who continue to support documentary filmmaking!  2014 has been one of long-awaited premieres, well-deserved accolades, and innovative activism and engagement.  Sadly, we've also lost friends and mentors this year, particularly the great Bill Greaves.  We miss you.  Thank you for everything.   Check out our not-nearly-complete visual montage of BDC's 2014 Year-In Review! From premieres, to broadcasts, awards, fundraisers--we tried to include them all.  If we missed something, know that we still love you :-) and email us a friendly reminder!  We're always happy to hear from you! The Black Documentary Collective (BDC) is a tax-exempt non-profit organization, so take advantage and join, renew, or make a tax-deductible donation!  We've got some surprises coming up in 2015, and we want you to be part of it all! * * * _______________________________________________ Monday, December 8, 2014 A Tribute to William Greaves Brooklyn Academy of Music December 11 - 15 Please join us for this much-deserved tribute to  our dear friend, supporter, mentor, and inspiration, independent filmmaker William Greaves.   Many thanks to BAM for putting it together. Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: TakeOne; Still A Brother; The Fight (click pix below for details and tickets) As part of Migrating Forms, BAMcinématek presents a selection of essential works by William Greaves, the seminal Emmy Award-winning chronicler of African-American life during the 1960s and 70s. Greaves died in August, leaving behind an incisive body of work ripe for rediscovery, and his rarely screened works include a rousing chronicle of Muhammad Ali and a candid examination of the black middle class. * * * The Price of Memory by Karen Mafundikwa Nominated for Best Film by a Woman of Color! African Diaspora  International Film Festival! Nov 28 - Dec 14 Quad Cinema, NYC  THIS Wednesday, December 10th, 7:20 PM Q&A with director Karen Mafundikwa Buy Tickets When Queen Elizabeth II visited Jamaica in 2002, she was petitioned by a small group of Rastafari for slavery reparations.  This timely, important film traces the Rastafarian petition and a reparations lawsuit against the Queen over a decade, into both the British and Jamaican parliaments, while interweaving stories of Rastas who pursued reparations in the 1960s. * * * BDC Community No!  Enough is Enough! Sadly, the list of petitions keeps getting longer.   But, let's keep supporting all the efforts being made in pursuit of justice. Click pix to sign colorofchange.org's petition #JusticeforEricGarner Enough is Enough!  Secure Justice for Mike Brown and Advance Police Reform We can Still Secure #JusticeForMikeBrown Click pix to sign MomsRising.org's Open Letter to Pres. Obama and AG Eric Holder Click pix to sign ColorofChange.org's Petition * * * BDC Oscar Updates Oscar Consideration for BDC Member and BDC Friends Films! DOCUMENTED, Through A Lens Darkly, Little White Lie, Time is Illmatic, Death Metal Angola The Hollywood Reporter:  134 Documentaries Qualify for Academy Consideration!   Click pix below for more info! Little White Lie Directed by Lacey Schwartz In Theatres Now! DOCUMENTED Directed by Jose Antonio Vargas Co-Produced & Edited by Sabrina Schmidt Gordon Through A Lens Darkly Directed by Thomas Allen Harris Produced by  Ann Bennett   Time is Illmatic One9, Erik Parker, Martha Diaz Death Metal Angola Jeremy Xido, Amanda Burr * * * BDC Member Benefits BDC and Frame:Runner Partnership!  Frame:Runner is a High Definition post-production facility specializing in color correction and finishing for broadcast television, festivals and theatrical distribution  They have worked on countless award-winning projects for BDC members, including Stanley Nelson's Freedom Summer and Thomas Allen Harris' Through A Lens Darkly, both premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival! Frame:Runner is offering a special discount to BDC Members on all professional services, from color correction and finishing in Avid, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro, file and tape conversions, duplication and sound mixing.    This is an INCREDIBLE benefit to our members!    Thank you, Frame:Runner! Frame:Runner 555 West 57th Street, NYC 212-246-4224 Keith Shapiro, General Manager/Partner  keith@framerunner.com  * * * BDC and Women Make Movies  BDC Members are eligible for the partner discount for Women Make Movies workshops   For these benefits, BDC Membership must be current.  Join or Renew here! Email bdcnewyork@gmail.com for more information. Membership status subject to verification for all benefits.    Invalid membership status may result in additional charges from participating vendors.   * * *  BDC Catalog & Directory  The BDC Catalog & Directory is a searchable database of BDC members' work and contact information available to production companies, networks, press, distributors, educators and others interested in purchasing, screening, distributing member films and hiring our members. Broadcasters, educators and commissioning editors contact us often for information about our members' work.  The BDC Catalog & Directory is an easy and efficient way to put you in touch with them as the inquiries come in. Please send an email for further instructions to: Catalog@bdcnewyork.org  You MUST be a current BDC Member to be included. Click below to join the BDC or renew your membership.  Become a Member __________________________________________ Saturday, December 6, 2014 BDC Member Screenings The Price of Memory by Karen Mafundikwa Nominated for Best Film by a Woman of Color! TOMORROW at the African Diaspora  International Film Festival! Nov 28 - Dec 14 Teachers College @Columbia University, NYC  TOMORROW, Sunday, December 7th, 2PM Q&A with director Karen Mafundikwa Nominated for Best Film by a Woman of Color Q&A with director Karen Mafundikwa at both screenings Sunday, Dec. 7th, 2 PM Teachers College @Columbia University 120th St., btw Broadway and  Amsterdam Ave. Buy Tickets Wednesday, Dec. 10th, 7:20 PM QUAD Cinema 34 W. 13th St btw 5th & 6th Aves Buy Tickets When Queen Elizabeth II visited Jamaica in 2002, she was petitioned by a small group of Rastafari for slavery reparations.  This timely, important film traces the Rastafarian petition and a reparations lawsuit against the Queen over a decade, into both the British and Jamaican parliaments, while interweaving stories of Rastas who pursued reparations in the 1960s. * * * BDC Community No!  Enough is Enough! Sadly, the list of petitions keeps getting longer.   But, let's keep supporting all the efforts being made in pursuit of justice. Click pix to sign colorofchange.org's petition #JusticeforEricGarner Enough is Enough!  Secure Justice for Mike Brown and Advance Police Reform We can Still Secure #JusticeForMikeBrown Click pix to sign MomsRising.org's Open Letter to Pres. Obama and AG Eric Holder Click pix to sign ColorofChange.org's Petition * * * BDC Oscar Updates Oscar Consideration for BDC Member and BDC Friends Films! DOCUMENTED, Through A Lens Darkly, Little White Lie, Time is Illmatic, Death Metal Angola The Hollywood Reporter:  134 Documentaries Qualify for Academy Consideration!   Click pix below for more info! Little White Lie Directed by Lacey Schwartz In Theatres Now! DOCUMENTED Directed by Jose Antonio Vargas Co-Produced & Edited by Sabrina Schmidt Gordon Through A Lens Darkly Directed by Thomas Allen Harris Produced by  Ann Bennett   Time is Illmatic One9, Erik Parker, Martha Diaz Death Metal Angola Jeremy Xido, Amanda Burr * * * BDC Member Benefits BDC and Frame:Runner Partnership!  Frame:Runner is a High Definition post-production facility specializing in color correction and finishing for broadcast television, festivals and theatrical distribution  They have worked on countless award-winning projects for BDC members, including Stanley Nelson's Freedom Summer and Thomas Allen Harris' Through A Lens Darkly, both premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival! Frame:Runner is offering a special discount to BDC Members on all professional services, from color correction and finishing in Avid, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro, file and tape conversions, duplication and sound mixing.    This is an INCREDIBLE benefit to our members!    Thank you, Frame:Runner! Frame:Runner 555 West 57th Street, NYC 212-246-4224 Keith Shapiro, General Manager/Partner  keith@framerunner.com  * * * BDC and Women Make Movies  BDC Members are eligible for the partner discount for Women Make Movies workshops For these benefits, BDC Membership must be current.  Join or Renew here! Email bdcnewyork@gmail.com for more information. Membership status subject to verification for all benefits.    Invalid membership status may result in additional charges from participating vendors.   * * *  BDC Catalog & Directory  The BDC Catalog & Directory is a searchable database of BDC members' work and contact information available to production companies, networks, press, distributors, educators and others interested in purchasing, screening, distributing member films and hiring our members. Broadcasters, educators and commissioning editors contact us often for information about our members' work.  