The Documentary Forum

Double Lens: Harlem DocFest explores the cultural richness and history of Harlem along with critical issues impacting the community. This weekend-long festival of documentary films is FREE and open to the public, and includes conversations with filmmakers, actors and scholars. Please join us!

As hip hop music was taking off in the late 80s and 90s, associated fashion trends and styles were also making their voice heard. And both were largely dominated by men. But as the voices of Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot, and Lil’ Kim grew louder, so too did the influence of their female designers and stylists working behind the scenes.

Q&A with co-producer Hillary Cutter, and guests from the film: April Walker (Walker Wear), Michael Holman and Elena Romero; moderated by Anjanette Levert (Documentary Forum) 

More people are imprisoned in the United States at this moment than in any other time or place in history, yet the prison itself has never felt further away or more out of sight. The Prison in Twelve Landscapes is a film about the prison in which we never see a penitentiary. Instead, the film unfolds as a cinematic journey through a series of landscapes across the USA where prisons do work and affect lives, from a California mountainside where female prisoners fight raging wildfires, to a Bronx warehouse full of goods destined for the state correctional system, to an Appalachian coal town betting its future on the promise of prison jobs.

Q&A with filmmaker Brett Story to follow screening moderated by Sophia Williams (from the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home) 

Shot over the course of seven years, 2011-2018 in Nicaragua, Clean Hands is a feature-length fly-on-the-wall documentary which tells the story of the Lopez family surviving against the backdrop of Central America’s largest garbage dump, La Chureca and beyond. It is about family, extreme poverty, the hope and innocence of children, rescue and salvation, and the challenges we all face.

Q&A with Director Michael Dominic to follow screening

College Behind Bars, a four-part documentary film series directed by filmmaker Lynn Novick, produced by Sarah Botstein, and executive produced by Ken Burns, tells the story of a small group of incarcerated men and women struggling to earn college degrees and turn their lives around in one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the United States – the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI).

Q&A with filmmaker Lynn Novick, producer Salimah El-Amin and formerly incarcerated graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative featured in the film Dyjuan Tatro and Shawnta Montgomery.

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am offers an artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel prize-winner. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to ‘70s-era book tours with Muhammad Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature. Inspired to write because no one took a “little black girl” seriously, Morrison reflects on her lifelong deconstruction of the master narrative. Woven together with a rich collection of art, history, literature and personality, the film includes discussions about her many critically acclaimed works, including novels “The Bluest Eye,” “Sula” and “Song of Solomon,” her role as an editor of iconic African-American literature and her time teaching at Princeton University.  

Q&A with Sandra Guzman and other guests following the screening

Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes explores the unique vision behind the iconic jazz record label. Through rare archival footage, current recording sessions and conversations with Blue Note artists, the film reveals a powerful mission and illuminates the vital connections between jazz and hip hop.

Photo by Guy Le Querrec. Courtesy of Firelight Films.

Miles Davis: Horn player, bandleader, innovator. Miles was a singular force of nature, the very embodiment of cool. The central theme of Miles Davis’ life, and of this film is Davis’ restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms. This documentary feature explores archival photos and home movies shot by Miles and his colleagues, his manuscripts and Miles’ original paintings, to explore the man behind the music. Featuring interviews with some of the most well-known musicians on the planet, including Jimmy Cobb, Lee Konitz, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Carlos Santana, The Roots, and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the film explores why Miles continues to be a relevant voice in today’s world. 

Free reception @ 6PM and screening of the film with an introduction by Director Stanley Nelson Jr.