Hollywood Black Film Festival 2008

Belly of the Basin is a one hour documentary which presents the central question - what happens to marginalized people displaced by a natural disaster and flood? Bombarded with sensationalized media coverage of Hurricane Katrina for about one month after the hurricane ravaged the Gulf Coast, audiences around the world watched the media's portrayal of demoralizing images of African Americans 'looting' for survival juxtaposed with sympathetic images of White Americans luckily 'finding' supplies for survival. As a result, the media criminalized African American survival perpetuating racist ideology about the African American community as opposed to focusing on the overwhelming psychological and physical displacement and dislocation that the hurricane created for the community. Hurricane Katrina exposed to the world the long existing racial and class divide present in New Orleans specifically and across America in general. Since the hurricane, much has been said about the destruction of buildings, businesses, and houses, but for the survivors, the emotional and psychological loss of 'home' has been the most difficult to handle. Through individual stories of survivors and volunteers of grassroots organizations Belly of the Basin poses questions about the value of human life in relationship to race, class, and politics.

Living in a housing project, 17-year-old Sylvia Dorsey is frustrated by the violence and drug abuse that surrounds her. Determined to transcend this environment, Sylvia soon finds herself on a soul-searching mission to define who she is and what will become of her life.'Black To Our Roots' is the inspirational story of the journey that Sylvia takes from Atlanta, GA to Ghana, West Africa to escape the poverty and hopelessness that surrounds her as she explores her ancestral homeland. While there, Sylvia is confronted with several challenges that test her patience and change her life forever. She must adapt to living conditions that America has ill prepared her for, learn to appreciate things she took for granted, and address the misconceptions that exist about both Africans and African Americans. Sylvia must also confront a very painful chapter in human history when she visits the Slave Dungeons and grapples with the divisions that confront Africans throughout the Diaspora. In this process, Sylvia faces her fears and emerges as a confident, outspoken, and articulate young woman ready to claim her destiny. However, when she returns to the US, will she be ready to adjust to her old world as a new woman? This film is a testament to the power of change. This film is a story of self-love and self-discovery.

Black Male Exotic Dancers (who perform non-obscene dance routines for women) fought the government in federal court for their Constitutional Rights (with a Black lawyer) in order to maintain their livelihoods and support their families and won! The female patrons are from all walks of life and prefer to watch male entertainment rather than go toclubs or happy hours where they have to deal with the unwelcomed advances and harassment from male patrons.Prince George's County, Maryland, a local government, passed an ordinance that among other things, prohibited tippingof dancers during their performance, restricted a patron's distance from a performer to 6 ft and required a male entertainer to wear a shirt and short anytime he is not on stage.The ordinance also made it a crime to touch a dancer while he is in a g-string. This is a story that the government does not want you to know about. It is not often that Black Men fight the government in federal court with a Black lawyer and win! This documentary will address a lot of the myths surrounding male adult entertainers. It will also show you that they are regular people, like you and I with families, goals, and dreams. They are more than just eye candy! Despite the title, there is no nudity in the film. "the adult entertainment's answer to Footloose..." Playgirl Magazine, October 2007 issue. "The dancers are charismatic as all hell, with bodies that will haunt you in your dreams. And man, these dudes can dance! I kept wanting to throw dollar bills at the screen." Philip Huang, culturevulture.net (2007) "Too often in film, Black Men are portrayed as innately savage, animalistic, destructive and criminal. They are depicted as an anti-social predators terrifying the community in which they dwell. This film depicts Black People (as they truly are) as people relating to other people -- not as mere plot devices and not as characters defined solely by how they relate to the white world.When the government tried to take away the dancers constitutional rights they did not riot in the streets or picket in front of a government building. Instead, they got a lawyer and went to court to fight the government...It is not often that Black Men fight the government in federal court with a Black lawyer and win!" Comment, Dr. Emanuel Levy - April 19, 2008

fantasy is a doc about the reality in which we come from in los angeles,ca in this doc we address issues on how we are raised and how music has impacted our lifestyle the main question is does rap music hurt our community are does it make it better without the bling bling interviews from hip hop artist as well as interviews from common folks

Find Yourself A Dream: The Bob Love Story is the life affirming true story of Chicago Bulls legendary basketball player Bob 'Butterbean' Love. Suffering from a severe stuttering disability from an early age, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls superstar. After a career ending injury he was told that he would have difficulty walking let alone play the game he loved.His life spiraled out of control and he ended up penniless. He eventually found work as a busboy at the Nordstrom department store restaurant in Seattle. The documentary chronicles the amazing story of his recovery and rebirth. The Nordstrom company was so impressed by his hard work. They decided to pay for Bob's speech therapy and within five years he promoted from a busboy to the corporate spokesperson for the company. Bob is presently the Community Relations Director for the Chicago Bulls and travels around the country speaking to over 200,000 young people a year on the importance of education and always having a dream. Bob Love's perseverance and triumph over adversity inspires young people everywhere to achieve their life goals.The documentary is supported by interviews with NBA Commissioner David Stern,basketball greats Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, many NBA players, family and fans. The film was shot on-location in New Orleans and Bastrop, La., at The NBA Rookie Transition program in New Jersey, Seattle, Washington and New York City.

