Coming to BAM for its third edition this weekend, New Voices in Black Cinema offers a showcase for new films exploring the black experience both in the US and internationally. Co-presented with the ActNow Foundation, a film and theatre company that provides a platform for artists of color, the series presents sixteen programs between Friday, February 15 and Monday, February 18.
Among this number are five documentaries, the best known being Ken Burns, David McMahon, and Sarah Burns’ indepth revisitation of criminal injustice in NYC, THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE. Making their NYC premieres are four other docs: Andy Mundy-Castle’s THE FADE (pictured), a week in the lives of four barbers in four distinct environments; Oliver Hardt’s THE UNITED STATES OF HOODOO, a consideration of the influence of traditional African spirituality on American pop culture; Fred Kuwornu’s 18 IUS SOLI, which explores the impact of the Italian law that denies automatic citizenship to Italian-born children of immigrants; and Jason Orr’s epic FUNK JAZZ KAFÉ: DIARY OF A DECADE, an indepth look at the artistic renaissance stemming from Atlanta’s music scene of the 1980s.
what (not) to doc 