The BDC Catalog & Directory is an easy and efficient way to put you in touch with them as the inquiries come in. Please send an email for further instructions to: Catalog@bdcnewyork.org  You MUST be a current BDC Member to be included. Click below to join the BDC or renew your membership.  Become a Member _____________________________________ Friday, November 21, 2014 BDC Member Events Little White Lie by Lacey Schwartz Opens Today in NYC! Openings in LA, San Francisco and DC to follow AMC Empire 25 234 West 42nd Street, NYC Special Event at tonight's 7:25 PM Screening! Panel moderated by HOT 97'S Miss Info,  with Grantland's Rembert Brown, Feministing's Lori Adelman & Lacey Schwartz 7:25 PM - 9:15 PM Click pix below for tickets Growing up in an upper-middle-class Jewish household, Lacey Schwartz knew she looked different from the rest of her family, but her darker complexion and curly hair were brushed off as traits inherited from her Sicilian grandfather. When she finally begins to dig deeper, Lacey uncovers unspoken family secrets and willful denial that cuts to the core of her very sense of self, inspiring an intriguing re-evaluation and redefinition of identity. NY Times: Little White Lie, Lacey Schwartz' Film About Self-Discovery  * * * Stones in the Sun (Woch Nan Soley) by Patricia Benoit Quad Cinema 34 West 13th Street, NYC Opens today through November 27th 1:10, 3:10, 5:10, 7:10, 9:30 PM Q&A Nov 21, 7:10 PM show with Patricia Benoit  and actors Carlo Mitton and Thierry Saintine     Q&A Nov 26, 7:10 PM show with Patricia Benoit and actor Edwidge Danticat A dramatic fiction narrative  about the invisible the wounds of exile Read the NY Times Review here! A woman struggling to forget the atrocities she has suffered, reunites with her husband. A single mother striving for assimilation in the suburbs takes in her activist sister. And the host of a popular anti-government radio show finds his estranged father on his doorstep. Set in New York's Haitian community, "Stones in the Sun" weaves together stories of love and family irridiated by the fallout of political terror. * * * BDC Member News Oscar Consideration for BDC Member and BDC Friends Films! DOCUMENTED, Through A Lens Darkly, Little White Lie, Time is Illmatic, Death Metal Angola The Hollywood Reporter:  134 Documentaries Submitted to Academy for Consideration!   Click pix below for more info! Little White Lie Directed by Lacey Schwartz In Theatres Now! DOCUMENTED Directed by Jose Antonio Vargas Co-Produced & Edited by Sabrina Schmidt Gordon Through A Lens Darkly Directed by Thomas Allen Harris Produced by  Ann Bennett   Time is Illmatic One9, Erik Parker, Martha Diaz Death Metal Angola Jeremy Xido, Amanda Burr * * * BDC Member Benefits BDC and Frame:Runner Partnership!  Frame:Runner is a High Definition post-production facility specializing in color correction and finishing for broadcast television, festivals and theatrical distribution  They have worked on countless award-winning projects for BDC members, including Stanley Nelson's Freedom Summer and Thomas Allen Harris' Through A Lens Darkly, both premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival! Frame:Runner is offering a special discount to BDC Members on all professional services, from color correction and finishing in Avid, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro, file and tape conversions, duplication and sound mixing.    This is an INCREDIBLE benefit to our members!    Thank you, Frame:Runner! Frame:Runner 555 West 57th Street, NYC 212-246-4224 Keith Shapiro, General Manager/Partner  keith@framerunner.com  * * * BDC and Women Make Movies  BDC Members are eligible for the partner discount for Women Make Movies workshops For these benefits, BDC Membership must be current.  Join or Renew here! Email bdcnewyork@gmail.com for more information. Membership status subject to verification for all benefits.    Invalid membership status may result in additional charges from participating vendors.   * * *  BDC Catalog & Directory  The BDC Catalog & Directory is a searchable database of BDC members' work and contact information available to production companies, networks, press, distributors, educators and others interested in purchasing, screening, distributing member films and hiring our members. Broadcasters, educators and commissioning editors contact us often for information about our members' work.  The BDC Catalog & Directory is an easy and efficient way to put you in touch with them as the inquiries come in. Please send an email for further instructions to: Catalog@bdcnewyork.org  You MUST be a current BDC Member to be included. Click below to join the BDC or renew your membership.  Become a Member