Narrated by venerable actress Ruby Dee, this unique documentary interweaves an acclaimed historical performance, based on Mary Pleasant's own words, with scholars' commentary, period music and montage, and historical re-enactments to reveal an unsung, 19th-century African-American heroine. Mary Ellen Pleasant (often misnamed Mammy Pleasant) was born a slave in Georgia and raised in Nantucket, MA. In Boston she married a rich merchant and became a slave rescuer on the Underground Railroad in Nantucket, New Bedford, Ohio, and finally New Orleans before going West. She lived most of her life in San Francisco and once studied social leveraging tactics with the great voodoo queen, Marie LaVeaux. For her great contributions to the abolition of slavery, the protection of Civil Rights, and acquisition of jobs for African-Americans there, that San Francisco has honored her with a memorial at the corner of Bush and Octavia Streets with the title 'Mother of Civil Rights in California' inscribed upon it. Mrs. Pleasant gained national significance when she aided the abolitionist John Brown before the Civil War and via a court battle that she waged in the California State Supreme Court that changed modern-day civil rights law. As entrepreneur and philanthropist she amassed a joint fortune once assessed at $30,000,000! Having had powerful enemies who distorted her name in the press and a few misdeeds of her own, Pleasant's colorful story has been all but lost. This film restores it fully (57 min)

What is injustice, and who defines that? What makes us speak out? That is the exploration of 'Outspoken Los Angeles, a feature length documentary that focuses on Los Angeles residents who commit themselves to ending the Iraq war through their unique styles of protest.'Outspoken - Los Angeles' will reach into the motives of how and why. Why do these characters speak out? What got them to where they are? These are real stories of real people telling their truth. Outspoken puts a profound human face on the Los Angeles anti-war movement, and examines the intimate side of protest. The film is more a character study than an anti-war documentary, the film offers viewers a portrait of L.A. residents who feel desperately compelled to engage the democratic process for change in a sometimes aggressive and combative way, driven by their personal experiences and struggles.The goal is to empower people, to teach people that we are not powerless. There is a way to help evoke change, as it did during the civil rights movement and during Vietnam. Furthermore, to show the appeal of activism and that those leading the movement are just like anyone else - human. Finally, to show that it's important to one's self balance to stand up for what you believe in.

In 1788 the slave ship Africa, set sail from West Africa and headed for America with its berth laden with a profitable but highly perishable cargo--hundreds of men, women and children bound in chains. Six months later the survivors were sold in Natchez, Mississippi. One of them, a 26-year-old man named Abdul-Rahman made a remarkable claim to the farmer who purchased him at the auction that he was an African prince and that his father would pay gold for his ransom. The offer was refused and Abdul-Rahman did not return to Africa for another 40 years. During his enslavement he toiled on the Foster plantation, married, and fathered nine children. His story also eventually made him the most famous African in America, attracting the support of powerful men such as President John Quincy Adams. After forty years of slavery, Abdul-Rahman finally reclaimed his freedom, but he defied the order to return immediately to Africa, and instead traveled throughout the northern states, speaking to huge audiences in a partially successful attempt to raise enough money to buy his children's freedom. Finally at the age of 67, and after raising funds to free two of his children, Abdul-Rahman returned to Africa, only to fall ill and die just as word of his arrival reached his former home of Futa Jalloo in present-day Guinea. Abdul-Rahman survived the harsh ordeals of slavery through his love of family and his deep faith as a Muslim.

In 2004, thirteen thousand Somali Bantu refugees realized their dream of coming to America. They are now living in fifty cities across the country, becoming the largest African group from a single minority to settle in the United States at one time. Rain in a Dry Land chronicles two years in the lives of two extended Somali Bantu families as they leave behind a two-hundred year legacy of oppression in Africa to face new challenges in a strange new land. The film begins in January, 2004, at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where our featured families are stunned by what they learn about America in their 'Cultural Orientation' class: refrigerators, stoves, bathtubs, elevators, stairs, buildings taller than one storey, schools, and all the things we take for granted in modern life. As their awe and excitement grow, the audience fears for them. How will these illiterate Muslim farmers who speak no English manage to survive in America?These opening scenes in Kakuma introduce our featured families, both dynamic, charismatic, and very different in nature. Arbai is quick, strong, affectionate, a single mother of four with a great sense of humor and an easy contagious laugh, despite her devastating past. Madina is fierce, vulnerable, wounded, strong; her husband Aden is volatile, moody, soulful, determined to provide for his huge family but uncertain and a bit naive about the life that lies ahead. Their witty, resourceful teenage sons, Ali (17) and Warsame (15), figure prominently in the film, as do Arbai's beautiful teenage daughters, Sahara (13) and Khadija (16). The documentary follows these two families to America and through their first two years in their new homes. Aden and Madina, sponsored by Jewish Family Service, settle in the grim mill-town of Springfield, Massachusetts; while Arbai's family settles in Atlanta.Despite racism, poverty, failures of the school system, and severe culture shock, both families do find ways to survive in America, and to create a safe haven for their war-torn families. The film ends with two vivid celebrations: the naming ceremony of Aden and Madina's first American-born child; and the traditional wedding of Arbai's oldest daughter, a colorful reunion of hundreds of Somali Bantu families converging on Atlanta from all over America.