Charles Burnett Movies

A look at the Black revolution in 1970s cinema, from genre films to social realism, from the making of new superstars to the craft of rising auteurs.

An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.

An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.

Poinsettia (Lynn Redgrave) is a woman who believes the ghost of composer Puccini is in love with her. Moving to Los Angeles, she falls in love with...

Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and...

J.J. is a rookie in the Sheriff's Department and the first black officer at that station. Racial tensions run high in the department as some of...

In 1831, Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in the United States that resulted in the murder of local slave owners and their families, the eventual...

Filmmaker Robert Townsend executive-produced the following fifty-six-minute program for Criterion’s Meet the Filmmakers series in 2018. In it,...

Collection of short films by various directors based on dreams, 42 seconds each. It was produced by the world's most awarded vodka "42 Below", known...

How did America change from Easy Rider into Donald Trump? What became of the dreams and utopias of the 1960's and 1970's? What do the people who...

A young African-American man, living in Los Angeles without direction in his life, reluctantly agrees to be the best man for his brother, an upwardly...

Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation is a 2007 epic film on the Namibian independence struggle against South African occupation as seen through the...

Shelby Coles (Halle Berry) is engaged to marry talented white jazz musician Meade Howell, but the pair face opposition from both Meade's family, who...

John is a man of many talents, including one forbidden skill: he can read. When he teaches a young slave girl named Sarny to read and write, she...

After the death of his father, a former football star reunites with the family that he abandoned years earlier.

Looks at the United States as it becomes an increasingly diverse nation. Tracing the history of significant changes in the Immigration and...

In 1965 Alabama, an 11 year old girl is touched by a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. and becomes a devout follower. But her resolution is tested...

Charlie Banks, chronically unemployed, struggles to find dignity and a meaning for life in the impoverished Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts.