Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective

A City Decides

January 1956 •English

A City Decides chronicles the events that led to the integration of the St. Louis public schools in 1954. An Oscar-nominated short documentary from 1956.

Bloody Sunday

January 2002 •English

The dramatised story of the Irish civil rights protest march on January 30 1972 which ended in a massacre by British troops.

Magnicidios Poe

January 2017 •Spanish

The sarcastic account of the assassination of five Spanish politicians between 1870 and 1973 is mixed with the narration of five short stories by Edgar Allan Poe illustrated by five skillful pencil artists. A documentary, a video essay, a collage, a provocative experiment where various pop culture figures and icons perform unexpected cameos. The macabre joke of a jester. Never more.

The Red Elvis

February 2007 •German

A documentary on the late American entertainer Dean Reed, who became a huge star in East Germany after settling there in 1973.

Malcolm X

November 1992 •English

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

Henry Browne, Farmer

November 1942 •English

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.

I Am Not Your Negro

February 2017 •English

Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.

Lyndon B. Johnson - Succeeding Kennedy

November 2013 •German

Sidney Poitier - Der Mann, der Hollywood veränderte

January 2023 •German

Kaum De Heere

August 2014 •Panjabi

Militant bodyguards carry out the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister in 1984.

Ghosts of Ole Miss

October 2012 •English

In the fall of 1962, a dramatic series of events made Civil Rights history and changed a way of life. On the eve of James Meredith becoming the first African-American to attend class at the University of Mississippi, the campus erupted into a night of rioting between those opposed to the integration of the school and those trying to enforce it. Before the rioting ended, the National Guard and Federal troops were called in to put an end to the violence and enforce Meredith's rights as an American citizen.

Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution

February 2008 •German

When We Were Kings

October 1996 •English

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.

A Letter to Claudette Colvin

March 2017 •English

A short film entitled "A Letter To Claudette Colvin", written and directed by Victoria Wilson bringing awareness to Colvin's involvement in the Montgomery Bus Boycott which ignited due to her refusal on March 2, 1955.

James Baldwin Abroad

February 2023 •English

Showcasing three short films by American writer James Baldwin, wherein he muses about race, sexuality and civil rights, among other topics, in Istanbul, Paris and Great Britain.

57 Lawson

September 2016 •English

Set in a social housing estate in central Sydney, 57 Lawson preserves the disparate voices of the tenants at a time when these communities are becoming increasingly marginalised by the city around them. A patient observation of the daily lives of the area’s inhabitants over the course of one evening, 57 Lawson is a hybrid drama-documentary film about a specific place at a specific time.

Koyaanisqatsi

April 1983 •English

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

The Whole Gritty City

October 2013 •English

Young members of 3 New Orleans school marching bands grow up in America's most musical city, and one of its most dangerous. Their band directors get them ready to perform in the Mardi Gras parades, and teach them to succeed and to survive.

Rigoberta Menchú: Broken Silence

October 1992 •English

Focuses on 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu, as she discusses the lack of human rights for the indigenous people of Guatemala and her commitment to the struggle for a more egalitarian society.

America's Untold Journey: 450 Years of the African American Experience

January 2016 •English

Chronicles over four centuries of African American influence on the development of the modern-day United States. Before Plymouth Rock and Jamestown, St. Augustine, FL had built a multicultural colony of free and enslaved men and women. This small colony would eventually set the stage for the first Underground Railroad in the late 1600s. Then, 300 years later, be the epicenter of events that would lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.