Black World Cinema in partnership with Chicago Filmmakers  presents CHAMELEON STREET on Saturday, December 11th at 7:00 PM. CHAMELEON STREET is a 1989 independent film written by, directed, and starring Wendell B. Harris, Jr.. It tells the story of a social chameleon who impersonates reporters, doctors, and lawyers in order to make money. The film is a satire based on the life of Detroit con artist and high-school drop-out William Douglas Street, Jr., who successfully impersonated professional reporters, lawyers, athletes, extortionists, and surgeons, going so far as t ..read more

Sat, Nov 13, 7pm Admission: Suggested donation $10.00 Chicago Filmmakers 326 W Hollywood Ave, Chicago, IL 60660 Valley of Peace (Dolina Miru) Slovenia, 1957 Valley of Peace (Slovene: Dolina miru) is a 1956 Yugoslavian (Slovenian) war film directed by France Štiglic. It was in competition at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, where John Kitzmiller received the Best Actor award for his role as Sgt. Jim.   The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.   Synopsis: During WWII in Slovenia, two orphaned children seeking the imagina ..read more

October 10, 3pm, 2021 Top of The Heap (1972) Christopher St. John • Drama • 94m Free Screening & Discussion: Register Now With much akin to Abel Ferrara’s “Bad Lieutenant” with striking similarities, Top of the Heap is a 1972 American drama film directed by and starring Christopher St. John.[2] It was entered into the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Bear. George Lattimer is a frustrated D.C. cop struggling with turmoil within and without, attempting to juggle problems out on the street, on his job, and in his ho ..read more

Depicting Revolution Sun, Oct 10, 3pm, 2021 ICE (1969) Robert Kramer • Drama • 132 min https://youtu.be/C6A0c1IZx7k Free Screening & Discussion: “An underground revolutionary group struggles against internal strife to stage urban guerilla attacks against a fictionalized fascist regime in the United States. Interspersed throughout the narrative are rhetorical sequences that explain the philosophy of radical action and restrain the melodrama inherent in the thriller genre.” “A film that has gained hugely with the passage of time. It may not ‘explode in people’s faces like a grenade’ or ‘open ..read more

October 10, 3pm, 2021 Top of The Heap (1972) Christopher St. John • Drama • 94m Free Screening & Discussion: Register Now With much akin to Abel Ferrara’s “Bad Lieutenant” with striking similarities, Top of the Heap is a 1972 American drama film directed by and starring Christopher St. John.[2] It was entered into the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Bear. George Lattimer is a frustrated D.C. cop struggling with turmoil within and without, attempting to juggle problems out on the street, on his job, and in his ho ..read more

DCP, color, 118 min. Director: Bill Duke. Production: Public Forum Productions, Ltd. Producers: Elsa Rassbach, George Manasse. Screenwriters: Leslie Lee, Elsa Rassbach, Ron Milner. Cinematographer: William Birch. Production Designer: Maher Ahmad. Editor: John N. Carter. Music: Elizabeth Swados. Cast: Damien Leake, Alfre Woodard, Dennis Farina, Ernest Rayford, Moses Gunn, Clarence Felder. Rich in characters and played against a canvas red with the blood of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, this critically acclaimed independent film tells a true story of how a group of black and white slaughterhous ..read more

Black Militancy and Revolution in Cinema Sept 12, 3pm, 2021 The Final Comedown (1972) Oscar Williams, 1hr 23m Free Screening & Discussion: Register Now The Final Comedown is a 1972 film, considered “blaxploitation,” written, produced and directed by Oscar Williams, starring Billy Dee Williams and D’Urville Martin. Based on the 1967 play by Jimmy Garret, We Own The Night, whose title came from a poem by Leroi Jones aka Amiri Baraka, the film is an examination of racism in the United States and depicts a shootout between a radical black nationalist group and the police, and the development o ..read more

Depicting Black Militancy  August 29, 3pm, 2021 Intruder in the Dust (1949) Clarence Brown, 1h 27m Register for Free Online Screening and Discussion Lucas Beauchamp (Juano Hernandez) is a strong, proud African-American man accused of murder in 1940s small-town Mississippi. As the town’s white residents prepare to lynch him, a teenage boy named Chick (Claude Jarman Jr.) whom Beauchamp had once saved from drowning becomes convinced of the man’s innocence, and races to discover the identity of the real murderer before it’s too late. This film, adapted from William Faulkner’s 1948 novel, was ..read more

July 18, 3pm, Free OnlineThe Informer (1935) John Ford, 1hr 31m https://watchbeem.com/cowatch/the-informer-1935 Panelist : Aodh Ó Coileáin (Hugh), Billy Ché Brooks Forcefully and intelligently written, directed, and acted, John Ford’s The Informer deals with the Irish rebellion against British authority prior to 1922, when the creation of the Irish Free State finally removed the hated symbols of British domination. Amidst the rebellion-rife slums of Dublin, peasant Gypo Nolan (Victor McLaglen) and sex worker Katie Madden (Margot Grahame) are trying to get money for passage to America. After re ..read more

August 1, 3pm, 2021 Uptight (1968) Jules Dassin, 1h 44 min Free online Screening and Discussion Intended as an updated version of The Informer, the first film in our series, Uptight (also known as Up Tight!) is a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. Based also on the novel The Informer by Liam O’Flaherty, the setting was transposed from Dublin to Cleveland. The soundtrack was performed by Booker T and the MGs. “Jules Dassin’s “Up Tight” is a forthright treatment of black militancy. Somewhat to my surprise, it doesn’t chicken out. There’s no backsliding, toward a concili ..read more