2020 Year of the Nurse is a documentary about Black nurses and practitioners in Virginia, New York, and other cities across the country. This project provides insight into how they fought to save lives from the devastating effects of Covid-19. It also highlights how medical professionals had to fight for their rights when faced with multiple challenges such as systemic racism, pandemic preparedness, work-life balance, and mental health issues while on the front lines.

2020 Year of the Nurse

Kafi Dixon dreams of starting a land cooperative for women of color who have experienced trauma and disenfranchisement in the city of Boston. By day she drives a city bus; at night she studies the humanities in a tuition-free course. Her classmate Carl Chandler, a community elder, is the class’s intellectual leader. White suburban filmmaker James Rutenbeck documents the students’ engagement with the humanities. He looks for transformations but is awakened to the violence, racism, and gentrification that threaten Kafi and Carl's very place in the city. Troubled by his failure to bring the film together, he enlists the pair as collaborators with a share in the film revenues. Five years on, despite many obstacles, Kafi and Carl arrive at surprising new places in their lives—and James does too.

A Reckoning in Boston

Marvin Arrington, Sr. is one of Atlanta's most significant political leaders yet one of its least recognized. Born in Atlanta, then a segregated, provincial town of the Deep South Arrington grew up to help galvanize the city of his birth into the international, cosmopolitan metropolis that it is today. This documentary takes viewers on the journey of one man’s love for a city and his visionary work for its eventual transformation. Battling through the blows of racism and meshing with political opponents over the years Marvin “Bo Legs” Arrington not only found his way but made his mark in civic duty and social justice. By telling his story this film tells the story of Atlanta. The people who worked with Arrington and knew him best helps narrate this seminal figure’s storied impact in public service to a modern Atlanta community. No other person’s biography parallels so harmoniously with the successful growth of the city of Atlanta than Marvin Arrington, Sr.

Bo Legs:  Marvin Arrington, Sr., An Atlanta Story

The film canonizes Eric "MC Breed" as the first commercially successful rapper in the Midwest, establishing him as the forefather of the regional musical subgenre. The documentary also follows another Flint hometown hero Ira "Bootleg" Dorsey of The Dayton Family, a pioneer of gangsta rap in the city.

Breed & Bootleg

Two teens in Massachusetts wonder why they’re the only Black or Brown students in their calculus class. As they talk to “The Professor,” a friend’s uncle, he walks them through the development of this country’s racialized caste system and how it has become manifested in our school systems. The&nbsp;Professor enlightens them about some of the knowledge Africans brought to this continent and imparted to the wider population, only to have credit for these accomplishments ripped away. He describes the building of the US economy on the backs and wombs of enslaved Africans, white fear of rebellion, and white suppression of Black literacy. The teens learn how these systems of oppression continued&nbsp;post-slavery through sharecropping, peonage, imprisonment, convict leasing, and the ever-present threat of white violence. From the Jim Crow South to the de facto Jim Crow North, the Professor&nbsp;introduces a framework from civil rights and education activist&nbsp;Bob Moses called “sharecropper education”—&nbsp;a system in which the quality of children's education is proportional to the roles they are assigned&nbsp;at birth by caste.&nbsp;As they examine statistics from their own school district, the teens wonder how their community compares. Lastly, the boys and the Professor imagine some solutions to redesigning their district and the US education system writ large.&nbsp;

Caste in the Classroom: The Education of Second-Class Citizens

Cool Black North explores the unique and vibrant Canadian Black Community and its role in our country’s contemporary identity. Through a series of intimate profiles we are witness to a wide spectrum of life experiences, including the arts, entertainment, law, business, science and social activism. Though each person’s pathway to success is unique, they all share a common purpose and strength in overcoming often racially-based obstacles to succeed at the highest level in their respective fields. Tied together through their shared achievement – recognition from the Harry Jerome Awards – these incredible people paint a diverse and compelling portrait of excellence in the Cool Black North.

Cool Black North

23 states in the U.S. experienced a significant rise in opioid overdose last year. In the newest film by Nate Powers, DEATH to LIFE shines a light on the humanity behind the statistics, as you’re introduced to people whose stories are embedded in the very heart of this crisis. 4 AWARD NOMINATIONS 3 AWARDS WON OFFICIAL SELECTION OF THE NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL 2020

DEATH to LIFE

Discovery Mode follows two travelers for five months throughout South East Asia as they interview 150 millennial tourists from around the world, to learn about the values of the world's most misunderstood generation.

Discovery Mode

A documentary film about the shocking experiences of a group of Upward Bound students visiting St. Augustine, Fl. -- the site of some of the most dramatic events in the days leading up to the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts -- in July,1969. The film includes an interview with the late Dr. C.T. Vivian, a hero of the Civil Rights Movement and the architect of Upward Bound, and was co-created by archivist, author and activist Dr. Pellom McDaniels III, who passed away in 2020, before the project could be completed.

INTO THE ARCHIVES: "SMALL STEPS"

Many Fires This Time: We the 100 Million is a poetic docudrama about the 1 in 3 Americans and counting, living in economic insecurity. It follows the journey of poet and activist A Scribe Called Quess? as he connects with fellow activist poets and the communities they represent from Oakland to Chicago to Kentucky to his hometown of New Orleans. Along the way, we glimpse into the worlds of everyday people fighting for equity and justice in issues ranging from housing and gentrification to police violence, to environmental crises and job security, to education, to LGBTQIA equality. In the spirit of the impending fire that James Baldwin prophetically spoke of in this country’s last season of a major uprising, “Many Fires” employs spoken word poetry, choreography, and community interviews, to form a poetic love letter to the many revolutionary struggles aflame in today’s America.

