Saturday,
May 18th
@ American Film Institute (AFI),
Mark Goodson Theatre
Noon - 6pm
Host & Moderator,
Tim Cogshell
This year’s DAY OF BLACK DOCS is hosted by Tim Cogshell, a veteran film critic and journalist with more than 30 years of experience working for broadcast, print, Internet and digital media, including NPR, KNBC, Spectrum News 1, ABC 7, Box Office Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Alt-Film Guide, among others. He’s a regular on NPR affiliate KPCC’s “FilmWeek” with Larry Mantle and co-host of the “CineGods” podcast.
This year’s DAY OF BLACK DOCS is hosted by Tim Cogshell, a veteran film critic and journalist with more than 30 years of experience working for broadcast, print, Internet and digital media, including NPR, KNBC, Spectrum News 1, ABC 7, Box Office Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Alt-Film Guide, among others. He’s a regular on NPR affiliate KPCC’s “FilmWeek” with Larry Mantle and co-host of the “CineGods” podcast.
This year’s DAY OF BLACK DOCS is hosted by Tim Cogshell, a veteran film critic and journalist with more than 30 years of experience working for broadcast, print, Internet and digital media, including NPR, KNBC, Spectrum News 1, ABC 7, Box Office Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Alt-Film Guide, among others. He’s a regular on NPR affiliate KPCC’s “FilmWeek” with Larry Mantle and co-host of the “CineGods” podcast.
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WOMEN ON THE OUTSIDE
Growing up, Kristal watched nearly every man in her life disappear to prison. She channeled that struggle into keeping families connected, both as a social worker and with her van service that drives families to visit loved ones in far-off prisons. But when Kristal's dad and brother return to Philly, her happiness meets the realization that release doesn't always mean freedom. Passionate, funny and resilient, Kristal remains determined to carve out a different future -- for herself and for her young nephew, Nyvae. Part observational documentary, part family album, A Woman on the Outside is a tender portrait of one family striving to love in the face of a system built to break them.
Directed by Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville (85 min) READ MORE
OVER THE WALL (short)
Nine seconds — it’s about all you have. Welcome to the fast-paced world of a NASCAR pit crew. Over the Wall is an immersive film following Brehanna Daniels, the first Black woman pit crew member and tire changer in NASCAR, as she works her way back from injury to participate in the Daytona 500, the biggest race in the sport. A testament to the power of perseverance and what it takes to be a trailblazer. Directed by Krystal Tingle (18 minutes) READ MORE
BIKE VESSEL
Eric D. Seals grew up eating just about every southern delicacy you could name: pulled pork, liverwurst sandwiches, fried fish, alongside his father, Donnie
Seals Sr. Living in Wheaton, a west suburb of Chicago, he also watched his dad drink and smoke for almost ten years, until 1995 when he almost died. Donnie Seals Sr.
would undergo his first open-heart surgery before age 50. In the next fifteen years, he would have a total of 3 quadruple bypass surgeries and be forced into early
retirement. However, the story doesn’t end there. Seals’ is now 70 years old and bicycles more than 30 miles daily; his heart problems have all but disappeared.
Having once been on more than 20 daily medications, he is now down to one, and his doctors call his recovery miraculous. A cinema-verite, participatory documentary following Seals Sr. and filmmaker Eric as they bike from St. Louis to Chicago Directed by Eric D. Seales (92 min) READ MORE
LUTHER: Never Too Much
Luther Vandross always thought he would be a star. The film “Luther: Never Too Much” explores the formative years of Luther’s musical career, back to the epicenter of black culture,
Harlem’s very own Apollo Theater. Luther was inspired by female iconic vocalists such as Dionne Warwick. Of her concert at the Brooklyn Fox Theater, he said “She came on stage and
just killed me; the music was more serious, the song value was more serious.” His big break comes during a studio session with David Bowie, where he would go on to sing background
vocals and arrange Bowie’s iconic Young Americans album. Love is joyous for Luther as in Never Too Much; it is pure, as in the duet with Mariah Carey in Endless Love and Dionne Warwick. For Luther love is harmony, and perhaps most exquisitely and painfully (for what is the dark side of love but pain?) If only for one night – who hasn’t made this Faustian bargain? Willing to live a life of loneliness for one perfect night with one true love. We explore his process of creation, an exacting style that culminated in the most exquisite
compositions. A portrait of a master emerges. He would control what he could as best he could. His weight, his craft, his love of family and close friends. If romantic love eluded Luther,
he made up for it in other ways. Luther is a man of passion, a man who delighted in beauty and luxury. The film explores the incredible investment the artist put into his musical presentation, only to be met with frustration from being pigeonholed as an “R&B” artist, struggles to crossover, and battles with the record industry. Vandross suffered a sudden stroke and passed away at
the age of 51. The final chapters of Luther’s life are celebrated by the memories of his cherished friends, family, collaborators. READ MORE