American Documentary, Inc. | Outreach . Film Library: Race Relations

FILM LIBRARY: RACE RELATIONS

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

Filmed over 23 years, The Betrayal is the Academy Award®-nominated directorial debut of renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras in a unique collaboration with the film's subject and co-director, Thavisouk ("Thavi") Phrasavath. After the U.S. government waged a secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War, Thavi's father and thousands of other Laotians who had fought alongside American forces were abandoned and left to face imprisonment or execution. Hoping to find safety, Thavi's family made a harrowing escape to America, where they discovered a different kind of war. Weaving ancient prophecy with personal testimony and stunning imagery, The Betrayal is a story of survival and the resilient bonds of family. A Diverse Voices Project co-production with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB); funded in part by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). An Official Selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Good Fortune
by Landon Van Soest

Good Fortune is a provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit. In Kenya’s rural countryside, Jackson’s farm is being flooded by an American investor who hopes to alleviate poverty by creating a multimillion-dollar rice farm. Across the country in Nairobi, Silva’s home and business in Africa’s largest shantytown are being demolished as part of a U.N. slum-upgrading project. The gripping stories of two Kenyans battling to save their homes from large-scale development present a unique opportunity see foreign aid through eyes of the people it is intended to help.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Farmingville
by Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini

The shocking hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers catapult a small Long Island town into national headlines, unmasking a new front line in the border wars: suburbia. For nearly a year, Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini lived and worked in Farmingville, New York, so they could capture first-hand the stories of residents, day laborers and activists on all sides of the debate. This timely and powerful film is more than a story about illegal immigration. Ultimately it challenges viewers to ask what the 'American dream' really means. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) co-presentation. An Active Voice selection. A 2004 Election Issue Special.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

First Person Plural
by Deann Borshay Liem

In 1966, Deann Borshay Liem was adopted by an American family and sent from Korea to her new home in California. There the memory of her birth family was nearly obliterated, until recurring dreams led her to investigate her own past, and she discovered that her Korean mother was very much alive. Bravely uniting her biological and adoptive families, Borshay Liem embarks on a heartfelt journey in the acclaimed 2000 film First Person Plural, a poignant essay on family, loss and the reconciling of two identities. POV will present the filmmaker’s follow-up, In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee, on Tuesday, September 14, 2010. A co-presentation of ITVS and the Center for Asian American Media.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide

In The Light of Reverence
by Christopher McLeod

A film still from 'In The Light of Reverence'

Devils Tower. The Four Corners. Mount Shasta. All places of extraordinary beauty — and impassioned controversy — as Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist with very different ideas about how the land should be used. For Native Americans, the land is sacred and akin to the world's greatest cathedrals. For others, the land should be used for industry and recreation.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee
by Deann Borshay Liem

Her passport said she was Cha Jung Hee. She knew she was not. So began a 40-year deception for a Korean adoptee who came to the United States in 1966. Told to keep her true identity secret from her new American family, the 8-year-old girl quickly forgot she had ever been anyone else. But why had her identity been switched? And who was the real Cha Jung Hee? In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee is the search to find the answers, as acclaimed filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem (First Person Plural, POV 2000) returns to her native Korea to find her “double,” the mysterious girl whose place she took in America. A co-production of ITVS in association with the Center for Asian American Media and American Documentary/POV.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film |Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Mugabe and the White African
by Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson

A film still from 'Mugabe and the White African'

Mugabe and the White African, much of which was filmed clandestinely, tells an alarming story from one of the world’s most troubled nations. In Zimbabwe, de facto dictator Robert Mugabe has unleashed a "land reform" program aimed at driving whites from the country through violence and intimidation. One proud “white African,” however, has challenged Mugabe with human rights abuses under international law. The courage Michael Campbell and his family display as they defend their farm — in court and on the ground — makes for a film as inspiring as it is harrowing. (90 minutes)

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Sneak Preview Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

New Muslim Cool
by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor

Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Pérez pulled himself out of drug dealing and street life 12 years ago and became a Muslim. Now he's moved to Pittsburgh's tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family and take his message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music. But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and himself. New Muslim Cool takes viewers on Hamza's ride through streets, slums and jail cells — following his spiritual journey to some surprising places in an America that never stops changing. Produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story
by Eric Paul Fournier

A film still from 'Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story'

Fred Korematsu was probably never more American than when he resisted, and then challenged in court, the forced internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his landmark Supreme Court case in 1944, but never his indignation and resolve. "Of Civil Wrongs and Rights" is the untold history of the 40-year legal fight to vindicate Korematsu — one that finally turned a civil injustice into a civil rights victory.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Off and Running
by Nicole Opper