Many Fires This Time: We the 100 Million

RAYMOND LEWIS: L.A. LEGEND tells the true story of the mythical basketball legend from Watts California who was blackballed from the NBA in the early 70’s following an ugly contract dispute with the Philadelphia 76ers as a rookie. The film features exclusively uncovered archival footage dating back over 50 years, along with a deep array of over 45 personal interviews that tell the incredibly strange and heartbreaking tale of a once-in-a-generation talent who was shunned by a game he was destined to dominate. Part historical recovery, part deep personal excavation, the film takes the viewer on a moving ride through one of the sport’s least known, but perhaps most incredible personal journeys of all time. Steeped in the unique history and imagery of South Central Los Angeles and the tumultuous civil rights movements of the late 60’s and early 70’s, L.A. LEGEND offers a unique reflection of the racial justice movements happening today in both sports and U.S. society. Featuring interviews with Dr. Harry Edwards, Jerry Tarkanian, Reggie Theus, Sonny Vacarro, Lorenzo Romar, Michael Cooper, Gene Shue, Pat Williams. (1 hr. 23 minutesD

Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend

In Spring 2020, the Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund collaborated with the South Carolina Lowcountry hip hop group, Native Son, to create the anthem for our campaign, “The Land.” “The Land” is our generation’s love offering to the beautiful struggle to protect 1.5 million acres of Black farmlands from USDA dispossession. Our work continues to grow with Native Son with Restoration: A Concert Film. The film explores southern Black agrarian stories of self-determination, land ownership, and folkwit; amplifies ongoing struggles for restorative land justice in this country including the Black Farmers’ Appeal: Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign; and weaves together live musical performances from Native Son and the personal narratives of Black legacy farmers and land stewards throughout the film. The Black Farmers’ Appeal: Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign is a grassroots organizing, popular education, and legal advocacy campaign to rectify the injustices of the Pigford v. Glick class action discrimination lawsuit. Inspired by David Walker’s impassioned entreaty against the chattel enslavement of Africans in the United States, the Black Farmers’ Appeal: Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign is a polemic against yet another form of racialized capitalism–unconscionable debt. Our coalition is comprised of a multigenerational tribe of farmers, attorneys, writers, artists, and musicians using our diverse magic to bring restorative land justice to our Black legacy farmers. We use diverse strategies to preserve the Black agricultural land base, exploring innovative collaborations that deepen the linkages of music, culture, ecocultural traditions, and cooperative economy to protect Black landownership and stewardship, while raising community awareness, collectivism, and action. We also merge the aims of our campaign with our cooperative economy works with fiber artists, heritage quilters, and keepers of material culture.

Restoration: A Concert Film

Documentary with and about the NGO Sea-Eye which was filmed over the course of 2 years, 5 Missions and 8 Countries. Refugees tell their Story and paint the picture of a horrible journey.

Route 4

In the heart of Midtown Atlanta, at the bottom of a dead-end street, a small dive bar opened its doors with one intention: “To become the sanctuary for the masses.” A quarter century later The Yin Yang Music Cafe provides the backdrop for the greatest story never told. Until now. While events like Freaknik and the ‘96 Olympic Games brought both national and international attention to the city, the Yin Yang Music Cafe was serving as proving ground for underground artists like Joi, Anthony David, India Arie, David Banner and Bonecrusher (the platinum artist that pulled double duty as cook ). Not only was the Yin Yang Cafe a gathering spot for local artists looking to sharpen their skills, it also served as a hangout for musical legends like Prince and George Benson who just happened to be passing through The Town. The walls of this dilapidated building not only massaged the sound of what we now call Neo-Soul, many of the artists that graced the stage went on to shape 90’s music and culture and beyond. Spring &amp; 3rd not only serves up an unbelievable soundtrack, it also provides a timely and honest discussion of the intersectionality of art business and diversity in our ever evolving society.

Spring and 3rd

A culmination of compelling storytelling that recounts one family's struggles over the sudden death of a 16-year-old athlete and his mother's desire for the truth becomes painstakingly personal as she relies on the scientific community for answers.

The Son We Lost

The marimba is the bridge between Africa and Latin America. The sound of the wooden xylophone connects the present-day life on the Ecuadorian Pacific coast with its African roots. Hundreds of years ago, the marimba music came to Ecuador across the sea. Stormy drum rhythms and the gentle, undulating melodies remind us of the violence experienced during slave trade and colonial rule and also tell the story of the centuries-old musical resistance of the Afro-Ecuadorian community. In 2015 the marimba music has been declared as an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. "The Whisper of the Marimba" portrays three generations of musicians who lay bare their worries and dreams as well as their unshakable trust in the power of art and music to nurture their identity and community. A story of losing memory and rewriting history...

The Whisper of the Marimba

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Enjoy BronzeLens: The Virtual Experience (August 26th - September 3rd). All content will be available On-Demand. 

The BronzeLens Film Festival is dedicated to promoting Atlanta as a film mecca for people of color and showcasing films created by people of color. The in-person festival will be held August 21-25 in Atlanta, Georgia with a virtual encore August 26-September 3.

Here's what's coming up soon. Can't make it? No sweat. Many live streams will be available for on-demand viewing as well.