The Filtered Excellence Special BLM Edition: June 12,2020

Collage created using TurboCollage software from www.TurboCollage.com

Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Once a week we take a break from comedy to bring you this week’s picks of the best things to watch, the most interesting things to do, great things to try, the best picks to read, our favorite things to listen to and more.


WATCH THIS

In the wake of the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd, streaming services have been offering a number of feature films and documentaries highlighting the Black experience in America free of charge. Here’s some of the many standouts:

I Am Not Your Negro. Raoul Peck’s Oscar-nominated 2016 documentary brilliantly shows how James Baldwin’s takes on race in America is as prevelant now they when they were written decades ago. Samuel L. Jackson had the daunting task of narrating passages from Baldwin’s never completed Remember This House, but rises to the challenge, capturing his cadence, humor, rage, exasperation and hope when describing three friends who just happened to be civil rights icons: Medger Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Baldwin is entirely absent from the doc: Peck makes sure to add plenty of clips from university speeches and TV appearances to show that Baldwin was not only of his time, but his words can still be applied here in the present. I Am Not Your Negro is available now through PBS’ Independent Lens site through June 21st.

Selma. Released to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Selma To Montgomery marches, Ava DuVernay’s third feature film packs an emotional and historical punch. David Oyelowo leads a terrific cast as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, leading a peaceful, but dangerous march from Selma to Montgomery to get black people registered to vote. Though they are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times, DuVernay doesn’t try to deify King or the movement, capturing their outer and inner conflicts with the powers that be, and among themselves, with exceptional clarity and precision. This is Ava DuVernay asserting herself a player in a male-dominated field and knocking it out of the park. Selma is available for free through all digital outlets through the end of June.

A Huey P. Newton Story. Spike Lee directed Roger Guenveur Smith’s electric one-person show about the iconic Black Panther co-founder. While it remains faithful to the theater presentation, Lee does manage to pepper Newton’s insights with everything from classic films to current events. Smith doesn’t play Newton, he becomes Newton capturing everything from his vocal inflections, mannerisms, and conveying both his magnetism and his increasing paranoia to astonishing effect. A Huey P. Newton Story is available now on Starz.

Daughters Of The Dust. Julie Dash made history when she became the first Black woman director to have a feature film released theatrically in the U.S. Set at the turn of the 20th Century, It tells the story of three generations of Gullah islanders living off the coast of Georgia who must decide whether to go to the mainland and live a more modern way of life, or continue their culture and traditions on the island. It’s an incredible debut feature, telling a story that’s rarely, if ever, be put on the screen that play more like a dream than a film. The visuals that Dash and cinematographer Arthur Jafa left such an impact that Beyonce used many of those cues for her visual album version of her 2016 album Lemonade. A feast for the eyes and mind. Daughters Of The Dust is available now on the Criterion Channel.

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Earl Douglas is a writer/photographer based in New York City. A frequent contributor to The Interrobang, Earl is also Executive Director for the New York chapter of The Black Rock Coalition. Earl worked in radio for nearly two decades at WNEW-FM and XM Satellite Radio, which included being the on-air producer for Carol Miller, Scott Muni and Ron & Fez, and a contributor to Opie & Anthony. Earl has also independently published a number of books including Black Rock Volume 1, Urban Abyss, Mobile Uploads, and For Shimmy. His latest project is the photojournalism magazine PRAXIS, which is available exclusively through Blurb.com.
Earl Douglas
Earl Douglas
Earl Douglas is a writer/photographer based in New York City. A frequent contributor to The Interrobang, Earl is also Executive Director for the New York chapter of The Black Rock Coalition. Earl worked in radio for nearly two decades at WNEW-FM and XM Satellite Radio, which included being the on-air producer for Carol Miller, Scott Muni and Ron & Fez, and a contributor to Opie & Anthony. Earl has also independently published a number of books including Black Rock Volume 1, Urban Abyss, Mobile Uploads, and For Shimmy. His latest project is the photojournalism magazine PRAXIS, which is available exclusively through Blurb.com.