Mention the game Mah-Jongg to a woman who plays it and something very special happens. Her eyes light up, she smiles and may laugh, and then she begins to speak. Even someone at first shy or reluctant to speak suddenly come alive with impassioned stories of her life, and of the bonds that develop between the women who meet ritually every week, sometimes more, to play, to escape, and most importantly, to be together until all hours of the night. Ask...

The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community...But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis...The...

A fascinating road movie tracing history and origin of a subculture of youth that is known as one of the most radical and contradictory of our time.

I am the future of Black America. "Can't nobody steal my shine”- Tupac Shakur in his last interview, one of the many exclusive pieces of footage featured in ‘Thug Immortal”. From his early appearances on record with Digital Underground to his popular and influential solo albums, Tupac Shakur was a rap phenomenon, and one of the pioneers of gangster rap. Though often attacked by the media (and Dan Quayle) for his "thug" lifestyle, Tupac's life...

This a re-discovered and restored documentary shot in 1975 in Cape Verde at the time of independence by pioneering video artist Anthony D. Ramos. This was some of the earliest video work by Ramos, who received a 1975 grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities for travel to Cape Verde and a sony color 1/2" reel to reel video camera Ramos, a Cape Verdean American, traveled to the islands of Sao Tiago, Fogo and Sao Vicente, and was the only...

Melvin Van Peebles will always be known as the man who not only changed the face of black cinema, but independent cinema forever, when he made his groundbreaking (and taboo breaking) film "Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song." But’s he’s always been a lot more than that, as a playwright, actor, author, stage performer, musician and who knows what else he’s done in his 80 years. And he’s likely not through yet...But how did a guy who grew up...

This documentary reportage chronicles the first state visit to the United States in 1983 by Aristides Pereira, Cape Verde’s first president after independence. Highlights include an overview of the Cape Verdean communities in the Fox Point section of Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island and President Pereira’s visit to New Bedford, MA and visit to the schooner ERNESTINA, beloved queen of the Cape Verdean packet trade.

Since its origin in 1859, the song Dixie's Land has been woven into the fabric of American pop culture. Originally penned as a tune for blackface minstrel troupes, the song became the anthem of the confederacy during the Civil War. Adopted by segregationists during the civil rights movement, the song was protested by students during the 60's and 70's. The song has virtually vanished from college campuses throughout the United States, but younger artists,...

Before World War Two, Poland’s 3.5 million Jews made the country the epicenter of the Jewish world. Today less than 20,000 Jews live there. Due to the Holocaust and ensuing Soviet era, Poland’s remaining Jews hid their identity from their children. With the fall of Communism in 1989 a young generation of Jews began learning their long-buried ancestry. The Return focuses on four women in their 20’s who face the unique challenge of trying to create...

You See Me Laughin' is a personal journey into the lives and music of the last of the Mississippi hill country bluesmen - farmers and laborers first, musicians second - men who, year after year, congregated on back porches and in tiny juke joints to drink and sing and play guitar. YOU SEE ME LAUGHIN' takes us on the road and into the homes of R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, T-Model Ford, Cedell Davis, Johnny Farmer and Asie Payton - musicians who've...