Published Jun 17
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9 series and movies that educate on #BlackLivesMatter
Learn more about the issues addressed by the Black Lives Matter movement: try these movies, series and documentaries on Showmax that examine the Black experience.
As protests around social justice and racism continue around the globe, we’ve assembled a list of topical series, movies and doccies that can help inform the conversation. Some will outrage you or make you cry; some will probably make you laugh. None professes to fully explore all of the complex issues at play, but are a good place to start.
MOVIES
Fruitvale Station (2013) on Showmax
Before he directed Black Panther, Ryan Coogler directed this critically acclaimed movie based on true events. In the early hours of New Year’s Day 2009, 22-year-old Oscar Grant III is on his way home from watching the fireworks in San Francisco. A series of events leads to a scuffle, and Oscar is shot by police. In a scene that’s all too familiar, protests break out across the city against police brutality.
BlackKklansman (2018) on DStv Now
Acclaimed director Spike Lee tells this incredible and unbelievable true story. An African American police officer in Colorado manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate.
DOCUMENTARIES
We Are The Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorium on Showmax
Every year, hundreds of kids from across the US take part in a festival inspired by Martin Luther King Jr, performing poetry and speeches based on his legacy. Follow the process they go through to prepare for the event. The 2018 biopic I Am MLK Jr is also on Showmax.
OJ: Made in America S1 on Showmax
Examining the 1995 trial of one of America’s best-loved sports icons, this documentary series, consisting of four episodes, each feature-film length, puts Simpson’s time in the courtroom, and the outcome of his murder trial, in the context of racial tensions in the United States.
SERIES
Watchmen
Inspired by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ iconic DC graphic novel, Watchmen is set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws. The first episode opens with the real-life Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 when KKK members killed hundreds of black citizens – and, in real life, were never brought to book.
Black-ish on Showmax / DStv Now
As Slate said after Season 1, “Black-ish is about the upper-middle-class black experience, but it refuses to oversimplify the place that oversimplifications have in our hearts.” While Black-ish is a comedy, it doesn’t shy away from hard conversations about issues that confront the family daily, including racism and police brutality (in Season 2).
» Now on Showmax | » Now on DStv Now
A Black Lady Sketch Show S1 on Showmax
Laugh-out-loud funny, not afraid to be controversial and unprecedented in sketch comedy TV history, A Black Lady Sketch Show is created by, written by, directed by and starring a stellar array of black women. Creator Robin Thede executive produces, writes and stars, with Issa Rae (Emmy and Golden Globe nominee for HBO’s Insecure) producing.
Insecure S1-4 on Showmax / DStv Now
The Guardian said: “The opening episode of Insecure […] pulled audiences into a messy, complex vision of black womanhood, via the blunt comments of a group of school kids. Issa Dee (Issa Rae) addresses the disenfranchised pupils she’s mentoring with non-profit organisation We Got Y’All, and finds everything from her natural hair to her relationship to her career under scrutiny. Hilarious but uncomfortable, it set the scene for a series labelled by many as ‘the black Sex and the City’, and hailed by critics as the best show HBO had made in years.”
» Now on Showmax | » Now on DStv Now
Atlanta S1-2 on Showmax
Three young hopefuls trying to provide a better life for themselves and their families work their way up in Atlanta’s rap scene. Starring, directed and written by Donald Glover, this one sometimes veers into the bizarre in exploring issues relevant to the Black experience.
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