Off and Running tells the story of Brooklyn teenager Avery, a track star with a bright future. She is the adopted African-American child of white Jewish lesbians. Her older brother is black and Puerto Rican and her younger brother is Korean. Though it may not look typical, Avery’s household is like most American homes — until Avery writes to her birth mother and the response throws her into crisis. She struggles over her “true” identity, the circumstances of her adoption and her estrangement from black culture. Just when it seems as if her life is unraveling, Avery decides to pick up the pieces and make sense of her identity, with inspiring results. A co-production of ITVS in association with the National Black Programming Consortium and American Documentary/POV and the Diverse Voices Project, with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film |Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Promised Land
by Yoruba Richen

Though apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994, economic injustices between blacks and whites remain unresolved. As revealed in Yoruba Richen’s incisive Promised Land, the most potentially explosive issue is land. The film follows two black communities as they struggle to reclaim land from white owners, some of whom who have lived there for generations. Amid rising tensions and wavering government policies, the land issue remains South Africa’s “ticking time bomb,” with far-reaching consequences for all sides. Promised Land captures multiple perspectives of citizens struggling to create just solutions. A co-production of the National Black Programming Consortium, American Documentary/POV and the Diverse Voices Project, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Revolution '67
by Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno

"Revolution '67" is an illuminating account of events too often relegated to footnotes in U.S. history — the black urban rebellions of the 1960s. Focusing on the six-day Newark, New Jersey outbreak in mid-July, "Revolution '67" reveals how the disturbance began as spontaneous revolts against poverty and police brutality and ended as fateful milestones in America's struggles over race and economic justice. Voices from across the spectrum — activists Tom Hayden and Amiri Baraka, journalist Bob Herbert, Mayor Sharpe James and other officials, National Guardsmen and Newark citizens — recall lessons as hard-earned then as they have been easy to neglect since. A co-production with the Independent Television Service (ITVS), in association with WSKG.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North
by Katrina Browne with Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray, Elizabeth Delude-Dix and Juanita Brown

First-time filmmaker Katrina Browne makes a troubling discovery — her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine fellow descendants set off to retrace the Triangle Trade: from their old hometown in Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba. Step by step, they uncover the vast extent of Northern complicity in slavery while also stumbling through the minefield of contemporary race relations. In this bicentennial year of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade, "Traces of the Trade" offers powerful new perspectives on the black/white divide. An official selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler

A film still from 'Disturbing the Universe'

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe examines the life of this radical attorney from a surprising angle. Kunstler’s two daughters from his second marriage grew up lionizing a man already famous for his historic civil rights and anti-war cases. Then, in their teens, they began to be disillusioned by a stubborn man who continued representing some of the most reviled defendants in America — this time accused rapists and terrorists. In this intimate biography, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler seek to recover the real story of what made their late father one of the most beloved, and hated, lawyers in America. Winner of the L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth Vision Award, 2009 Sundance Film Festival. A co-production of ITVS.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film |Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy
by Stephanie Wang-Breal

What is it like to be torn from your Chinese foster family, put on a plane with strangers and wake up in a new country, family and culture? Stephanie Wang-Breal’s Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy is the story of Fang Sui Yong, an 8-year-old orphan, and the Sadowskys, the Long Island Jewish family that travels to China to adopt her. Sui Yong is one of 70,000 Chinese children now being raised in the United States. Through her eyes, we witness her struggle with a new identity as she transforms from a timid child into someone that no one — neither her new family nor she — could have imagined. A co-production of American Documentary/POV and the Diverse Voices Project, presented in association with the Center for Asian American Media, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

FILMS FROM THE ARCHIVE

Films that are currently unavailable in our free lending library but that we recommend for group and classroom screenings.

Boomtown
by Bryan Gunnar Cole

Blink Stars and Grim Reapers. Thunderkings and Predators. Do you know your fireworks? Just in time for July 4th comes Boomtown, a lively visit to the Suquamish Nation near Seattle, where selling fireworks has become a tradition for some Suquamish tribal members. For 30 years, this part of Indian country has sold fireworks that are officially banned off the reservation, attracting non-Indian buyers from near and far. And then on July 4th, the Suquamish tribe plays host to one of the most enjoyable and unpredictable fireworks shows around. In a place where federal, state and local policies routinely collide with Native sovereignty, Boomtown focuses on this animated enterprise, offering a special glimpse into contemporary Indian life, where Native tradition meets today's economic realities with uniquely successful results. A Native American Telecommunications (NAPT) Co-presentation (TBD).