Downtown 81
Celebrating Black Stories
•
1h 11m
Directed by Edo Bertoglio • Arthouse • 1981 • US • English
Starring Jean Michael Basquiat, Debbie Harry, Richard Weigand
Shot in New York City in the eighties and written by Warhol associate Glenn O’Brien, "Downtown 81" features graffiti innovator and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat moving through the city's still-untamed streets, picking up the incredible diversity of cultural activity in lower Manhattan.
Up Next in Celebrating Black Stories
-
Murder in Harlem
Directed by Oscar Micheaux • Drama • 1935 • US • English
Starring Clarence Brooks, Dorothy Van Engle, Alec LovejoyOscar Micheaux’s remake of his own “The Gunsaulus Mystery” (1921) is based on the true-life murder of Mary Phagan. When a young woman is found dead in a factory office, a Black empl...
-
Neptune Frost
Directed by Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman • Sci-Fi • 2021 • US, Rwanda • English, Kinyarwanda with English subtitles
Starring Cheryl Isheja, Elvis Ngabo, Diogene NtarindwaIn an otherworldly e-waste dump camp, an anti-colonialist hacking collective attempts a takeover of the authoritarian regime...
-
When the Beat Drops
Directed by Jamal Sims • Documentary • 2018 • US • English
Featuring Anthony DavisDrop into the electric and subversive underground dance scene known as bucking. As voguing exploded out of the ballroom scene of NYC, bucking was boldly pioneered in the clubs of the Deep South as a new form of se...